POURING OVER THEIR WORK
Cocktail competitors
The city’s top barchefs will be competing for the regional crown in Edmonton’s first Made With Love craft cocktail competition Monday night.
Made With Love is an annual international competition with barchefs presenting original cocktail creations paired with a food dish and judged by industry professionals, as well as the public, who purchase tickets to the event.
The 14 barchefs competing from Edmonton restaurants will be judged on their cocktail’s originality, creativity and taste.
We caught up with three of the Edmonton competitors prior to the event for an inside look into their bartending background and favourite concoctions.
MOE MARDANI, FAIRMONT HOTEL MACDONALD
For Mardani, bartending was something that happened “by accident” and he never looked back.
He used to work at a craft beer restaurant and one day a bartender didn’t show up so he started learning the ropes.
“I just kind of jumped behind the bar and got hooked on it, so here I am three years later,” he said.
Mardani said he was instantly drawn to the creativity and the ability to bring people together.
“Especially over here, you meet people from all over the world from all walks of life,” he said.
Mardani has been a bartender at the Hotel Macdonald for about a year and a half and has his own cocktail creations featured on the menu.
His favourite drink creation, the Saffron and Pistachio Fizz, was drawn from his childhood.
“I grew up eating this saffron and pistachio ice cream so I thought, why don’t I just try to make a drink that resembles the same flavour profiles.”
LELAND MORRISON, BLACK PEARL SEAFOOD BAR
Morrison started bartending as a way to pay for his seven years of schooling at the University of Alberta. He soon realized it was something he immediately wanted to pursue because it provided a different learning experience than text books.
“I felt like there’s a lot to learn just interacting with people, talking with people that I didn’t necessarily feel like I was getting academically,” he said.
A bartender with Black Pearl since the bar opened about twoand-a-half years ago, Morrison said the experience is about interaction between the bartender and the guests — making drinks together.
“There’s a bar between us, but there shouldn’t be anything beyond that,” he said.
Morrison’s signature drink, also available on the Black Pearl menu, is the Armchair Cynic made with whisky. He said although it has a lower volume of alcohol, it has a lot of complexity with an earthy finish.
“We wanted a dichotomy of flavours that’s fun for me to make, hit both ends of the spectrum and surprise people a little bit,” he said.
RODNEY DIRKSEN, HAVE MERCY SOUTHERN TABLE & BAR
“We’re storytellers, but we also really are listening to every story that comes through. You can really figure out what they would be interested in drinking.”
Dirksen, originally from Edmonton, started his bartending journey in Vancouver.
He moved back to Edmonton four years ago and returned to the cocktail scene when Have Mercy opened in July 2016.
“It was quick, fast, easy money,” Dirksen said of his start in the industry.
“It just developed into me really getting a taste for more craft work, actually developing great drinks and learning flavour profiles.”
In line with the other two bartenders, he said communication skills and the ability to socialize is key.
“It’s listening to their story and making their story into something they can then enjoy,” he said.
The Old Fashioned, made with bourbon and aromatic bitters, is Dirksen’s go-to and signature drink of Have Mercy.
He said the three-ingredient drink “is the absolute proof that simplicity can be beautiful.”
The Made With Love competition is the largest of its kind in Edmonton, and Dirksen said that alone was a big draw, along with the chance to come together as a community and showcase Edmonton’s cocktail scene.
“It really puts Edmonton in a position of proving that we are developing an amazing food and beverage program across the city,” he said.
It just developed into me really getting a taste for more craft work, actually developing great drinks and learning flavour profiles.
MADE WITH LOVE
The Edmonton Regional Final is Monday night at the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald starting at 6 p.m. Both the top barchefs selected by the judges and the public voters will advance to the national finals in May 2018.