Bacardi Rum Legacy Cocktail Competition – Favourite Frost

Written by Pete on 05 February 2013. Posted in Rum Chat

History Aside...

Last but not least, we have the pleasure of featuring Sam Kershaw’s Bacardi Legacy Cocktail Competition entry, which saw him become one of the eight finalists in this years UK finals. Sam is the Bar Manager at Babington House in Somerset and struck out on a different road in creating his Legacy cocktail: the Favourite Frost.

Favourite Frost

50ml Bacardi Superior

25ml Pineapple infused Kamm & Sons

15ml Martini Bianco

15ml Fresh Lime Juice

2 Japanese barspoons Caster Sugar

2 dashes Bitter Truth Grapefruit

Small Egg White

Method: Dry shake and then shake with ice. Strain into dainty coupe. Garnish with discarded grapefruit zest.

We are told that the Bristol heat was steeped in nostalgia as the competitors delved deep into their childhood and family memories to produce strong and stirred down drinks. Legacy veteran Sam Kershaw of Babington House was triumphant with Favourite Frost, a crisp, clean and suitably glacial recipe honouring a favourite family pet as well as paying tribute to iconic cocktails including the Mary Pickford and the Daiquiri.

Sam shared the inspiration behind his drink with us:

History aside, drinks are for now. That’s the main inspiration for my cocktail, Favourite Frost. Seizing a moment or encapsulating a particular moment in time. Many cocktails have been created in this way, particularly those created in the Golden Age of cocktails, the Sidecar, French 75 etc.

The inspiration for the drink is two fold; a modern spin on the Snow White from David Embury’s seminal 1948 The Fine Art of Mixing drinks. Embury was a lawyer with a, shall we say, particular interest in cocktails and mixed drinks, and the vocabulary to show them off. He valued simplicity and a vested belief in quality of ingredients. The name comes from the pedigree or kennel name of a recently deceased family West Highland terrier, Paddington. It felt the ideal drink to spin, as a tribute to the much loved and missed pet, to encapsulate this particular time in my life.

We trace the Bacardi lineage; the creation of this spirit to 1862. That’s the marker, the date where rum was perfected. This cocktail is my marker, of this moment in time. This is our Golden Age.

Favourite Frost sublimely illustrates the suitability of Bacardi Superior in light, crisp, aperitif cocktails. Taking the elements of the Snow White (essentially a Daiquiri with a dash of pineapple and egg white) and adding dryness from Kamm & Son’s, the light sweetness from a fine Italian bianco vermouth, and caster sugar for a sherbet mouth feel, all the while retaining a harmonious balance.