First Week Of Cocktail Wars Semi-Finals Are A Smashing Success!

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Newport got to see some real talent on display Sunday night!

The thing about the Newport bartending tournament Cocktail Wars is, to steal a motto from a completely different cause, “It gets better”. The preliminary rounds provided an interesting mix of bartenders, with a complete array of different talents and experience levels. Now, however, the distillation process has begun, meaning that the contestants have needed to have some skill to make it to the semifinals and they need a lot more to make it to the finals November 27.

The reason the fruits of the competition get better so quickly is two-fold. The first is that only the strong survive. The bottom 50% have been eliminated. But that’s too easy an explanation. The second reason is that the bartenders competing now have some experience in the competition. They know what mistakes they made in the first round and have had some time to correct them. They’ve also had some time to get the creative juices flowing.

The Bartenders

From Week 1:

Doug Randall Jr. from Christie’s


Michelle Carson from The Hotel Viking


From Week 2:

Christina Mercado from the Vanderbilt Grace (left)


Cindy Erwin from Forty 1 North (right)


The liquor for the night’s cocktails was…


Bacardi Oakheart

…from that time Bacardi decided they wanted their own Captain Morgan.


This was the best week yet. The cocktails presented were actually ones that you could expect on the drink menu at a nice spot in town.  The winners of next week’s semi-final round are really going to have to step it up if they’re going to beat this week’s when they get to the Finals.

Regardless, come on down to the Gas Lamp Grille next Sunday and catch all the Cocktail Wars action you can!

-Tristan Pinnock, Blast Cocktail Correspondent

Tristan's just this guy, ya know?