The Live Naked Bar Swap
The Live Naked Bar Swap
The Live Naked Bar Swap is an annual competition that brings together some of the world’s best bartenders for a unique exploration of cultures, creativity and cocktails…
Scroll down for more info on the competition, our fabulous winners and their 'stripped back' winning Naked Sours 👇
THE COMPETITION 🍹
To challenge bartenders’ creativity, they’ll be asked to create a cocktail from the ingredients provided in a Mystery Box at the competition finale.
THE EVENT 🎟️
This liberating out-of-bar experience helps participants leave the pressures of everyday life behind, inspiring them to enjoy the spirit of freedom and ultimately Live Naked.
THE PRIZE 🏆
This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity allows bartenders to expand their knowledge, build new relationships, learn new skills and discover new ingredients, flavours and techniques 🤓.
The Winners: 2022-2023 🥇
United Kingdom
Bar Humbug (Jolene Cadwell & Pablo Chaundy-Brain)
United Kingdom
In the UK, bartenders Jolene Cadwell & Pablo Chaundy-Brain from Bar Humbug in Bristol took the prize with their winning cocktail the Bah Crumble.
Bah Humbug
Ingredients:
50ml Naked Malt Whisky,
20ml lemon juice,
20ml cider syrup (Bristol Cider and light muscavado sugar reduced over heat),
1 egg white,
3 dashes tonka bean bitters,
Garnished with - edible Banksy stamp and crumble truffle*.
*Butter, icing sugar and Naked Malt, coated in custard cream and cinnamon crumb.
Taiwan
Cuckoo Bar (Yan-Ling, Chen & Yu-Hsuan, Tsai)
Taiwan
The 2022 winners for Taiwan were Yan-Ling, Chen and Yu-Hsuan, Tsai from Tainan City's Cuckoo Bar with their cocktail creation The Naked Feast.
The Naked Feast
Ingredients:
40ml Naked Malt Whisky,
daylily flower-buds flavoured whisky (10g dried daylily, 100ml Naked Malt, sous vide for 15 min at 70°C),
grape leaves sour mix (50g fresh grape leaves, 1.5kg water, 7g oolong tea, 3g lemon acid, 5g sugar),
20g dried daylily,
450ml water,
3g gelatin,
fresh lemon juice,
simple syrup
Garnished with - daylily flavoured foam topping.
The Nordics
Ruby (Alessandro Rossi & Vladislav Bobar)
The Nordics
The winning cocktail in the Nordics was Small Connections, served up by bartenders Alessandro Rossi and Vladislav Bobar from Ruby in Copenhagen.
Small Connections
Ingredients:
40ml Naked Malt Whisky,
20ml whey,
15ml mushroom danica,
15ml black apple honey,
5ml blackberry vinegar,
5ml apple skin
USA
Barterhouse (Scooby Olivier & Luke Villon)
USA
Our winner for the USA this year is Barterhouse Ybor, congratulations to bartenders Scooby Olivier & Luke Villon who nailed this year's brief with their winning sour 'Meet Us in Ybor'!
Ingredients:
11/2oz. cream cheese fat washed Naked Malt Whisky
3/4oz. guava espresso syrup
1 egg white
3/4 oz. lemon juice
Garnished with dehydrated lemon, guava and cream cheese.
South Korea
Zest (Danny & Brandon)
South Korea
Our winner in South Korea for this year is Zest! Well done to master mixologists Danny and Brandon who shook up the competition with their winning cocktail "When the Persimmon's Naked".
Ingredients:
50ml Naked Malt whisky
25ml Jeju Tangerine Juice
37.5ml Kombu Fermented Persimmon
25ml Soft Persimmon Compote
Dried Persimmon
Garnished with - dried persimmon.
France
The Cambridge Public House (Léa & Nico)
France
This year's winner from France, The Cambridge Public House, showcased a passion for seasonality and sustainability using beetroot soaked in re-used coffee grounds to make their winning cocktail "Naked Beets in Wonderland".
Ingredients:
40ml Naked Malt whisky
30ml Beets & Reused Coffee Cordial
2.5ml Noix de la St Jean Liquor
5ml Walnut Vinegar
5ml Verjus
10ml Oloroso Sherry
Garnished with - coffee meringue.
The Netherlands
Fitz's Bar (Nick Vrielink & Ruggero Celentano)
The Netherlands
Fitz's Bar took the Bar Swap trophy for the Netherlands this year. Star bartenders Nick Vrielink & Ruggero Celentano masterfully combined the sweet sherry notes of Naked Malt whisky with a touch of champagne and a warming tonka bean syrup to create their cocktail the Naked Champagne Sour.
Naked Champagne Sour
60ml Naked Malt Whisky,
25ml Champagne acid*,
25ml super tonka syrup**,
2 dashes saline solution,
Garnished with - oyster leaf.
*Lactic acid, tartaric acid & water (all plant based).
** Tonka beans, gum arabic, methylcellulose, granulated sugar, xanthan (all plant based).
THE WINNERS: 2021🥇
In the UK, Panda & Sons (Sean Cavanagh) from Edinburgh scooped the national title. From the Nordics, A Bar Called Gemma (Johan Evers & Oscar Drigoris) reigned supreme, and in South Korea it was Villa Records (Yeongjun Jo & Hyundo Cho). Stealing the crown in the US was Morgan Zuch & Liz Senyak from Mandarin Heights and, last but not least, from Taiwan - Vender (Darren Lim & Summer Chen) was deemed the champion.
