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Former Bakersfield bartender brings home gold from Cocktail World Cup
Topics: cocktails, Cocktail World Cup, drinks, drinking, bartending, bars, New Zealand, las vegas, Rio Hotel and Casino
Posted by citizenjournalist Mon Sep 24, 2007 14:24:57 PDT
Viewed 2326 times
0 responses 0 comments “Fast Eddie” Perales, a former Bakersfield bartender, helped bring home the gold from the Cocktail World Cup on Sept. 15.

 Perales and two other bartenders from Las Vegas competed in New Zealand against 13 other teams from around the world.

The 42 Below Cocktail World Cup is a unique and challenging competition with extreme categories including bungee jumping, mountain top mixing, and jet boat shaking.

Anthony Alba, a mixologist with the Rio Hotel and Casino, claimed victory in the bungee shaking heat by jumping off a 42-meter (138 feet) bridge while holding onto his cup and shaker. While suspended upside down, he mixed a cosmopolitan and finished it off with an orange garnish which he had taped to his arm.

“The third heat consisted of a jet boat going 70 miles (per hour) plus through a canyon, all the while attempting to shake a cocktail and pour it,” Perales wrote in an e-mail. “The poor judge just managed to get a quarter of an ounce of the cocktail we made for him.”

For the final competition, the Vegas team concocted the winning drink “Amplextremo.” It is a two-part cocktail with ingredients such as sweet potato puree, maple syrup, pumpkin pie spice, dulce de leche, and 42 Below vodka.

In addition to Perales and Alba, the Vegas team included Gaston Martinez, a bar manager at Nora's Italian Cuisine.

Perales was once owner of Bakersfield Bartending Academy. He now works as a beverage trainer and flair director for Harrahs Entertainment, based at the Rio in Las Vegas.

 In Bakersfield, Perales’s school, located downtown off of 19th Street, taught up and coming bartenders the essentials of flair bartending and mixology. He has been in Las Vegas for over four years and has earned the title of Master Mixologist.

Chuck Shakta is the Nightlife Operations Manager at the Rio. He is a former nightclub owner from Bakersfield.

The Las Vegas team’s winning cocktail:

Amplextremo
This cocktail is a two-part drink meant to be sipped from two straws at once.

HOT
2 oz. Navan
2 Tbsp sweet potato puree
3/4 oz. maple syrup
3 pinches chili threads
1/2 oz. chocolate grappa
1 oz. 42 Below honey vodka
4-5 shakes of pumpkin pie spice
1/2 oz. Knob Creek Bourbon
COLD
2 egg yolks
3/4 oz. port wine
1 oz. dulce de leche
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 oz. 42 Below vodka
1/4 oz. eau de vie

Eddie Perales’ qualifying cocktail:

Fast Eddie’s 42 Khewl

6 large fresh leaves of mint
1 whole golden kiwi, peeled and cubed
4 small cubes of fresh cucumber
1 oz. rock candy syrup
1/2 squeeze of fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp. of Asian mixed chiles

Muddle the above ingredients by mashing together to extract flavors.

1 1/2 ounces fresh lemon sour
2 ounces 42 Below kiwi flavored vodka

Shake ingredients and liquors with ice, and strain into a large bucket glass containing 4 large cubes of ice, a peeled kiwi wheel, lemon wheel, cucumber wheel, and a red chili pepper. Garnish with a large mint sprig.

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