🍸 COMP WEEK: DAQS FOR RACKS + THE PROHIBITION CREATION DINNER
Two nights. Two completely different competitions. A lot of cocktails. And apparently I’ve decided recovery time is optional.
October is starting off pretty wild.
I’ve got two back-to-back cocktail events
Sunday and Monday, and they honestly represent a huge part of why I still love doing this.
Sunday is going to be loud, fast, ridiculous, competitive and all for a good cause.
Monday is the complete opposite: a four-course cocktail dinner where I get to slow things down, tell a story through a drink and bring back a cocktail concept that goes all the way back to one of my first competitions.
So if you’re in Phoenix and you’ve ever wanted to come out, support me, drink something good and see what this whole competition world is actually like…
This is the weekend.
🎀 SUNDAY: DAQS FOR RACKS 2026
📍 Highball Phoenix
📅 Sunday, October 4
⏰ 7–10 PM
First up is the second annual Daqs for Racks, presented by Saint Benevolence.
And this one is going to be chaos in the best possible way.
A bunch of bartenders from around Phoenix are getting together for a speed bartending competition benefiting breast cancer screening and treatment in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
The format?
🍹 MAKE 4. SLAM 1.
We have to make four daiquiris while being judged on speed, accuracy, cleanliness, technique and, of course, whether the drinks actually taste good.
And then there’s the fourth daiquiri.
You have to drink it.
Fast.
Glass goes down.
Hands go up.
Clock stops.
That’s it.
That combination of actual bartending skill and complete nonsense is exactly why I signed up.
🤖 AND WE GET WALKOUT SONGS
This might honestly be one of my favorite parts.
Every competitor gets a walkout song.
Mine?
“Robot Rock” — Daft Punk.
If I’m about to walk into a room and start slamming out daiquiris against a stopwatch, I need something that sounds like I’m entering a robot cage match.
It felt appropriate.
There’s a stacked lineup of bartenders competing from some great bars around Phoenix, there’s a trophy on the line, there are bragging rights, and the winner takes the pot.
But underneath all of that competition, we’re also raising money for something that actually matters.
So you get to come out, have a good time, watch a bunch of bartenders completely stress themselves out and support a great cause at the same time.
That’s a pretty solid Sunday night.
🌴 SIMPLE COCKTAIL. ZERO ROOM TO HIDE.
There’s another reason I’m excited about this competition.
We’re making Daiquiris.
And if you know anything about how I like to build cocktails, you know I love sour-style drinks.
A Daiquiri looks ridiculously simple:
Rum. Lime. Sugar.
Three ingredients.
That’s it.
But that simplicity is exactly what makes it so good.
When there are only three ingredients, there’s nowhere to hide.
Your rum matters.
Your citrus matters.
Your balance matters.
Your dilution matters.
And your technique definitely matters.
Add the funky cane-spirit side of rum into the mix, especially something like Clairin, and now you start getting those grassy, earthy, wild fermented notes that I absolutely love playing with.
Now take all of that…
And try making four of them as fast as possible with a room full of people watching.
Game on.
🥃 THEN MONDAY HAPPENS…
And literally the next day, we switch gears completely.
THE PROHIBITION CREATION DINNER
📍 Citizen Public House
📅 Monday, October 5
⏰ 6 PM sharp
🎟️ $100 ticketed experience
🍽️ Four courses + four cocktail pairings
I’m heading back to Citizen Public House for my second Creation Dinner, and this round is all about the Prohibition era.
Four bartenders.
Four cocktails.
Four courses.
Each cocktail gets paired with its own dish.
And at the end of the night?
You guys vote.
People’s choice.
Which makes it even more fun.
🔥 THIS ONE IS PERSONAL
For my cocktail, I decided I didn’t want to just create something completely random because it fit the theme.
I wanted to go back.
Way back.
One of the first cocktails I ever riffed on for a competition was the New York Sour.
It was during my first Masters of the Craft competition years ago, and I ended up making it into the semifinals.
That drink has always stuck with me.
Partly because I love whiskey.
But mostly because I absolutely love sour-style cocktails.
Whiskey Sour.
Daiquiri.
Gimlet.
Margarita.
Give me spirit, citrus, sweetness and the right balance and I’m happy.
But the New York Sour has always had something extra.
Whiskey sour underneath.
Red wine on top.
Fruit.
Tannin.
Acidity.
Spice.
Texture.
There’s so much room to play.
So for this dinner, I decided to revisit that idea using everything I’ve learned since that first competition.
The result is:
🥃 RENAISSANCE
A Tiki-Inspired New York Sour Riff
And this thing hits.
Renaissance opens bold and spicy, with rye bringing pepper, oak, and structure, while aged rum adds caramel, vanilla, dark fruit, and richness. Falernum pushes it into tropical territory with clove, lime, and warm baking spice, while fresh citrus keeps the whole drink bright and moving.
But the part that really makes this cocktail?
🍓 Spiced Vanilla Strawberry Cabernet iSi Foam
This is easily my favorite part.
A traditional New York Sour gets that beautiful float of red wine across the top. I wanted to take that same idea, but completely change the experience by turning those Cabernet flavors into a cold, aromatic foam.
Instead of just tasting the wine, you get it in the texture of the drink.
🍷 THE CABERNET FOAM
Think:
Fresh strawberry
Bold Cabernet
Vanilla
Lemon
Angostura spice
A touch of salt
Rich simple syrup
The strawberry is acid-adjusted so the foam stays bright and fruit-forward instead of overly sweet. Then I use a Cabernet with enough body that the wine actually comes through.
Vanilla rounds everything out. Lemon keeps it alive. Angostura adds warmth and spice. Egg white gives it that soft, luxurious texture, with just enough stabilizer to keep everything consistent inside the iSi.
Shake it. Double charge it. Get it cold.
That last part matters. Once the foam is properly chilled, you get this thick, silky layer of strawberry, Cabernet, vanilla, and spice sitting right over the cocktail.
And that first sip is exactly what I wanted Renaissance to be.
🧠 WHAT IT TASTES LIKE
You hit the foam first:
Strawberry. Cabernet. Vanilla. Baking spice.
Then the cocktail underneath starts pushing through.
The Bulleit Rye brings spice, oak, and structure.
The Zacapa 23 fills everything out with molasses, vanilla, dried fruit, and rich aged-rum depth.
The falernum adds clove, lime, ginger, and tropical spice.
Fresh lemon keeps it bright.
Lime pulls the drink slightly toward tiki.
Angostura ties all those darker spice notes together.
Saline makes everything pop.
The DNA of a New York Sour is still there.
It just took a detour through the tropics.
And I’m completely fine with that.
🥃 WHY I KEEP SIGNING UP FOR THESE THINGS
This is probably the part I appreciate more the older I get.
Life gets routine.
You wake up.
You work.
You handle responsibilities.
You come home.
You do it again.
And as you get older, there aren’t always that many things left that give you that combination of:
Excitement.
Nerves.
Adrenaline.
That “oh shit, here we go” feeling.
Cocktail competitions still do that for me.
Standing around waiting for your name to get called.
Hearing your walkout music.
Walking in front of a crowd.
Seeing the judges.
Seeing the clock.
And then suddenly everything gets quiet in your head and you’re just working.
I love that feeling.
🔥 GETTING COMFORTABLE BEING UNCOMFORTABLE
Competing also forces you to put yourself out there.
You meet bartenders you probably never would have met.
You taste ingredients you’ve never worked with.
You learn techniques.
You make friends.
You make memories.
Sometimes everything goes perfectly.
Sometimes something completely falls apart.
Either way, you learn something.
And every time you get back in front of a crowd, it gets a little easier.
That’s why I’ll keep doing these.
As long as somebody is holding a cocktail competition somewhere…
Sign me up.
🗓️ COME SUPPORT YOUR BOY
So here’s the rundown.
🎀 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4
DAQS FOR RACKS 2026
📍 Highball Phoenix
⏰ 7–10 PM
Speed bartending.
Four Daiquiris.
Walkout songs.
“Robot Rock” by Daft Punk.
A bunch of great Phoenix bartenders.
Bragging rights.
A trophy.
And most importantly, raising money for breast cancer screening and treatment.
Come yell at me while I try not to spill anything.
🥃 MONDAY, OCTOBER 5
PROHIBITION CREATION DINNER
📍 Citizen Public House
⏰ 6 PM sharp
🎟️ $100
Four-course dinner.
Four cocktail pairings.
Four bartenders.
And you decide the winner.
I’ll be serving Renaissance, my tiki-inspired New York Sour riff topped with that spiced vanilla strawberry Cabernet foam.
This one is a completely different experience from Sunday, and I’m really excited to bring this drink back and let people experience it.
👀 LIKE THE INSIDE SCOOP?
If you like hearing about the competitions…
The recipes.
The techniques.
The ridiculous R&D experiments.
The drinks that work immediately.
The drinks that absolutely do not.
The twists.
The changes.
The “what if we put this in an iSi?” moments.
And everything that actually happens behind the scenes before one of these cocktails ever
reaches a guest…
I’m going to keep sharing all of it.
Cocktail development.
Competition prep.
Recipes.
R&D sessions.
Industry events.
And whatever other trouble I manage to get myself into behind a bar.
Cocktails Worth Confessing.
🍸 FALL EVENTS ARE BOOKING NOW
And while I’ve got you here…
Fall is booking up fast for Saints & Spirits.
If you’re planning a birthday, private party, corporate event, cocktail class, holiday event or anything else that deserves something better than a cooler full of beer and somebody
pouring vodka sodas from the kitchen…
Let’s build something for it.
Saints & Spirits offers mobile bartending, custom cocktail menus, cocktail classes and private mixology experiences designed around your event.
Come support your boy Sunday.
Come vote Monday.
Then maybe give me Tuesday to recover.
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