🥃 Cocktail Competition Reflection: The Angostura Swizzle Competition
San Francisco, Competition Nerves, Unfamiliar Jiggers, an Elevated Daiquiri, and Lessons I Still Carry Behind the Bar
Some competitions stick with you because you won.
Others stick with you because of everything they taught you while you were trying to.
About two years ago, I found out I had been selected as one of three West Coast regional finalists for the Angostura Swizzle Competition.
Angostura flew me to San Francisco, put me up at the St. Regis in the heart of the city, and gave me an opportunity to compete for a chance to move on to the global stage.
Pretty damn cool.
But once I landed in San Francisco, sightseeing was basically the last thing on my mind.
I was there to compete.
🧠 The Night Before
Traveling for cocktail competitions is an experience all by itself.
I had homemade syrups, shrubs, and other competition ingredients packed into those tiny
TSA-friendly bottles. But ingredients weren’t really my biggest packing problem.
I Have Always Been an Overpacker
I’m the guy who brings extra clothes, extra socks, extra shoes, extra outfits, and basically every possible version of:
“Well...what if I need this?”
That habit finally caught up with me on this trip.
By the time I finished packing, I had filled so much of my checked luggage with clothes and everything else I thought I might need that there wasn’t enough room left for all of my normal bar equipment.
My tins. My strainers. My jiggers. The tools I use behind the bar all the time.
Why I Left My Bar Equipment at Home
Space wasn’t the only reason.
I was also paranoid about putting all of my bar equipment into a checked suitcase.
What if the airline lost the bag?
What if I landed in San Francisco for one of the biggest competitions I had done and all of my equipment was somewhere else?
Instead of figuring out another way to travel with it, I convinced myself I would be fine without it.
My logic was pretty simple:
“I’m Competing Inside a Bar. Obviously They’ll Have Bar Tools.”
Technically, I was right.
Unfortunately, that didn’t mean they would have my bar tools.
That becomes important later.
🔒 Locking In Before Competition Day
Once I finally got through traveling, transportation, and checking into the hotel, I didn’t go sightseeing.
I didn’t explore.
I didn’t hit cocktail bars.
I stayed in my room and studied.
I went through Angostura rums, different cocktail structures, possible mystery ingredients, backup builds, and what I might do if they gave us something bitter, sweet, tropical, or completely unexpected.
I was trying to mentally prepare for every possible situation I could think of.
Eventually, I looked at the clock and realized it was somewhere around 3 AM.
Probably not the ideal pre-competition sleep strategy. 😂
But when something matters to me, that’s how I get.
I Lock In.
🌵 El Conquistador
The Cocktail That Got Me to San Francisco
My original qualifying cocktail was called El Conquistador.
This was the Angostura Swizzle I submitted and the cocktail that earned me my spot as one of the three West Coast finalists.
The Build
1.5 oz Angostura 7 Year Rum
0.5 oz Falernum
0.75 oz Prickly Pear + Ancho Chile Syrup
0.5 oz Grapefruit Oleo
1 oz Fresh Lime Juice
2 heavy dashes Angostura Bitters
Swizzled over pebble ice using a traditional swizzle stick.
For the garnish, I finished it with a big activated mint bush and dehydrated lime wheel.
Bringing Arizona Into a Tropical Swizzle
What I loved about El Conquistador was the way it combined recognizable swizzle DNA with flavors that felt closer to home.
Rum, falernum, lime, bitters, pebble ice.
Then prickly pear and ancho chile brought some Arizona into the glass.
Bright citrus. Tropical spice. A little heat. A little desert influence.
And the funny part?
Before developing this cocktail, I had never really made a proper swizzle before.
Somehow, El Conquistador Got Me All the Way to San Francisco.
Pretty rad.
💪 Competition Morning
The next morning, I followed one of my little competition rituals:
Get a Workout In
Training helps me burn off some of the nervous energy before I have to perform.
So I got some pre-workout in me, trained, grabbed a Red Bull, got myself fired up, and headed over to Natoma Cabana, where the competition was being held.
There were three finalists.
Two other bartenders and me.
But this wasn’t three competitors quietly making cocktails in front of a couple of people.
Three Judges. A Packed Bar. Everybody Watching.
There were three judges sitting directly in front of us.
Behind them was a bar packed with strangers, bartenders, guests, and onlookers
watching everything we were doing.
Everybody watching your hands.
Everybody waiting to see what you were going to make.
And Round One sounded pretty straightforward.
Round One: Recreate the Cocktail That Got You There
I knew El Conquistador.
I had practiced it.
I had made it plenty of times.
This should have been the comfortable round.
Then I saw the jiggers.
🧰 The Jigger Problem
Remember all that overpacking?
This is where it came back to bite me.
I had packed so many clothes, socks, shoes, and outfits that there wasn’t enough room left for my normal bar equipment. And because I was paranoid about checking my tools and having them get lost with my luggage, I decided to leave them home.
I told myself:
“They’ll Have Bar Tools.”
And they did.
They just didn’t have my bar tools.
Instead of the Japanese-style jiggers I was accustomed to using, they had these plastic, almost training-wheel-looking measured jiggers with different markings and pours.
Immediately, I got into my own head.
Suddenly I Was Doing Math Instead of Making a Cocktail
Now I’m standing there with three judges directly in front of me, a packed bar full of strangers watching behind them, a clock running, and adrenaline pumping.
Instead of falling into my normal rhythm and making the cocktail I already knew, I’m trying to do measurement conversions in my head.
That completely threw me off mentally.
I still brought my energy.
I still brought my personality.
But I wasn’t as comfortable as I should have been.
And when you’re already dealing with adrenaline, judges, an audience, a clock, storytelling, technique, and execution, the last thing you want running through your head is:
“How Does This Damn Jigger Work?”
🔥 Lesson #1: Bring Your Own Tools. Every Time.
That competition permanently changed the way I travel.
When you use the same jiggers, tins, strainers, and bar tools over and over again, they eventually become extensions of your hands.
You don’t think about them.
You just move.
Competition Already Gives Your Brain Enough to Process
Timing. Technique. Measurements. Storytelling. Presentation. Judges. The crowd. The clock.
There is absolutely no reason to add unfamiliar equipment to that list.
So now, if I’m allowed to bring it, it comes with me.
Tins. Jiggers. Strainers. Bar spoons. Whatever equipment I know I’m going to rely on.
I don’t care if I’m competing inside one of the best bars in the country.
I’m Finding Room in That Suitcase.
The extra outfit can stay home. 😂
🎲 The Mystery Round
Then came the part I had spent most of the previous night preparing for.
The mystery round.
For this challenge, we had to incorporate Angostura Limited Edition 200th Anniversary Bitters into an original cocktail.
The competition didn’t require us to use exactly two dashes.
I Chose to Use Two Dashes in My Build.
I decided to go with an elevated Daiquiri.
I wanted something that still had recognizable Daiquiri DNA but pushed beyond the
traditional rum, lime, and sugar structure.
Tropical. Aromatic. Bright. Layered.
And most importantly, still centered around Angostura.
🍹 West Coast Finals Elevated Daiquiri
The Build
1.5 oz Angostura 1919 Rum
0.25 oz Dry Curaçao
0.25 oz Amaro di Angostura
0.5 oz Lemongrass-Yuzu Shrub
0.5 oz Pandan Syrup
0.25 oz Fresh Lime Juice
2 dashes Angostura Limited Edition 200th Anniversary Bitters
Pinch of salt
1 bar spoon Smith & Cross
Expressed orange peel
Served up in a coupe
Looking Back at the Build
I still like the direction of this cocktail.
The Angostura 1919 gave me a smooth, rounded rum foundation.
The Curaçao and lime kept that citrus-driven Daiquiri connection.
The lemongrass-yuzu shrub brought acidity and bright aromatic citrus.
The pandan syrup added a tropical, almost nutty, vanilla-like character.
Then the Amaro di Angostura and my two dashes of Angostura Limited Edition 200th Anniversary Bitters layered in bitterness, spice, and even more Angostura character.
A pinch of salt helped pull everything together.
And then...
There Was That One Bar Spoon of Smith & Cross.
😬 The Bar Spoon That Taught Me a Lesson
Smith & Cross is something we use all the time at Melinda’s Alley.
I know what it can do.
That funky Jamaican rum character can completely change a cocktail with just a tiny amount.
And there it was.
Sitting right there in the well.
So naturally...
I used it.
Just one bar spoon.
The Cocktail Tasted Great.
I was feeling confident.
I thought I had made a really strong drink.
Then I told the judges.
Their reaction was basically:
“Ohhhhh, Kendall...”
😂
They told me they wished I hadn’t done that.
Someone even joked that I should have just kept quiet because they probably never would have known.
And right there, I knew.
That Tiny Decision Mattered.
The cocktail itself wasn’t necessarily the problem.
The story was.
🧠 Lesson #2: Read the Competition, Not Just the Cocktail
This became one of the most valuable lessons I’ve taken away from competing.
During a normal R&D shift, one of the biggest questions I ask myself is:
“Does This Ingredient Make the Cocktail Better?”
If the answer is yes, I’m probably going to use it.
Competition isn’t always that simple.
The cocktail still needs to taste great, but you’re also representing a brand.
You’re answering an assignment.
You’re showing the judges that you understand the products in front of you.
You’re telling a story through the glass.
Flavor Is Only Part of the Assignment
That bar spoon of Smith & Cross might have made my elevated Daiquiri more interesting from a purely flavor-driven standpoint.
But there was one obvious problem:
I Was Standing in an Angostura Rum Competition.
Look at the rest of the cocktail.
Angostura 1919.
Amaro di Angostura.
Angostura Limited Edition 200th Anniversary Bitters.
Then I brought another rum into the conversation.
Looking back, I completely understand why that could weaken the story I was supposed to be telling.
That moment changed the way I approach competition cocktails.
The Question I Ask Myself Now
Today, I don’t only ask:
“Does This Taste Better?”
I also ask:
“Does This Ingredient Strengthen the Story I’m Supposed to Be Telling?”
Because sometimes an ingredient can make the cocktail better while making the competition entry weaker.
That’s a distinction I understand much better today.
🏆 When You Don’t Take the W
I didn’t win San Francisco.
And yeah...
That one hurt.
Winning would have meant being flown to the Caribbean for an opportunity to compete at
the global level for $10,000 and a two-year contract.
That’s a serious opportunity.
And when you get that close, it’s almost impossible not to replay everything afterward.
The What-Ifs Start
What if I had brought my own jiggers?
What if I hadn’t added the Smith & Cross?
What if I changed one ingredient?
One measurement?
One decision?
But that’s competition.
What Competition Actually Feels Like
The adrenaline starts flowing.
The nerves hit.
You’ve got three judges staring at you, a packed bar watching behind them, and a clock running.
At the same time, you’re trying to execute technique, remember your specs, tell your story, interact with the judges, work clean, and somehow make everything look effortless.
Things happen.
I Still Get Nervous.
I wish I could say that after doing enough competitions, I stopped getting nervous.
I haven’t.
I still get anxious.
The adrenaline still hits.
I still really want to win.
But that’s also part of why I keep doing them.
If I Didn’t Care, I Probably Wouldn’t Feel Any of It.
🌉 Then I Finally Got to Enjoy San Francisco
After the competition, one of my best friends, Kevin Ball, aka “Balls,” met up with me in the city.
Kevin was my freshman-year college roommate.
After spending basically the entire trip locked into competition mode, suddenly I was running around San Francisco with one of my oldest friends.
We hit Chinatown.
Walked around the city.
Took pictures.
Messed around.
Talked about college.
And reminisced about the good old days.
Sometimes the Experience Becomes Part of the Prize
After spending the night before studying rum until 3 AM and the next day completely consumed by competition, I finally allowed myself to actually enjoy where I was.
Looking back, that became just as important a memory as the competition itself.
It’s easy to become so focused on winning that you forget what these opportunities are also giving you.
Travel.
Experiences.
Friendships.
Connections.
Stories.
And sometimes an excuse to run around Chinatown with your college roommate after spending the previous night obsessing over cocktail builds.
🥃 Two Years Later...
I still think about this competition.
Not because I lost.
Because It Made Me Better.
I learned how to travel differently.
I learned how to pack differently.
I learned that my bar equipment gets suitcase space before the extra outfits do.
I learned how important familiar tools become when you’re working under pressure.
I learned that competition cocktails aren’t about cramming the craziest ingredients possible into a glass.
They’re about understanding the brand, assignment, products, judges, and story.
I learned that sometimes an ingredient can improve the drink while weakening the competition entry.
And I learned that being nervous doesn’t necessarily mean I’m unprepared.
It means I’m putting myself in situations that matter to me.
Every Competition Gives Me Something
Sometimes it’s a trophy.
Sometimes it’s an opportunity.
Sometimes it’s a lesson that doesn’t completely make sense until years later.
But I’m going to keep applying.
Keep competing.
Keep experimenting.
Keep learning.
Keep putting myself in uncomfortable situations.
And keep getting better.
Because Eventually...
I’m Taking One of These Things All the Way.
Until then?
Back to R&D. 🥃🔥
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