ANOTHER Edinburgh bartender has raced to first place on Skye after being crowned the second ever winner of Talisker’s Race to Skye cocktail competition.
Stefanie Anderson of the Bon Vivant, Edinburgh, clinched the 2018 Race to Skye champion title, following in the footsteps of last year’s inaugural winner, Andrew Lennie of The Printing Press Bar & Kitchen, Edinburgh.
Tasked with creating a cocktail which embodied Diageo-owned Talisker’s ‘Made by the Sea’ campaign, Stephanie pitted her skills against six bartenders from across the UK in a series of “highly competitive” semi-finals, which encompassed various challenges, including nosing, tasting and identifying drams from a list of 11 distilleries within a 25-minute timeframe; creating a cocktail which “perfectly complemented” a dish from a six-course dinner at Gleneagles; and, lastly, a trip to Skye to present their Talisker Made by the Sea Signature Serve to a panel of judges at the Talisker distillery in seven minutes or less.
As the winner of the competition, Stefanie has been awarded the title of honorary Talisker ambassador.
Stefanie will also benefit from an “enhanced” PR campaign to help raise her profile in the drinks industry.
Commenting on her triumph, Stefanie said she is “delighted” to have won the Race to Skye.
“I admire the brand in so many ways and I’m incredibly proud to have been a part of the experience and, on top of it, won!” she said.
“The competition was tough and everybody presented amazing serves and real originality behind their stories.
“This is just an amazing way to round off the trip and I’m thrilled to return and carry the Talisker torch.”
Stevie Martin, Scottish malts ambassador at Diageo Reserve, said Stefanie “performed incredibly well across all four challenges and we are looking forward to working with her on Talisker single malt whisky moving forward”.
