ABERDEEN bartender Ryan Mackie will have the opportunity to create his own mixer after winning a cocktail competition for gin brand William Kerr’s.
The Our Elixir, Your Mixer competition was launched by parent company Borders Distillery in June and challenged bartenders to create a cocktail using natural ingredients and inspired by the brand’s namesake, explorer William Kerr.
Five finalists then presented their drinks to a judging panel that included Andrew Nairn, distillery manager at Borders Distillery, Hannah Fisher of independent drinks bottler Start-Up Drinks Lab and Alison Higgins of the Scottish Gin Society.
Mackie’s winning cocktail, Crop Circle, combined William Kerr’s Gin with rhubarb and barley cordial, lemon juice and bitters, topped with chamomile soda.
Mackie, from Orchid in Aberdeen, will now work with Start-Up Drinks Lab to create his mixer.
Tim Carton, co-founder of Borders Distillery, said the team was “incredibly impressed with the effort that came in from bartenders across Scotland”.
