Stoli opens annual LGBT cocktail competition

Stolichnaya Vodka has partnered with Key West Business Guild to launch its second annual Stoli Key West Cocktail Classic competition for bartenders in the US.

Stoli Vodka has launched its second annual Key West Cocktail Classic competition

Bartenders are tasked to create an original cocktail using Stoli as their base spirit, which will be judged by a panel of local celebrity judges on its uniqueness, taste and appearance.

A total of 14 heats will take place in different cities culminating in a grand final during Key West Pride 2015.

The overall winner will rise in the Key West Pride Parade as the honorary grand marshal and win US$5,000 for a LGBT or LGBT-friendly charity of their choice.

“It is an honour to host the Stoli Key West Classic, North America’s largest annual LGBT cocktail competition,” said Patrik Gallineaux, the national LGBT ambassador for Stoli. “Our community’s hard working nightlife professionals often do not receive the recognition they deserve.

“it is amazing to see what our nation’s bartenders can do with their imagination, their cocktails shaker the Stoli vodka.”

The competition will be hosted by Gallineaux and TV personality Jai Rodriguez in partnership with Key West Business Guild, an organisation of LGBT-owned and LGBT-friendly businesses in Key West.

Judges will include designer Andrew Christian, Bruce Vilanch, actress and singer LaToya and Key West personality and star of the annual New Year’s Eve High Heall Drop, Sushi.

Matt Hon, executive director of the Key West Business Guild, said: “The LGBT community has some of the most inventive bartenders in the country.

“Through the Key West Cocktail Classic, they’re getting the opportunity to showcase their creativity and put a spotlight on the community.”