The Bartistry Competition: An Exciting Addition to Things to Do in Nassau

 A new bar tour is in town and it’s giving guests a chance to taste The Islands Of The Bahamas from their glasses.

 Bartistry Bahamas Competition, a brainchild of Commonwealth Brewery Ltd, was created to encourage and showcase the bar culture in New Providence. It features eight signature spirits: Johnnie Walker Black, Hennessey Pure White, Baileys, Don Julio Silver, Campari, Kettle One Vodka, Ricardo Coconut and Hendricks Gin. The competition also enlists 13 bars that each prepare a different cocktail for each of the spirits. No drink is the same and bartenders are encouraged to be as creative as possible,

 For guests visiting Nassau, self-guided tours will be available or guided bar crawls will be organized.

 Arame Strachan, Sales Manager for HOtels REstaurants and CAfes (HORECA), said this is an opportunity to experience The Bahamas the Bahamian way.

"We are organizing bar crawls so that when guests visit our shores, they can experience The Bahamas. We also want to share our bar culture so that local bartenders can be creative with the cocktails. Many of these cocktails also have local ingredients, for example, Wild Thyme has a cocktail with avocado and one with tamarind sauce. The bartenders are really creative with local ingredients so the guests may be able to find cocktails throughout the Caribbean but I doubt they'll be able to find another cocktail with tamarind sauce, avocado or Ricardo Coconut. They'll have the chance to experience the Taste of The Bahamas, our way," Strachan said.

The Bartistry Competition originated as a four-week competition that allowed bartenders to battle for bragging rights. The competition began with 10 bartenders and ended with three bartenders battling for first place. The winner of it all was Derek Blackmon who created a combination of two cocktails. The first was Hennessey Dreams which featured Hennessey Pure White and the other featured Don Julio and was called a Smoking 42. 

Derek said he's already looking forward to next year.

 "I'm looking forward to next year with the competition giving more bartenders the chance to actually participate because we do have a good number of crafted bartenders along the island but they need a chance to gain experience and that's what it does," he said.

While the Bartistry Competition is a good addition in things to do in The Bahamas, it is also a new addition to Culinary Tourism, and Deanne Gibson, Manager of Culinary Arts in the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation, said she's looking forward to it being something visitors can enjoy.

"The Bartistry Competition is going to be another tier in the culinary aspect and I'm looking very much forward to it being an activity for visitors to do while they're here in The Bahamas.  It has two spins where you can either do it as a self-guided tour where you go into one of their 700 Wines & Spirits stores and you can pick up the brochure and go from bar to bar on your own. Or you can do a bar crawl done with the tour company and 700 Wines & Spirits collaboratively and so I think we're excited about new food tourism activities that are coming on board so something like this which is a first is exciting for me,” she said.

For more information, visit Bartistry Bahamas on Facebook.