Moutai announced their top ten finalists for their Enter The Dragon cocktail competition at Handpicked Wines Cellar Door.
Stumbling past the venue, you’d wonder why you weren’t invited. The music, by Dj Levins, created the perfect ambiance. Cool, sophisticated, and tasteful. Immediately, small, charming details came to attention. Everything from the native Australian plants displayed in wine glasses, to the bottles of Moutai scattered around the venue set the tone for what would be a night of dazzling cultural fusion.
As if the theme wasn’t impressive enough, we were greeted with succulent peking duck pancakes by Holy Duck, BBQ pork buns from Spice Alley, and Moutai cocktails.
What they had dubbed the Moutai Mai Tai was an unexpected take on a tiki classic, blending the tropical, fruity profile of the cocktail with the Chinese spirit. It was fresh, innovative, and an all-around favourite. Other cocktails they had on offer were a mango, gin, and Moutai concoction, and an eyebrow-raising dark beer and prosecco brew. Each cocktail was distinctly different to anything we’d ever tried before, and we were left impressed by all.
Moutai’s Brand Manager Jenny Chiu, and The Drink Cabinet’s Jason Crawley presented the top ten finalists for the Enter the Dragon competition, bringing bartenders together from all over Australia. These bartenders were tasked to blend the revered Chinese spirit with Australian native flavours, and, as Jenny said, the response was incredible.
Handpicked Wines Cellar Door were the perfect hosts, providing the perfect venue, a variety canapes and charcuterie, and Australian wines. The bartenders were also more than happy to share a few tricks of the trade, and left us wondering why we’d never tried this spirit before.
-Monika
Proud glutton, beer snob, sustainability enthusiast and collector of silly socks. Aspiring ‘Cool Aunt’ who collects eccentric artifacts from her world travels.
The Enter the Dragon finals will take place on 13 November at QT Melbourne. Each finalist will compete to win a trip to Hong Kong, where they will learn ancient techniques of Moutai production.
