Seattle bartender Nik Virrey’s Naka Niwa wins gin cocktail competition

Published 1:11 pm Friday, August 7, 2015

On Monday six of Seattle’s top bartenders competed to see who could make the best, most creative gin cocktail in the Most Imaginative Bartender Competition, put on every year by the U.S. Bartender Guild.

Using Bombay Sapphire Gin, bartenders were tasked with coming up with a drink good enough to wow the judges and send them to the North American competition in Las Vegas in September. There was also a people’s choice award given out to the bartender who received the most votes from guests.

Bartenders took the “imaginative” part of this competition to heart. There was a cocktail spin on the Vietnamese dish pho, which involved beef broth, lemon juice and sriracha. Cameron George of Suite 410 was inspired by a Bakewell tart, an English confection from his childhood, for his cocktail. It was a dark, syrupy-sweet drink involving raspberry jam and topped with whipped cream.

The people’s choice award went to Sander Raav of Herb and Bitter Public House, who delivered a crisp, refreshing, summery cocktail with granny smith and celery infused vermouth, Amaro Montenegro, lemon juice, simple syrup and, of course, gin.

The winning bartender was Nik Virrey, representing the Seattle restaurant Naka. Virrey called his concoction Naka Niwa, which translates to “a garden inside,” he said. Everything he added to the drink was meant to bring out one or a few of the 10 botanicals that give Bombay Sapphire its flavor. His drink had matcha green tea, smoked sea salt, ginger and it was topped with a tomato water made from fresh tomatoes, picked earlier that morning, Virrey said.

That sounds like a strange combination, but the method to Virrey’s madness worked: the Naka Niwa is balanced and fresh with a hint of sour, a hint of spice and finishes off with the sweetness of fresh tomatoes.

Naka Niwa

• 2 ounces Bombay Sapphire Gin
• 1 ounce acid fire ginger shrub
• 1/4 ounce bitter matcha and smoked sea salt solution
• 5 ounces fresh tomato water

Follow Hops and Sips on Twitter at www.twitter.com/hopsandsips. Email Aaron Swaney at aswaney@heraldnet.com or Jessi Loerch at jloerch@heraldnet.com.