Stoli® Vodka Announces Fifth Annual Key West Cocktail Classic – The World’s Largest LGBT Bartending Competition and Celebration

Stoli Vodka kicked off the fifth annual Key West Cocktail Classic last night, hosting the first of 14 stops in Dallas. The world’s largest LGBT bartending competition brings together the most inventive LGBT and LGBT-ally bartenders to compete to win $20,000 for their chosen charity and to be Crowned 2018 Stoli Key West Cocktail Champion.

February 27, 2018 04:58 PM Eastern Standard Time

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Stoli® Group USA, LLC, in partnership with the Key West Business Guild, kicked off the return of the world’s largest annual LGBT bartender competition, the Stoli Key West Cocktail Classic, last night. Now in its fifth year, this is not a typical cocktail competition, as bartenders are judged on much more than the taste of their Stoli-based drinks with creativity, authenticity, knowledge and presentation factoring heavily into the equation, determined by a panel of judges and consumers, who can apply to cast votes on-site at www.out.com/keywestcocktailclassic. Fourteen cities across the USA and Canada will play host to regional competitions with the theme “Raising the Bar,” beginning tonight in Dallas and culminating in New York City on May 16^th.

@Stoli kicked off world’s largest LGBT bartending competition last night #stolipride #raisingthebar #stolikeywest

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Finalists will win a seven-day, all-inclusive trip to represent their city at the Finale, which will be held June 5-11^th in Key West and is scheduled to include celebrity guests: actor and musician Jai Rodriguez, writer and Emmy Award-winner Bruce Vilanch, American Idol’s Latoya London, star of the annual CNN-televised New Year’s Eve “High Heel Drop” Sushi, dance diva Debby Holiday, and Real Housewives of Dallas star LeeAnne Locken. The 2018 Stoli Key West Cocktail Champion will serve as the 2018 Key West Pride Parade Honorary Grand Marshall and receives $15,000 for charity, a celebration and check presentation at their home bar, and a trip for two to either Vancouver or San Diego Pride 2018. The first runner-up wins $5,000 for charity plus a weeklong Grand Canyon Water Rafting Adventure, courtesy of HE Travel, North America’s oldest LGBT travel agency. The charity donations are split between winners’ chosen non-profits and Key West non-profits each bartender is paired with in advance. Last year’s Champion, Kayla Hasbrook, won $7,500 for Planned Parenthood of New York and $5,000 for the Key West Firehouse Museum.

“This year, we are proud to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the Key West Business Guild, as well as the 40^th anniversary of Harvey Milk being sworn into office; 1978 was indeed an important year,” said Patrik Gallineaux, Stoli’s National LGBT Ambassador and Brand Manager. “The Key West Cocktail Classic recognizes the most innovative bartenders in the country, whose spirit – personally and inside the glass – are reflective of Key West, an island that has been a safe space for so long, and of Harvey Milk, a man whose life opened closet doors for so many.”

Alan Beaubien, President of the Board of the Key West Business Guild, added, “As the oldest LBGT marketing organization in the country, the Key West Business Guild is extremely proud to be able to partner with Stoli for the Cocktail Classic and our June 3^rd-11^th Pride Week Celebration. For five years, Stoli has shown its support to the LBGT community and to the KWBG through this spectacular event series that this year will give back $20,000 to charity while building awareness and support for the importance of the LGBT culture and community. It is with great pleasure that we welcome Stoli and all participants, friends, and fans of the 5th annual Stoli Key West Cocktail Classic to Key West, where we are truly and forever, as our motto reads, ‘One Human Family’.”

In addition to recognizing the talents of the industry’s top LGBT bartenders, the Cocktail Classic celebrates the role that gay bars have played as original community centers and the LGBT and ally bar stars who continue to raise the bar for equality today. For more information about the Stoli Key West Cocktail Classic including how to apply, rules, guidelines, and all the recipes from our 2017 champions visit www.out.com/keywestcocktailclassic and follow along on Facebook and Instagram @Stoli and using the hashtags: #stolipride #raisingthebar #stolikeywest.

About Key West Business Guild

The mission of the Key West Business Guild is to promote LGBT travel to Key West through marketing and the promotion of specialty events; to support gay-owned, gay-managed, and gay-friendly businesses; to strengthen the Gay community’s position within the local community by supporting relevant LGBT issues. The KWBG was founded in 1978 by 8 local gay business owners and has grown to approximately 400 members, which work together to continue efforts to brighten the rainbow over the island, an island now known as Gay Key West. Promotion of events, such as Key West Pride, Tropical Heat and Womenfest, has made Key West a year-round LGBT travel destination. For more information visit www.kwbgonline.org.

About Stoli^® Group USA, LLC

Stoli Group USA is the proud importer and marketer of the Stolichnaya^® brand of premium vodkas and Stoli^® Ginger Beer, ultra-premium elit^® Vodka, Louisiana-distilled Bayou^® Rum, Kentucky Owl^® Bourbon founded in 1879, “Tequila with a Soul” Cenote, super-premium Se Busca Mezcal, Achaval-Ferrer from Argentina, and Arinzano wines of Spain. Formed in 2013, Stoli Group USA is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of SPI Group in Luxembourg.

Contacts

Stoli Group
Patrik Gallineaux, +1-415-312-9492
LGBT Ambassador and Brand Manager
pgallineaux@stoli.com
or
Alison Walsh, +1-917-301-2962
Global Public Relations Lead
awalsh@stoli.com

The post Bruce Vilanch Will Be A Finale Guest At The Fifth Annual Key West Cocktail Classic June 5 – 11 in Key West first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Last weekend, Stoli hosted 15 LGBT bartenders from across North America for the 2016 Stoli Key West Cocktail Classic. More than just a bartending competition, the winning selection was one-part amazing bartender and one-part amazing cocktail, while showcasing Stoli’s dedication to the community.

For Key West, the competition has become an annual favorite, drawing in visitors from all over for Key West Pride weekend. A local pillar of the LGBT community and visitors for nearly 40 years, the queer-friendly Key West Business Guild welcomed Stoli with open arms.

“Having the Stoli Key West Cocktail Classic attached to our Pride gives us the opportunity to have some very fabulous people come and visit,” said Matt Hon, executive director of the Business Guild. “Having these bartenders who are traveling in from 15 different cities that have never been to Key West before, they’re having their first experience here and finding out how fabulous and gay Key West really is.”

The weekend kicked off with a sunset cruise under a light drizzle of rain. It wasn’t enough to ruin the party though as contestants, friends, and Key West locals filled the deck, dancing with cocktails in hand. It was an intimate mixer that quickly built long distance friendships bound to last for years.

The next day, the competition began at 801 Bourbon Bar where I sat alongside fellow judges, Bruce Vilanch and Jai Rodriguez. The first six contestants took turns winning over the crowd with their high octane personalities and strong but tasty drinks. Next, we made our way a block down to Aqua where six more competitors whipped up their best Stoli concoctions. Nine drinks into my shift as guest judge, I was sure I was about to pass out in Jai’s lap (there are worst places to end up blackout drunk).

With 12 master mixologists narrowed down to six, they progressed to the finals alongside the three fan favorite contestants who won immunity from the preliminaries. In front of a massive audience of Key West Pride goers, they took to an outdoor stage right in the middle of Duval Street and in front of Bourbon Street Pub.

As they pulled out all the stops to impress judges, Bruce Vilanch, Latoya London, Stuart Milk, and local drag superstar, Sushi, the bartenders were critiqued on personality, concept, cocktail appearance, taste, and their overall knowledge of Stoli and Key West.

The competition was followed by performances from Jai and Latoya, which included covers of Nick Jonas and Barbra Streisand as well as some original music. As the tension built, we patiently waited to hear the winners of the third annual Stoli Key West Cocktail Classic.

Crowned in first place for his concoction, the Key West Kitty Kat, Rocky Collins AKA “the last top of Dallas” received the partygoers’ approval (below). Tying for second were Carly Morrison of San Francisco and Thuy Nguyen of Atlanta. Coming in third place, Flawless Shade from Portland, Oregon, was the competition’s first drag competitor.

Earlier in the weekend, Stoli’s National LGBT ambassador, Patrik Gallineaux, gave Out some insight into the significance of the competition:

“It’s all about giving back while having fun and celebrating the unique heritage of bartenders throughout history. I had to drive two hours as a kid to go to my nearest gay bar. That was the first time I ever felt happy and accepted, and for me, the gay bar was a community center. And the bartenders were so stellar. They made me feel safe and accepted.”
Gallineaux’s experience is similar to many. Just that night, the point was made very clear when tragedy struck Orlando. Four hours south at the exact same time, we were drinking and enjoying each other’s company much like those at Pulse were doing.

The next morning, there was an unmistakable heaviness in the air. It felt wrong to wake up and celebrate Pride on a day like that day, but days like that day made Pride so important. We continued with the day’s events as planned but when we hugged our old friends and new acquaintances, we lingered just a bit longer. Instead of just drinking in decadence and debauchery, we were very aware of what we were celebrating.

A Pride Parade of local establishments and the Stoli family marched down Duval Street behind a banner that read “Key West Stands with Orlando.” Afterward, we made our way to La Te Da, a locale where Gallineaux presented two checks to Collins for charities of his choice. (Collins chose the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS, in Dallas, and Wesley House in Key West.)

Then, we marched to the Atlantic Ocean in silence to honor those who had lost their lives earlier that morning. As we reached the pier, Stuart Milk of the Harvey Milk Foundation stepped to the front to say a few words. I tried to get through the crowd to hear him but the pier was covered in people. I took off my shoes and walked through the water, watching over the side through people’s legs to see this great activist address my community.

With wet sand between my toes, I looked around at my brothers and sisters. All were sharing the same grief. Strangers hugged each other and cried together. It was the first time I’d seen my generation truly come together to support each other.

The post Bruce Vilanch Judge At 2016 Stoli Key West Cocktail Classic first appeared on We Got Bruce!.