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Matthias Ingelmann wins Made in GSA 2016

With his “Rum to the Roots” cocktail, Bamberg’s Matthias Ingelmann has stormed to victory in this year’s Made in GSA competition. A trip to the bar mecca of Singapore awaits. Held in the glittering Hotel Les Trois Rois in Basel, here’s the lowdown on what went down at this year’s contest.

In 2016, it was Basel’s turn to host the Made in GSA contest. And what a competition it was! The jury, consisting of Helmut Adam (MIXOLOGY publisher and founder of Made in GSA), Gerhard Kozbach-Tsai (Tür 7, Wien), the Munich bar legend Charles Schumann and bartender and host Thomas Huhn (Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois, Basel), had a tough decision on their hands. 12 excellent finalists took to the bar of Les Trois Rois – incidentally, a fantastic host! – and gave their best hand.

After some deliberation, it was announced that Matthias Ingelmann from Bamberg’s Ostbar had emerged victorious with his drink “Rum to the Roots”. Max Bergfried from Cologne’s Spirits bar took 2nd place, whilst Nik Neubauer from Munich’s Charles Hotel mixed his way into 3rd.

Taking Rum to the Roots

Ingelmann managed to sway the jury with his Revolte Rum-based “Rum on the Roots”, that includes Beetroot-Schnaps from Faude Feine Brände as a second base: “With his ‘Rum to the Roots’, Matthias Ingelmann has developed an outstanding modern cocktail, a cocktail which has everything it needs to become a permanent fixture on bar menus everywhere. It’s crisp, refreshing, simple but refined, and shows perfect balance. In addition, it shows once again what Made in GSA is all about: that the spirits and specialty drinks from German-speaking countries do not have to hide from the international market and can be used for excellent cocktails,” said Helmut Adam after the awards ceremony.

Nils Wrage, editor of MIXOLOGY, had a few words about the competition too. ”It is particularly gratifying to see that the number and range of our sponsors is growing every year, but also to see the recipes the bartenders are coming up with,” he said. “In addition to old favourites gin and vermouth, we’ve seen exciting drinks made with GSA-made rums and brandies. The special category saw cumin, herbs, and aquavit utilized. This really is a great development, as it now only shows how rich our range of domestic products are, but also how professional our bartenders are too.”

From Bamberg to Singapore

Here’s what happened in the individual categories. Kai Runge from Bamberg’s Bar Schluckspecht won the prize in the Special category, whilst Nik Neubauer took the “Sodas & Filler” section. Some great prizes are heading their way: Kai Runge a shaker set from the exclusive Birdy by Erik Lorincz collection and Nik Neubauer a set of Perfect Serve-glasses, from the collection Cologne Bartender Stephan Hinz jointly developed with Spiegelau.

That’s not to mention what the overall winner has coming up. Matthias Ingelmann is heading to Singapore this summer for a one week trip to discover one of the best cities in the world for high-class bar culture, a pioneer for the whole of Asia. 2nd-placer Max Bergfried wins a trip to Berlin in October – yes, one which includes a visit to the Bar Convent Berlin and the MIXOLOGY BAR AWARDS! – with 3rd placer Nik Neubauer receiving a voucher for the Cocktailian Store.

Congratulations to all our winners! And see you next year…

The Made in GSA competition is made possible every year by our numerous sponsors in the domestic beverage industry, who support the competition with their generous participation. MIXOLOGY thanks all our sponsors and of course our participants.

Credits

Foto: Christian Herzig / konzertbilder.ch

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