Caribbean Bartender of the Year, Bahamas Stoli Cocktail Master Bartending champion and Hennessy Bartending champion — it’s a winning streak that “Marvelous” Marv Cunningham is putting on the line at the regional Stoli Cocktail Masters Bartending Challenge in St. Maarten, but he went into the competition confident.
“Judging is subjective. You don’t know which judges you’re going to have, you don’t know if the judge hates watermelon or cantaloupe and anybody can win on any given day, you just need to practice and put the work in. You can’t wake up one week before competition, throw foolishness into a cup and expect to come out a champion. It does not work like that,” said Cunningham prior to heading to St. Maarten yesterday.
Cunningham went into the competition confident with three consecutive wins, the most recent being the Hennessy Bartending competition, which he won with concoctions such as “The Duff” and the “Hennessy Holiday” — drinks that were reminiscent of flavors from his childhood.
“Hennessy is not a spirit that you can mix with any and everything. It’s a delicate spirit,” he said. It’s also a spirit that he finds hot and that warms the soul. When he thought about what he would present during competition, he knew he wanted to cool down the spirit’s heat — and to do that he had to make use of soothing creams and chocolate.
“The condensed [sweet] milk and the sweetness from the guava puree was a perfect combination for that,” he said of “The Duff”, an ode to his mother’s use of cognac in her guava duff sauce.
Prior to the competition, he also took to the streets and randomly asked 20 people to choose between guava duff and coconut tart as their Bahamian sweet treat. Guava duff he said won 15 to five, and that determined which concoction he went into the Hennessy competition with.
“The Duff” put him through to the semifinals where he presented the “Hennessy Holiday”, a drink he describes as calming and mood inducing. He said it’s a drink designed for the festive season, as cognac is mostly purchased and consumed during the Christmas season. The Hennessy Holiday he said is comprised of any and everything you can find in the kitchen, and one with lots of aroma.
“I can only give the story of me growing up and what we had in our house, so it was apple-cinnamon tea; rosemary which my mom cooked her turkey with; and all-spice, because what Bahamian cooks chicken souse without all spice?”
For the libation, Cunningham heats the cracked all-spice stovetop in a pan to release the oils, then adds Hennessy to the pan to absorb the spice flavor. He allows it to cool and sit and infuse for 48 hours.
“The Hennessy Holiday” put him through to the final where he had to choose which of his two drinks he would prepare. He went with the “Hennessy Holiday” in the final because the story behind it was meaningful to him. Even though The Duff also had history, he said he could tell the Hennessy Holiday story more comfortably.
The Hennessy win was Marv’s third in a three-month span. As far as he’s concerned, he can only stop himself.
“I’m very proud of myself, knowing from where I came from and my background in the industry and always being told that I could not surpass the names of the greats like Oswald Greenslade’s or the Wilfred Sands’. And it’s not out of disrespect that you try to show them up, but I want to show them that as long as you have a dream and passion, you can supersede any legacy, and my name is worth mentioning in the same sentence as theirs.”
Cunningham gives credit to Chef Sheldon Tracey Sweeting who he says taught him humility. It was that humble approach that he says he took into all of the competitions. And he gave credit to God for being able to come up with the concepts.
“God had to give me the strength and the wisdom and the knowledge … because I spent many sleepless nights brainstorming, and I was like where do these ideas come from. The ideas have to come from somewhere. When we wake up in the morning we ask God for guidance and a sense of direction, and I couldn’t have thought about it on my own, so I give my kudos to the all-mighty,” he said.
He headed to the Stoli regional competition after a recent surgery for an injury he sustained in February, a surgery he had put off for many months to allow him to be able to compete. If he had had surgery in May as scheduled, he would have missed the Taste of the Caribbean competition and would not have won Caribbean Bartender of the Year, a first for The Bahamas. And he would have missed the Stoli competition but would have been healed to compete in Hennessey. And if he had had surgery after Taste he would have missed the Stoli and Hennessy, competitions, so he put off surgery until he had a three-week span to heal properly, which he did before heading to the Stoli regional competition yesterday.
Cunningham will present his twist on a Moscow Mule during the regional competition. His other option was a twist on the Stoli Lemonade, but seeing as he had done twists on the Stoli Lemonade in the two previous competitions, he decided to take a leap of faith on the Moscow Mule, a cocktail that only has three flavors — vodka, ginger beer and lime.
In Cunningham’s twist he eliminated the ginger beer in favor of a spicy ginger syrup, coconut water and Stoli Citrus. But he said it would be his mixing method that will really showcase how the drink is not the same. He also carbonated the cocktail.
“It will be spectacular for sure.”
Cunningham said going into the Stoli regional competition that he was confident because he knew he put in the hard work and practice.
The Stoli winner walks away with $1,000, a trip to Las Vegas and a bottle of Stoli Elit; second place gets $500 and a bottle of premium vodka; third gets $250 and a bottle of premium vodka.
Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian
