After three consecutive wins, "Marvelous" Marv Cunningham secured a second place finish at the 11-man Stoli Cocktail Masters competition in St. Maarten. It was a placing that was both satisfying and disappointing to the mixologist. He was disappointed in not keeping his win-loss record clean, but was able to also look at the second place finish as another life lesson.
"I'm actually happy I didn't win because I think a monster would have been created," said Cunningham who went into the competition as the top dog having earlier this year won the Caribbean Bartender of the Year title, the Hennessy title as well as the local Stoli title which advanced him into the recent regional competition. "The second place kind of brought me back down to earth," he said. Going into the regional final, Cunningham was prepared and confident that he had the win in the bag, but he simply couldn't close it on the day as an unfortunate accident threw him off his game. A piece of equipment necessary to prepare his cocktails was inadvertently thrown in the trash during the competition.
"A special event coordinator took a 20-ounce hard plastic bottle that I needed to carbonate my cocktails and threw it away. I had the empty bottle in the ice bin because I needed it to be chilled, but because it was empty they thought it was just trash and decided to throw it in the garbage," he said. Cunningham who had to make two cocktails in seven minutes and explain his creations to the judges, said while making his first cocktail he reached into the ice bin for the bottle and it wasn't there. He lost time off the clock looking for it.
"A million things went through my mind wondering where I left it, where did I put it, but I knew I had put it into the ice bin. That really threw me off. There were a lot of things I wanted to tell the judges as to why I created the cocktail and wasn't able to explain, because I totally lost it," he said.
St. Croix's Frank Robinson who Cunningham went head-to-head with at the Taste of the Caribbean competition, and whom Cunningham competed against at the 2014 Stoli regionals took home the win, a $1,000, a trip to Las Vegas and a bottle of Stoli Elit. For his second place showing, Cunningham returned home with $500 and a bottle of Stoli 100 proof.
Cunningham's libations for the competition included a twist on a Stoli cocktail -- either the Stoli Lemonade or Stoli Mule (a Moscow Mule of Stoli Vodka, ginger beer and lime); and an original Caribbean themed creation.
In 2014, Cunningham presented a twist on the Stoli Lemonade. To show his versatility this year he decided to present a twist on the Stoli Mule. His drink included homemade ginger syrup to replace the ginger beer; coconut water to give it body; chocolate bitters to give it essence and fragrance; and Stoli Citrus for a citrus bouquet. The Stoli Mule is a cocktail that contains carbonated soda. Cunningham did his own carbonation.
For his Caribbean cocktail creation, Cunningham wanted to give the judges a taste of The Bahamas, and modified his Essence of the Sea creation that he debuted at the Taste of the Caribbean competition. He kept the conch, but changed up some concepts and ingredients in the aperitif.
While he may have been upset in the moment at breaking his perfect win streak, Cunningham is the type who believes everything happens for a reason. And he believes there had to be a silver lining to his story in his development in mixology and his growth in competition.
"Obviously you want to win them all but you can't. And sometimes you need to feel defeat to stay on top of your game," said Cunningham who works at Aura nightclub. With three wins and a second place showing under his belt this year, Cunningham says he would like to see more Bahamian bartenders getting involved in the cocktail competition culture.
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