It’s no surprise that Silver Star Café’s eye-popping “LaBounty Bourbon Ice Bomb” blasted past the competition in the Park City Area Restaurant Association’s Summer Cocktail Contest which ended July 31, earning top marks for its kinetic presentation and refreshing flavor.
Silver Star mixologist Jeff LaBounty will be awarded a $200 cash prize and will be featured in a marketing campaign leading up to the PCARA’s popular fall “Dine About” event. Plus, in a town with more than 30 top-notch bars and restaurants, Jeff gets to take home some serious bragging rights.
Bartender and server, Michael, fine tuning the ice spheres for the winning cocktail – a multi-hour, painstaking process of precision and perfection!
The LaBounty Bourbon Ice Bomb starts with a hollowed ice sphere with a hole drilled at the top. Sugar House Bourbon, Warre’s Otima 10-Year-Old Tawny Port and Bianca Vermouth are stirred in a tall mixing glass along with house-made balsamic organic cane syrup, black-walnut bitters and peach bitters, plus an ice cube. The frozen sphere’s then placed in a bucket glass, and using a small funnel, the liquid from the mixing glass is then poured into the ice sphere. The drink’s garnished with a fresh peach and served immediately, using a small mallet to crack the sphere open table-side. As the cocktail spills into the glass, the ice sphere turns into the rocks for the drink.
The bourbon-and port-based cocktail earned an average 10 out of 10 rating from 265 voters who cast their ballots online. The runner up was The Hawkeye from The Brass Tag, also averaging 10 out of 10 from 142 voters. In third place was the Strawberry Shrub Collins from Deer Valley Resort’s Royal Street Café. See the top three drinks recipes and results of the contest are shown below. All entries and recipes can be found on each restaurants page.
