Bitter & Twisted’s Lauren Azevedo Crowned Winner of The 2022 Last Slinger Standing
AZ Cocktail Weekend Crowns The 2022 Last Slinger Standing
Bitter & Twisted’s Lauren Azevedo bested 15 fellow mixologists with her winning riff on the classic Sidecar made with 60-year-old Cognac to win Arizona’s most prestigious bartending competition
(Press Release) – The 2022 Arizona Cocktail Weekend is proud to announce that Lauren Azevedo of Bitter & Twisted Cocktail Parlour defeated 15 other competitors to win the 2022 Last Slinger Standing bartending contest on Monday, February 21. Hosted as part of the 10th Anniversary Arizona Cocktail Weekend, the Valley’s premier and longest-running bartending competition featured top mixologists going head-to-head to in a live cocktail clash judged by expert panels, and presented by Republic National Distributing Company of Arizona, one of the nation’s leading wholesale beverage alcohol distributors, specializing in wine and spirits.
Hosted at The Churchill in the heart of historic downtown Phoenix, the Last Slinger Standing competitors were cheered on by a crowd of more than 800 cocktail fans. Starting with 16 top local mixologists, the finals featured Lauren Azevedo besting Daniel Young of Culinary Dropout in a head-to-head battle with a surprise special ingredient: 60-year-old Hardy Noces de Diamant Cognac. In the end, the distinguished panel of judges (Karen Grill, Remy-Cointreau Portfolio Ambassador; Edoardo Branca, sixth-generation family member and Managing Director of Branca USA; Colin Asare-Appiah, Director Multicultural Advocacy, Bacardi North America) dubbed Azevedo the 2022 winner for her riff inspired by the classic Sidecar. Using this amazing product at the base, she created a stirred interpretation that the judges described as a balanced and refreshing cocktail made with lemon, gum syrup and a splash of Cointreau, finished with a small float of the Hardy Noces de Diamant, then garnished with a simple expressed orange.
“The brandy was almost three times as old as I am, so I knew I wanted to keep things simple and treat it gently,” Acevedo says, “So I went with a very minimalist version of a sidecar and skipped the traditional lemon wedge garnish for something a little more subtle.” So how did the newly crowned Last Slinger Standing celebrate? “I’m probably the least social bartender around, so I did go swing by the at the afterparty at Lucky’s Indoor-Outdoor for about 20 minutes. Then I drove through In n Out, went home and had a shot to calm my nerves, and went to bed.”
As the 2022 winner, Azevedo joins an exclusive list of Last Slinger Stranding champions, including 2020 winner Colton Brock of Ladera Taverna y Cocina, 2019 winner Chanel Godwin-McMaken of Little Rituals and 2018 winner, Joshua James of Clever Koi/Clever Ramen, Across the Pond and Fellow Osteria, and more. Winners are not eligible to enter the following year, and the Last Slinger Standing was not held in 2021.
About Republic National Distributing Company: As a top beverage alcohol distributor in the nation, RNDC’s national reach helps suppliers by building strategic relationships with on- and off-premise customers to elevate their brands and reach their target consumers. RNDC currently operates in the District of Columbia and 37 states across the United States, with the expected addition of the New York market in 2022. To learn more, visit www.rndc-usa.com
Giving Back: The Arizona Cocktail Weekend is also dedicated to giving back to the local community, including its own dedicated 501(c3) charity, The Jupiter Foundation, which in 2022 plans to expand assistance to other charitable organizations through contributions, helping other deserving Phoenix-based charities like Local First Arizona Foundation which directly benefited through our past contributions to help aid our community.