Liquid Market Vienna - Revolutionary New Bar EVENT!
Over the weekend 40 of the best bars of Germany & Austria were all on stage in Vienna making thousands of drinks over the course of 3 days to over 5,000 cocktail connoisseurs. The event itself is called the “Liquid Market” & where there are cocktails there is of course Cocktails For You ready to drink them, report on all the details & share with all of our bartenders followers out there about what happening. We believe that Vienna, the Liquid Market & the bar community of this city really stole our heart. So lets dive into why this event is different from so many others in this industry!
The ‘Cocktail Market’ Its a very simple concept where for a set price ticket you’re given access to the event where you can drink to your hearts content everything from cocktails from some of the best bars in the region as well as wine, beer & coffee. The whole event is held in the open gardens of Volksgarten in the heart of Vienna. Theres enough space to hold around 1000 people comfortably, the atmosphere is great & there’s something for everyone. Sometimes bartenders forget that it is consumers who pay the bills at the end of the day & this event allows the general public taste cocktails in an approachable manner in the right setting.
It never gets too crowded, theres music & enough food available for those who stay for the long run. The bartenders have a chance to promote their bars to those present, chat amongst themselves whilst sharing ideas, techniques & recipes. If you’re a bartender who’s never been in Vienna or Austria this is the event to visit where you can really get to know everyone.
The Bryan Flanagan Challenge One of the highlights of the competition is a balls-to-the-wall & no holds barred cocktail competition that pits bartenders, brand ambassadors or anyone in the community worth their salt against each other. Two weeks before they’re given a box of ‘shit’ ingredients & forced to create a presentation & drink that has to actually taste good. The twist in this competition is that you can also donate money during the competition & buy a ‘judging ticket’ which allows you to score the bartenders throughout. The proceed’s were donated to a local NGO charity for the support of refugees coming to Austria.
We saw everything from singing whilst working, blenders not working so they were hastily turned into shakers, impersonations of Mario & Luigi, body shots between the judges & competitors with a bit of striptease thrown into the mix. Of course we cant mention just the presentations are most of the cocktails were definitively gross in the end. One poor contestant had to mix Tomato Juice & Malibu rum & having tasted him drink I must say it was possibly the best of the bunch on the day. Cocktails For You were the hosts, MC’s & alcohol-dispense merchants of the entire event to much success. This friendly competition brought the entire Viennese bartending community together in the best fashion.
Closing thoughts… An event that manages to combine considered educational degustation wrapped in a fun atmosphere, a great location & with a friendly bar community to boot. An event that doesn’t forget the consumer & finds the perfect marriage between them & the bartenders in our industry. The organiser Bert Jachmann has pulled off something unique & special with Liquid Market & we at Cocktails For You eagerly support this message. There’s rumours he is going to take this event all over Europe & we believe this is a great step forward to combine consumers with our nerdier bartenders in the right place & in the right way!