Winning Bartender: Carolyn – Minnesota

What was the inspiration for your Lime Bite creation? To use a less common ingredient that would compliment Captain Morgan’s Lime Bite, I selected Dr. Mc Gillicuddy’s Intense Cherry and Peach Schnapps. The complete cocktail is relatively low maintenance so it potentially could become a popular mix on both ends.

What is the most important tool a bartender must have? A pen. We are always losing them and that’s how we get paid.

Any advice? Work a few less busy afternoon shifts and tell the customers you’re new. Ask them to challenge you and give you feedback.

Tell us one thing about tending bar that we may not know. The smallest gesture of kindness goes a long way!  I know you’re waiting for a cocktail, so instead of being loud or impatient, a simple smile will bring me to you faster.

Bite O’Shasta

Ingredients:

3/4 Lime Bite
1/4 Cherry Cuddy
1/4 Peach
Healthy splash of Lemon Lime Soda
Lime wedge and cherry garnish

Preparation:

Fill high ball glass with Ice. Add all liquors to shaker. Shake and pour over ice. Splash with Lemon Lime soda. Garnish & serve!

Photos from Gainesville, Florida

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Winning Bartender: Chelsea B. – Gainesville, Florida

What was the inspiration for your Lime Bite creation? I was trying to think of what mixes well with lime, and one my favorite things to drink is strawberry limeaid, so I figured I would try and make a drink from it.

What is your favorite Captain Morgan cocktail? Captain and coke…. all day, everyday.

What is the most important tool a bartender must have? Personality… and a bar key.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to become a bartender? Don’t be afraid to try new things, put your name out there, and be personable!

Tell us one thing about tending bar that we may not know. It is a lot more work than people assume. It’s not just pouring drinks—it’s remembering cocktail recipes, remembering multiple drinks at a time and remembering customers names.

How do you deal with overly intoxicated consumers? Give them lots of water, offer to call them a cab and/or find their friends to take them home.

Alter Ego

Ingredients:
3/4 Captain Morgan Lime Bite
3/4 Captain Morgan Parrot Bay Strawberry
3/4 pink lemonade
Splash of cranberry
Splash of sprite
Strawberry
Powdered sugar

Preparation:
Mix CM LB, CM PB Strawberry, pink lemonade, cranberry, and sprite in a shaker tin with ice. Shake to chill, pour in rocks glass. Sprinkle powdered sugar over fresh strawberry and garnish the side of the glass. Have consumer bite into strawberry, and then sip cocktail.

Winning Bartender: Alexa B. – Tallahassee, Florida

What was the inspiration for your Lime Bite creation? I wanted to make a drink that tasted really good and I love tropical drinks.

What is your favorite Captain Morgan cocktail? Captain Morgan Spiced Rum, Orange and Cranberry Juice.

What is the most important tool a bartender must have? Being quick on your feet.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to become a bartender? Always check ids no matter what.

Tell us one thing about tending bar that we may not know. Hey a girl can’t reveal all her secrets.

How do you deal with overly intoxicated consumers? I want to make sure that person is ok and see if any of their friends are nearby and try my best to make sure they have a safe ride home.

Captain’s Berry Berry Bite

Ingredients:

3/4 Captain Morgan Lime Bite
1/2 Peach schnapps
1/4 Berry schnapps
Equal parts of cranberry, orange, and pineapple juice
Garnish cherry, lime, orange slice on a umbrella toothpick

Preparation:

Fill tall glass with ice. Mix and shake all ingredients in shaker. Pour over ice. Poke toothpick through orange, lime and then cherry drop into drink with drink umbrella.

Photos from Seattle, Washington

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Photos from Portland

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Winning Bartender: Ricky Burby – Portland, Oregon

What was the inspiration for your Lime Bite creation? The Orange Julius has been my favorite drink so I wanted to recreate it with Captain Morgan.

What is your favorite Captain Morgan cocktail? My creation the Orange Julius Bite.

What is the most important tool a bartender must have? A wide variety of glassware is a must.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to become a bartender? Understand your alcohol.

Tell us one thing about tending bar that we may not know. It can be a dirty business.

How do you deal with overly intoxicated consumers? Ask them politely to leave and replace their drink with water or coffee.

Captain’s Orange Bite

Ingredients:

3/4 oz. Parrot Bay Orange Rum
1/2 oz. Captain Morgan Lime Bite
1/4 oz. Parrot Bay Coconut Rum
Cranberry juice
Sprite
Lemons, Limes & Oranges

Preparation:
In a tall glass filled with ice, muddle fresh Oranges, Limes and Lemons. Add Lime Bite and Parrot Bay Orange & Coconut Rum. Add 3 oz. of Cranberry juice, shake vigorously. Top with splash of Sprite and garnish with a cherry or lime.

Photos from Philly

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Photos from Massachusetts

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Photos from Athens, Georgia

Photos from Colorado

Winning Bartender: Spike Evans – Colorado

What was the inspiration for this cocktail? The tropical island flavors that all of Captain Morgan’s products showcase.

What is your favorite Captain Morgan Cocktail? The Captain Gimlet – Captain Morgan OSR and Lime Juice.

What is the most important tool a bartender must have? Being able to think on your feet. But second would be my thumbs.

What advice would you give someone who wanted to be a bartender? Start young and bust your ass. Also, learn how to be a professional, responsible drinker.

Tell us one thing about bartending that we might not already know? The customer is often wrong.

How do you deal with overly intoxicated consumers? This is not a situation that arises often in my bar as we are taught how to be responsible servers. Should the situation arise I would be polite, offer them water, and call them a cab. Nothing is more important than getting them home safely.

Flamingo Bite

Ingredients:
3/4 oz. Captain Morgan Lime Bite
1/4 oz. Parrot Bay Pineapple
1/4 oz. Parrot Bay Coconut
1/4 oz. Midori
Splash of Pineapple
Squeeze of Lime
Orange Peel to garnish

Preparation:
Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake to a froth. Pour into a martini glass.  Flame orange peel to garnish.

Photos from Madison, WI

Winning Bartender: Jeremy Nelson – Madison, Wisconsin

What was the inspiration for your Lime Bite creation? I wanted something traditional yet new-something that really brings out the lime flavor.

What is your favorite Captain Morgan cocktail? Captain and cola.

What is the most important tool a bartender must have? The ability to perform under pressure.  Also patients plays a big role in performing under pressure.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to become a bartender? Practice. It takes time to become skilled. Start at the bottom with basic drink knowledge and work your way up to more creative cocktails.

Tell us one thing about tending bar that we may not know. The bartender is the host of the party  - the entertainer. You are on stage as a bartender – put on a show!

How do you deal with overly intoxicated consumers? Suggest food and water and make sure they get a safe ride home.

Lime Bite-A-Rita

Ingredients:
1 oz. of Captain Morgan Lime Bite
1/2 oz. of Triple Sec
3 1/2 oz. of Sour Mix
1 oz. Strawberry Margarita Mix
1/2 oz. Lime Juice
Lime garnish
Sugar for rim

Preparation:
Pour ingredients into shaker with ice. Shake until ingredients are well mixed and chilled. Rim glasses with sugar. Pour into serving glasses and garnish with a lime. Enjoy!

Winning Bartender: Adam Hyde – Athens, Georgia

What was the inspiration for your Lime Bite creation? For my drink, I wanted to create a drink with a BITE but that still evoked the refreshingness of all the great previous Captain Morgan’s cocktails to date.  With the watermelon and fresh basil bringing the refreshing aromatic notes to the drink, I tied in the BITE with Captain Morgan Lime Bite, the jalapeno and the premium ginger ale.  All in all creating a masterpiece the Captain would gladly stand for.

What is your favorite Captain Morgan cocktail? My favorite Captain Morgan cocktail would have to be the simple, yet outstanding Captain Morgan Private Stock on the rocks with a splash of coke.

What is the most important tool a bartender must have? For me, the most important tool a bartender must have is patience.  Patience to take the time to learn the multifaceted aspects of being a bartender and gain the knowledge to be well versed in all forms of cocktails.  Patience to learn how to manage the most unruly of crowds as well as the most compliant crowds in order to benefit the bar which he/she represents as well as themselves to the greatest potential.  Patience is always a bartender’s best tool.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to become a bartender? My advice for an aspiring bartender would have to be, to prepare yourself daily.  The job of a bartender is defined as simply as a server of drinks.  However, being a good/great bartender not only requires time and dedication, but the determination to conquer the undeniably challenging tasks one will be faced with each and every night.  You’re not just a bartender; you’re responsible for providing enjoyable times and memories for hundreds of patrons each and every night and each night will present a different crowd and situation in which you must manipulate in order to be the best bartender you can be.  No one night will ever be the same as the next.  Preparation is key.

Tell us one thing about tending bar that we may not know. Besides all the popular beliefs, made famous by the movie Cocktail, bartending isn’t the easy, glamorous job with the high source of income one may believe it to be.  Sure there are opportunities for great income, but that only comes to the bartenders who take advantage of the opportunity and become a great bartender.  The more you want to be the best bartender, the more dividends that will be reciprocated in the long run.  So in short, although bartending can be fun and a party every night, it is still a job and those who are good bartenders take it seriously.

How do you deal with overly intoxicated consumers? When trying to handle the overly intoxicated customers, I try to handle them with the upmost respect.  By doing so, I hope to create a rapport with them in order to handle the situation without a hitch.  Just cutting them off will often upset them and having them thrown out will not leave them with a good impression of yourself or the establishment you work at.  Obviously, I would offer them water or another non-alcoholic beverage first and politely suggest that they not drink anymore.  While doing so, I will take notice of the surrounding patrons to see if I could determine a group of friends he/she may be with.  And possibly alert them to the situation.  I would also inform my coworkers of the overly intoxicated customer to prevent them from selling to him/her.  Hopefully, the situation will have taken care of itself and the patron would understand.  If they were to become unruly and overly annoyed with the service, I would then alert the proper security and inform them to ask the patron to leave politely.  Always being polite and considerate will leave the door open for repeat customers and more potential sales.

Captain’s Sweet Heat Bite

Ingredients:
1 1/2 oz. Captain Morgan lime bite
3 tsp of Watermelon Spirit Twister
3-4 oz. Blenheim Ginger Ale
1/4 of a fresh jalapeño, seeded/deveined
4-5 1″ cubes of grilled watermelon w/sea salt
4-5 leaves of fresh basil

Preparation:
Grill watermelon topped with sea salt. Let watermelon cool and cut into 1″ cubes. Cut fresh jalapeño into fourths, deseed and devein. Put watermelon cubes, fresh jalapeño and basil in shaker. Muddle thoroughly. Add Captain Morgan Lime Bite and Watermelon Spirit Twisters. Shake thoroughly. Strain mixture twice before pouring over ice to remove excess pulp and leaves. Once over ice, top with Blenheim Ginger Ale. Stir. Garnish with a watermelon slice and fresh basil. Relax, refresh, and repeat.