Beaumont TM were very proud to be at Warwick University last week supporting the annual TUCO bar competition. TUCO aka The University Caterers Organisation holds a number of events for University students throughout the year in areas such as bar skills, cooking & serving, salon culinaire, and barista skills. The bar competition this year took place at Warwick University and included entrants from all over the country.
Working against the clock entrants were required to prepare:
- A sharing drink- must be for 4 persons
- Signature cocktail – which will include specific ingredients
- A beer/cider cocktail – which will include minimum 3 ingredients.
- A time challenge: make as many 25ml Beefeater and Tonics in one minute. Competing in a head to head with at least one other competitor.
With only 5 minutes for each of the first three rounds to make and serve, it is certainly a challenge. Beaumont TM supported this event alongside DPS Tableware, Coca Cola, Heineken and others and provided a whole array of our cocktail making equipment as well as a number of items from our Signature serving range.
You can check out the full rules and criteria for victory below:
Competition Rules
Prepare 1 sharing drink.
- You may use a serving vessel of your choice. It should serve a minimum of 4 people
- You may use one homemade ingredient.
- Maximum 125 ml alcoholic ingredient may be used
- One ingredient must be a funkin product
Prepare two of the same signature cocktails
- You will be asked to prepare a cocktail of your choice from the ingredients list, containing no more than 50ml of alcohol.
- You may bring your own garnish and use one homemade ingredient.
- You must prepare 2 x signature cocktails
Prepare two of the same beer/cider cocktails.
- It must include 1 x beer/cider ingredient from a list.
- Maximum 2 alcohol units per serve
- Marking Criteria
| Name of Round | Description | Scoring |
| Sharing Serve | Make 1 x sharing serve to serve a minimum of 4 x 150 ml drinks | 1st Place 10 points 2nd Place 8 points 3rd Place 5 point |
| Signature Serve | Create drink from list of selected ingredients | Maximum 100 points Drink Taste – 20 points Bartender’s knowledge – 20 points Bartending technique – 20 points Cleanliness – 20 points Marketing story – 20 points |
| Beer Cocktail | Create drink from list of selected ingredients | Maximum 50 points Drink Taste – 20 points Bartender’s knowledge – 10 points Bartending technique – 10 points Cleanliness – 10 points |
Our barware items saw some good use throughout the TUCO bar skills competition and in the end it was narrowed down to a top three. Congratulations to the winner Elle Gilligan and to the runners up Ellen Wood and Natalie Parker:
| Position | Competitor(s) | Institution Name |
| Gold | Elle Gilligan | Lancaster University |
| Silver | Ellen Wood | University of Reading |
| Bronze | Natalie Parker | University of Nottingham |
| Best Signature Cocktail | Natalie Parker | University of Nottingham |
