City mixologist’s cocktail ‘goes bananas’

BENGALURU : A mixologist from Bengaluru will be travelling to Amsterdam next month for the finals of Bacardi Legacy Cocktail Competition  2019. Vedant Mehra from Bootlegger won the competition for his sustainable cocktail ‘Limitless’. The competition started about three months ago with over 350 bartenders participating in it from all over the country.  The national finals in India were held in New Delhi, where the top 12 bartenders from across the country competed against each other. 

Mehra will now compete with 42 bartenders representing their respective countries for the Global Champion title on May 14 in Amsterdam. Meanwhile, he will be travelling to renowned bars in Mumbai, Delhi and other cities to promote his cocktail, and also hold training sessions on sustainability.

“The best part was to compete with top contestants from across the country on an international platform. The competition had just one rule that the drinks be made with rum and simple ingredients that are easily available across the globe and promote the drink across the country. I got in touch with some bloggers from across the globe to promote my drink on their social media,” says the 25-year-old, adding that the idea to go sustainable helped him win the contest.

The idea, Mehra adds, was inspired by the waste generated in pubs and bars. “I would see a dozen or more banana peels being wasted. In many parts of Karnataka, the peel is fried and turned into pakodas. That’s was the thought behind my drink,” he says.

He scooped out the white part inside the peel and made a syrup to add to the drink. He also included the drink on the happy hour menu. “People were initially put off when they learned it’s made with the banana peels. But when I explained the process, they got interested and gave it a try. It was a huge hit with customers bringing in their friends to try it out,” Mehra says. 

The drink, he says, goes well with continental food, and since it’s a strong cocktail, he suggests having it after a meal. It has flavour notes of banana but doesn’t taste entirely of it. It has a tinge of bitterness due to its peel. Ask why he calls the drink ‘limitless’ and he promptly says, “The resources we have are limited but our ideas about how to use them in the best possible ways could be limitless. Hence, the name.” 

Mehra never planned on becoming a mixologist until he encountered an unexpected situation where the bartender did not show up at one of the weddings that his company was managing. “I just loved the vibe behind the bar and the opportunity to interact with customers,” says Mehra, who then went to Las Vegas to study bartending from the European Bartender School in 2015. On a ‘high’ ever since, quite naturally,  there has been no looking back.