Bronx Bartender Wins ‘Battle of the Boroughs’ With ‘The Concourse’ Cocktail

Move over Manhattan, I’ll have a Concourse please.

Bronx bartender Felix Salazar, who works at Suyo, won the Battle of the Boroughs for creating the best drink in a recent competition.

The rules were pretty simple: Create a drink using Old Forester as a base and use your neighborhood to inspire you.

Salazar said that his inspiration was the changes The Bronx went through in the late 1800s and through the 1920s during which time the subway was extended into our borough and hundreds of thousands of new residents flocked here.

During this time, the Grand Concourse was also built which was designed by Frenchman Louis A. Risse using Paris’ famed Champs-Élysées as his inspiration.

Thirstymag quotes Felix Salazar as saying:

“I wanted to create a cocktail that could have been made easily during this time, that’s why I went with the 1897 Bottle in Bond Old Forester, along with the rest of the ingredients that were also available during the 1890s. Taking the French influence on the design and the Italian migration north to the Bronx I played around with ingredients with the same ethnic background. I also wanted to take a bit from the original Bronx cocktail therefore using a vermouth, this time a sweet white vermouth. I then rinse the glass of some of the new Caribbean funk that you can find all over The Bronx nowadays. “

Well, it’s 5 o’clock somewhere…might as well head over to Suyo Gastrofusion and try this out!