By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Editor
With a cocktail she calls Kamasutra’s Comeback, San Diego’s Eliza Woodman won the Bartender Battle at the 25th anniversary of Tiki Oasis.
Woodman, who works at the rooftop restaurant Communion in Mission Hills, outdueled three other bartenders before a panel of judges and an enthusiastic crowd of more than 100 people at the climax event to cap off the four days of Tiki Oasis San Diego, the world’s largest tiki festival that is annually held here. To make it to the finals, the bartenders had to advance from a preliminary round held two weeks earlier at the Grass Skirt tiki bar in Pacific Beach.
“I am absolutely honored; the competition is amazing,” Woodman said. “People that I hold in high esteem in this industry are here as well as friends and we all support each other and inspire each other. You learn a lot through competition and a lot of friendships are made” as a result.
Her cocktail consisted of mango, coconut cream, Denizen rum and mint. “It has a mango and moxie vibe to it,” Woodman said. “And then I froze it,” meaning she mixed it up in a blender. “I wasn’t sure if making a frozen drink would be to my benefit or to my detriment but as you can see I made the right choice.”
The Bartender Battle takes place on Sunday afternoon and is the last event of Tiki Oasis. It consists of four San Diego bartenders mixing drinks for a panel of judges. Audience members, who pay $50 to attend, also get samples handed to them and are given a QR code to vote for their favorite cocktail. The event has two hosts talking near-continuously throughout the hour-and-a-half event. They do a very good job of building up the drama and anticipation although I personally think it would be more entertaining to have music playing while the bartenders mix up their cocktails.
The annual Bartender’s Battle wraps up four days of seminars, rum tastings, DJs, bands, pool activities and pop-up tiki bars in the hotel rooms hosted by San Diego bars and rum companies. Overall, the event brings in thousands of people from all over the country to enjoy the tiki lifestyle, wear Polynesian clothing (the hats and headgear of some of the women are as creative and colorful as Kentucky Derby hats) and hear tiki and surf music.
This was the 11th annual Bartender Battle.
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