EGB mocktails takes centre stage at World Spice Food Festival 2012

Mocktails made with Elephant House Ginger Beer (EGB) proved to be one of the highlights of the recently concluded World Spice Food Festival 2012, an event which had approximately 20,000 visitors.

Offering up consumer favourite EGB as an ingredient in an array of mocktails (non-alcoholic cocktails), visitors to the festival’s EGB stall were given the chance to sample unique, yet heavenly, drink concoctions mixed right in front of them by master mixologist Jagath Jayathilaka.

Mocktails on offer at the EGB stall included passion fruit-based ‘The Mrs.,’ orange and black current-based ‘Ginger Sunset,’ passion and lime-based ‘Ginger Tangina’ and nelli- based ‘Ginger Tropicana’ to name just a few. All comprised refreshing EGB as a key ingredient.

Also taking centre-stage at this year’s World Spice Food Festival was the ‘EGB Mocktail Champion of the Year’ competition, which featured 15 local master mixologists, representing Colombo’s leading hotels, who were offering up a number of flamboyant, yet non-alcoholic, cocktail creations.

Well-received by the festival audience, due to each drink’s colourful presentation and refreshing taste, these newly invented mocktails soon became the talk of the World Spice Food Festival 2012.

The 2012 winner of the ‘EGB Mocktail Champion of the Year’ competition was Indrajith Yapa Bandara, a bartender at Cinnamon Lakeside, who created the ‘Spice of Life,’ a delightfully tasty concoction comprising apple cubes, lime cordial, lime wedges, hot basil and crushed ice, which was muddled, built up with EGB, and stirred, and then served in a ‘rock glass’ with basil leaf and lime peel garnishes.

Organised since 2005 by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, 2012’s week-long World Spice Food Festival offered an array of food and drinks encompassing 13 different countries and regions worldwide, including India, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Pakistan, China, Middle East, Mongolia, Latin America, Vietnam, Mexico and Sri Lanka. It also featured, in 2012, a hawker’s street, cookery demonstrations, live music and cultural performances, as well as contests such as the ‘EGB Mocktail Champion of the Year’ competition and the Colombo Culinary Challenge.