The Hard Rock Café in downtown Denver held its annual BARocker competition searching for the café’s best bartender to represent the city at the national competition in Las Vegas in December. The winner of the national contest will travel to Orlando to compete for the title World’s Best BARocker in January.

Eight of the Hard Rock’s best bartenders competed in a variety of skills contests and also had to perform in front of a panel of guest judges to earn the title of Denver BARocker. To compete, bartenders had to take a written test, a pouring test, and an oral test before holding court in front of the judges.

The bartenders were judged by special guests Leah Arthur AKA Colorado Beer Girl, James and Doug from Mile High Sports, and, yours truly, Carrie Dow from Drink Denver. The bartenders were required to make two drinks. All of the bartenders had to make the Hard Rock’s signature cocktail the Big Ka-Blue-Na as a comparison and the second drink was of their choosing. Bartenders were judged on the look and taste of the drinks they made, whether or not they engaged their audience, degree of difficulty in the drinks and their performance, and, most importantly, on their “Flare” or how flashy they were twirling bottles and juggling glasses. They were docked points if anything hit the floor or if they made sub-pair tasting drinks.

After many wonderful cocktails made by eight fabulous bartenders, only one could be selected as BARocker. And the winner is? Steve Limandri AKA Scuba Steve! He will now move on to the Hard Rock Las Vegas where he will contend against other North American bartenders for a chance to compete against the Hard Rock’s best in the world at the championships in Orlando.

Good luck Scuba Steve!

Photos by Carrie Dow