Mikey Nguyen shows off his mixing skills in Palm Springs
POUR MAN | Mikey Nguyen already Dallas Voice readers’ favorite bartender, now is the nation’s best with a dazzling ‘rainbow’ cocktail which he took to a national contest in Palm Springs.
Earlier this year, TMC mixologist Mikey Nguyen was the clear favorite in our annual Readers Voice Awards poll in the category best local bartender. Well, turns out he’s not just the best local bartender — he may be the best in the nation.
Nguyen was one of the contestants invited to the Round-Up Saloon in May for the annual Palm Springs Cocktail Challenge, which seeks to find the best beverage in the country — and the best at making it. From the local pool, Nguyen’s recipes qualified him to go to the desert oasis late last month to compete against 13 other regional winners for the title. And he won.
“I was No. 4 in the lineup, and I really thought I lost — the other bartenders were amazing!” Nguyen reports.
The grand finale took place at Palm Springs’ Hunters Nightclub on May 30. Nguyen offered up a variation of his popular “rainbow shot” (wherein, through the magic of alcoholic alchemy, he pours a range of colorful shots all at once out of a single shaker.
“I made the Palm-Dick-Ulous Pride,” Nguyen explains. “The drink has a base flavor of fruit cocktail but each drink has its own unique twist and a different color.”
And because showmanship matters as much as taste, he gave them a show. That’s what won Nguyen the commemorative martini trophy as well as a basket of goodies from Stoli — in addition to the bragging rights as “grand finale winner.”
So what was the hardest part about making the cocktail? Probably not what you think.
“The ice is Palm Springs melts really fast,” he says. “I had to keep pouring out the melted ice and refilling the glasses until the judges were ready to see me make the drink. Palm Springs is really hot … beautiful, but hot!”
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition June 21, 2013.