Beijing Boyce

A new Olympic event?

After taking top spot in the Beijing qualifier of the 42 Below Cocktail World Cup, Aria’s Johnson Ren teamed up with Cross Yu (Vault, Shanghai) and Alex Zhou (Volar, Shanghai) to finish fourth out of fourteen teams at the championships in New Zealand. According to a press release from Confucius Says:

Team China rounded out the top teams in fourth place, and the intrepid threesome of Johnson, Cross and Alex impressed the world with the continuing rapid rise of Chinese mixology. Their “chuan chao” (Mandarin for “spice of life”) brought together vanilla and clove-infused 42 BELOW Pure Vodka with a mix of lemon, vanilla, ginger, lemongrass and pineapple, topped with a sichuan pepper and vanilla foam to form a uniquely Chinese flavoured concoction served in an ancient zun (樽).

Team China’s performance earned the team high praise. Judge Dale DeGroff described their cocktail as ‘really amazing, beautiful and the tie of the spice and vessel were great. Asia is on the up.’ While 42 BELOW Vodka Professor Jacob Briars said ‘China has come on leaps and bounds since last year’s contest. Their drink was off the hook. Kudos.

Congratulations Johnson, and hopefully we’ll be seeing that drink on the Aria cocktail list.