Grant is becoming The Usual suspect for prize drinks
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AN INVERNESS bartender is continuing his winning ways with a prize trip to the Big Apple.
Last month Grant Murray (30), general manager of Inverness cocktail bars Bar One and Scotch & Rye, was crowned world champ in the Cherry Heering Classics Competition, seeing off more than 2500 other entries from 46 different countries.
In that case his prize-winning creation was Brace Position - a mix of Ardbeg 10 whisky, Botanist gin, Creme de Violet, Cherry Heering, lime juice and sugar syrup.
Now he has also shown what he can do with Jack Daniels after his drink called The Usual emerged as one of three winners in an international search run by the drink giant through their Tennessee Calling competition.
Described by Grant himself as “a simple cocktail with complex flavours that takes a classic jack and coke and spins it on its head” it seriously impressed judges who travelled to Inverness to sample it and listen to the story that inspired it.
Grant said: “I based it around my journey from where I started to where I am today within the world of bartending and hospitality.
“The good, the bad and the ugly all played an important part, and Jack Daniels was present throughout.”
His skills will now see him heading to New York bar The Dead Rabbit, recently voted the best bar in the world by industry journal Drinks International.
Working and helping to plan an event there to mark Prohibition Repeal Day in December after that he also gets the chance to fly to the Tennessee home of Jack Daniels to learn from master distiller Jeff Arnett how the drink is actually made.
“Anyone who knows me knows that this is literally a dream come true for me,” said Grant.
“I am absolutely blown away.
“What I have achieved this past year has been far beyond anything I could imagine.”
