General Rules & Regulations

Must be 21 to participate in the New Hope Celebrates Best Cocktail Contest.

Always drink responsibly.
NHC and Its Partners ask that you drink responsibly.

Liability:
While every reasonable effort will be made, the competition organizers New Hope Celebrates and its Presenting Partners are not responsible for actions that may happen at your establishments.

Responsibility:
Competitors considered by the organizers to be practicing or promoting any form of irresponsible drinking, including “shots,” will be disqualified and may be asked to withdraw from the contest.

Competitors must conduct themselves in a safe manner, and any action considered by the organizers to endanger fellow competitors, judges or spectators will result in instant disqualification and possible ejection from the venue.

Establishment Participants Rules

Contest Drink Entries:
Cocktail entries must be in the form of a long or short drink, not a shot. You are not required to purchase a large amount of the product just what you think you can sell.

Ingredients:
Must include the Liquor(s) of the Presenting Sponsor. Drinks must not contain more than 7 ingredients, including fruit juices, syrups, drops or dashes. Solid garnishes are not considered ingredients. It is acceptable to additionally spray a citrus fruit zest over the drink if specified as a garnish. With a few exceptions, it is the simple drinks that have gone on to become classics, and due to this, the judges will be instructed to favor simple drinks with fewer ingredients.

Garnishes must be edible but may be mounted on sticks, skewers, straws, forks or other common bar accessories. Use of edible fruit, herbs, leaves, and spices may include sprigs, peels, barks, fruit shells, etc. Any flowers and petals used must be of an edible variety.

Fruit for garnishes may be peeled in advance, sliced, wedged or pre-cut in any other way. Garnishes must be assembled within the five-minute allotted drink preparation time.

Copyright of Drinks
By entering this competition, competitors agree to assign copyright of their recipes and drink names to the competition organizers to be posted online.

Competitors and drinks presented during the competition may be photographed (still or motion picture) by the organizers, and copyright of these images for any use, across all media, will be retained by the competition organizers.

Drink Names
Drink names including rude, lurid or sexual words or associated with narcotics or motor vehicles are prohibited.

Voting
Voting via our APP will be open to the public. The final votes will be tallied and the Finalists will be announced and invited back for final judging at our annual Partner Appreciation Party. Date and location to be determined.

Conduct
Competitors are encouraged to talk to their customers while making their drinks. Points may be awarded for general presentation and working methods. Competitors using rude or swear words will be disqualified.

Adjudication
The competition organizers reserve the right to have the final decision on any matter relating to the judging of the competition.

The competition organizers will appoint the panel of judges and reserve the right to replace or appoint new judges before or during the competition.

The judges must remain impartial and declare any vested interest they may have in the competition or competitors. They must judge each competitor on their competition presentation and drinks alone.