Mumbai is home to India's cocktail king

Over the past five months expert bartenders from India's finest hotels and pubs were competing and showing off their spirit-ed skills to be crowned the best in the country and go on to compete against international cocktail kings in Brazil. And the timing to stir up the winning cocktail couldn't have been better than a sweltering May afternoon.

Devendra Sehgal with his trophy after creating the winning cocktail - Sequel Eighteen 24. Pic/ Mahesh Chafe

The finale, held in the city on Tuesday, saw 10 of the finest bartenders spend close to four hours stirring and mixing the most premium ingredients to concoct the perfect mix for the season. The fate of the competition was to be decided by India's leading mixologist and bar consultant Arijit Bose and Malini Agarwal aka MissMalini, who after being at most Page 3 parties surely holds the potential to differentiate between a Drambuie and Jack Daniel's.

Devender Sehgal, of the super swanky Colaba restaurant Ellipsis that replaced Villa 39, had the judges swaying in his favour and was crowned India's finest bartender. Sehgal, what many would consider a newbie in the industry, only has a five-year-long bartending career behind him. However, his resume is an impressive one. He started off his career at New Delhi's Radisson, moved to Rohit Bal's restaurant Cibo, the Taj and finally, Ellipsis in Mumbai. In between, he also managed to make it to the grand finale of an international bartending competition in Italy, and was declared the best in the world in the Flair category. He will hone his skills before he flies off to Rio de Janeiro next year to take on the world's best

If you can't wait to sip India's best cocktail at the moment, and if you like a performance to jazz things up, head to Ellipsis for a Sehgal special, with a heavy wallet of course. However, if you're on a budget, like us, we've got you the winning recipe, to stake claim as the favourite house party bartender. Cheers!

Sequel Eighteen 24u00a0(Winning Cocktail Recipe)
>>Egg White - 1 No
>>u00a0Orange Flower Water -
3 Drops
>>u00a0u00a0Whipped Cream Flavoured with Vanilla syrup - 45ml
>>u00a0u00a0Lemon & Lime Juice - 30ml
>>u00a0u00a0Tanqueray No 10 Gin - 50ml
>>u00a0u00a0Soda - To Top
Method
Dry shake/ Shaken and Strained
Glassware - Collins
Garnish - Vanilla Tuille with Lemon Zest on the Black slate u00a0