Brisbane bartenders proud as punch

• Brisbane's top 20 bars

Brisbane bar-hoppers should be proud as punch that four of the 11 finalists in an Australia and New Zealand-wide cocktail contest hail from our fair city.

Bartenders from local establishments Byblos Bar, Papa Jack's, Cobbler and Fourth Wall will fly to Vanuatu in August to compete in the finals of the Hendrick's Hot Gin Punch competition.

The cocktail competition challenged bartenders to create a hot punch.

Adam Meredith from Byblos Bar combined Hendrick's gin with port, beetroot, mango, lemon, hibiscus and rose tea, ginger and coriander to create his juicy concoction Hipsters Ruin Everything.

"We recently bought a new juicer for behind the bar at Byblos so I have been experimenting and juicing everything in sight, including beetroot and ginger, so I knew that combination was a good starting point," he said.

"Once I had the ginger, beetroot and coriander as my flavour profile, I used the other ingredients to balance the drink. Those ingredients were chosen as the result of trial and error.

"My punch could be compared to a Bloody Mary with beetroot instead of tomato – it's very earthy and savoury with a small amount of acidity, balanced out with the sweetness of the port and mango."

Other local finalists include Alex Boon (Fourth Wall), Marco Nunes (Papa Jack's) and Martin Lange (Cobbler).

The 11 finalists head to Vanuatu next week, where they'll create a cold punch to determine the winner. The prize includes a trip to the Hendrick's distillery in Scotland and London Cocktail Week.

Hipsters Ruin Everything

1L Hendrick's gin

800ml beetroot juice

800ml mango puree

200ml Galway Pipe

200ml lemon juice

900ml hibiscus and rose hip tea

3 inch knob of ginger

1 bunch of coriander

Dehydrated kale chips, to garnish