Anything goes Wednesday night when eleven area mixologists will mix drinks in a cocktail competition with only one rule: the drink must include Broker's London Dry Gin. But aside from that, contestants will be putting in anything and everything else to express their creativity and win a cash prize.

The event host, Lounge On 20, will open doors at 5 p.m. and the competition will begin at 6 p.m., with a specially priced cocktail menu being served all night. It is sponsored by Broker's London Dry Gin and company Director Andrew Dawson will be one of the four celebrity judges along with Joe Anthony Savala of Z´calo, Darryl Corti of Corti Brothers, and Mike Heller of the Heller Company.

Alma Martinez, Beverage Manager of Pueblo Chico Cantina in El Dorado hills is excited to bring her fresh, "oddball ingredients that nobody has ever heard of" but she did not provide any details on what those ingredients were.

Martinez participated in her first bar tending competition at Zócalo last summer which was sponsored by Partida Tequila, and this one will be her second. "Mixing with gin is not everyone's favorite cocktail, so it's kind of challenging to create a cocktail that showcases the gin, in away that people want to drink more of it," she said.

Two other bartenders in Wednesday's competition actually won second and third place in last summer's mixing competition at Zócalo: Russ Eastman of Lounge on 20 took third place, and Chris Tucker of L Wine Lounge took second place. A woman named Victoria D'amato-Moran of San Francisco bar and restaurant La Mar Cebiche won the competition.

Eastman and Tucker have more in common than being award winning bartenders. They also both spoke of the importance of making a balanced drink with a little sweetness, sour, and even something special leaving a lasting impression on the palate long after the drink is gone.

They also both admired a number of bartenders from the San Francisco area, which is according to Eastman is "an epicenter of the cocktail world."

Eastman credits some of his fascination with bartending to meeting award winning bartender David Nepove [aka Mr. Mojito] at a bartending convention. "[Nepove] got me into the idea of improving the craft," he said.

As for the competition itself, look for Eastman's drink to hold a special combination of honey and grapefruit. Tucker on the other hand, is "playing right now with blackberries, making a little something special with star anise and some ginger."

"I'm excited because I'm hoping this will be the first of many [local competitions] since we're trying to open up Sacramento to the art of cocktails. It's basically the lead bartenders from a number of restaurants in this town and it shows what we're made up of to the public," Eastman added.

 For more information please see the attached flyer.