A mouthful of gin spews into an open flame sending a ball of fire several feet into the air and the heat from the blast can be felt from the audience. With the fireball's deafening sound, Kris Laidlaw, bartender from GV Hurley's, draws the whole room's attention as well as a round of applause.

Earlier, this article previewed Wednesday night's cocktail competition, which took place from 6-8 p.m. at Lounge on 20. To add to a base of Broker's London Dry Gin, the competitors used ingredients as diverse as frozen papaya to Peruvian chili peppers to edible flowers.

Ali Mackani, owner of the Lounge on 20 MC’d the event and interviewed the 10 competitors for the nearly 100 people who showed up. After finishing their drink creations, Laidlaw pleased the gatherers by breathing fire, and later Chris Tucker of L Wine Lounge made a handful of extra drinks for audience members to sample (coincidentally, they both placed in the top three).

Here are the winners:

Third place went to Kris Laidlaw, who prepared a "London Dragon," a combination of starfruit, blood orange, gin and "a little love."

Second place went to Tripp Harrison from Biba Restaurant who created a unique twist to the traditional Gin and Tonic by adding lemongrass, hibiscus flower and kiwi.

First place went to Chris Tucker's "Paint it Black," which included a combination of blackberries, ginger and star anise in addition to the Broker's gin.