The stakes were high at the second installment of CL's annual Margarita Wars, where 17 local bartenders showed off their most fantastical margaritas to land their recipe the coveted title of Tampa Bay's Best Margarita.
Cocktails competing in the tropical extravaganza highlighted ingredients like Thai chili, lavender, watermelon, grapefruit and, of course, jalapeño, but Salty's bartender Kat McKenna won the tequila-filled hearts of around 800 guests with her bananas Foster-style creation dubbed, The Foster Child.
Acropolis Greek Taverna's Cynthia LeGrand and her Opa! Summer-rita came in second, and third place went to Media Noche, fashioned by Justin Stoddard of The Mandarin Hide.
For the folks who missed out on sampling McKenna's marg — featuring banana, sugar, vanilla and spices — it'll be offered up at Best of the Bay's 25th anniversary bash Sept. 23. Check out a couple photos from the event below, plus the hundreds of others on CL's Facebook page.
This article appears in Jul 30 – Aug 5, 2015.