Vera-Felicie is the top KC bartender in 2009

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They came, we saw, they mixed.

And then, Arturo A. Vera-Felicie of the R Bar & Restaurant and 1924 Main was named the winner of the 2009 Greater Kansas City Bartending Competition at the Uptown Theater on Sunday night.

The “West Bottoms Social Club” was the original cocktail — based on pickled fig syrup — that helped Vera-Felicie win. Pitch photographer Scott Spychalski was on hand to catch shots of him in action, along with the nine other finalists, who mixed onstage and answered questions from a panel of judges that included Imbibe author David Wondrich.

Click on the well-stocked bar below to watch it all go down: