The New York City Bartender’s Ball, co-hosted by the always entertaining JE Englebert, has yet to determine Gotham’s hottest drinkslinger (the kickoff party was at Hawaiian Tropic Zone last night), but in the meantime we have results from a slightly more, well, distinguished event. The New York semifinals of the Domaine de Canton Bartender of the Year Competition took place at Buddakan last month, and we’re told congrats are owed to Damon Dyer of Flatiron Lounge, who impressed the judges with his Le Coup de Jarnac Fizz, and to Gardner Dunn of the Hideout, who took People’s Choice with his Smokey Fig. It's a shame that a Virginia bartender, the aptly named Todd Thrasher, beat out local mixologists for first place. But our man Dyer, the runner-up, is headed to St. Martins to compete in the finals for a $10,000 prize.