Do you have what it takes to create an awesome culinary cocktail that might soon sweep the nation?

If you think you might, there’s still time to enter the National Restaurant Association and International Wine, Spirits & Beer “Star of the Bar” competition—but not much time. The deadline to concoct your cocktail recipe and demonstrate it on YouTube is Friday, April 1st…no joke.

The competition, sponsored by Bacardi, is open to everyone. You don’t need to be a bartender to win. The big Star of the Bar winner will walk away with a cool $5,000.

Those interested are asked to develop a signature cocktail, utilizing any brand in the Bacardi portfolio – keeping in mind technical skill, taste and marketability. Use of fresh ingredients is encouraged.

Once your cocktail has been developed, record yourself making and describing the drink in two minutes or less and post it to the NRA Show channel on YouTube. Then submit the written recipe as well as your contact information through the NRA site.

Six semi-finalists will be selected and flown to Chicago to present their cocktail to IWSB attendees on Sunday, May 22nd.

The 2011 Star of the Bar will be selected by an expert panel, including “The Modern Mixologist” Tony Abou-Ganim at Restaurants Rock, as part of the annual NRA Show and IWSB Event.

Good luck to all the mixologists out there who are shaking, stirring and reaching for the Star.

And…stay tuned to The Food Channel, because we’ll be featuring some of the Star of the Bar video submissions starting next week. They’re likely to be pretty entertaining.