Aussie 42 Below Team Announced

By Rebecca Harris

The three bartenders who will represent Australia at the 42 Below Cocktail World Cup in 2010 have been selected.

The last in a series of three regional finals on Monday night (Dec 7) saw Melbourne’s Black Pearl, Chris Hysted, join Goldfish, Sydney’s Noriel Calub and Karel Reyes Gonzalez from Laruche in Brisbane to make up the final team.

The three will fly to Queenstown, New Zealand in March, 2010 to compete against 24 other teams from around the world at the World Cup Final.

The hugely popular annual event has developed a reputation as one of the most fun cocktail competitions around.

Besides educating bartenders on the finer points of the profession, the competition challenges the finalists by taking them out of their comfort zone, combining mixology competitions with extreme outdoor activities, such as bungee-jumping and white-water rafting.

Australia has won the competition twice, in 2004 and 2005 and next year’s team is keen to repeat that victory in 2010.

The winner of the Victorian 42 Below Cocktail World Cup regional final Chris Hysted (centre) will join Sydney’s Noriel Calub and Brisbane’s Karel Reyes Gonzalez in Queenstown next year.