By Sacha Delfosse
The 2011 42Below Cocktail World Cup grand final was held on Friday (March 18) at the Lake Hayes Showgrounds, near Queenstown, New Zealand, with teams representing London, Europe, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Italy vying for the title.
Teams aimed to create the best signature drink to impress the four international judges- Jacob Briars, Jason Williams, David Wondrich and Salvatore Calabrese.
Italy impressed the crowd and judges to win the title, with a flawless performance from team members Danielle Dalla Pola, Alexander Frezzai and Luca Sai whose final drink, the ‘Elisir d’Amore’ was described as “incredibly well balanced and totally surprising” by Jacob Briars.
Danielle Dalla Pola, Alexander Frezzai and Luca Sai savour the moment.
The competition was extremely close though, with Italy taking the title and trophy by less than half a percentage point, with USA in second place and Scotland in third.
However the judges were unanimous in their praise for Italy, with Salvatore Calabrese describing the team as a perfect embodiment of the “brotherhood of bartending”, which produced a drink that pushed the boundaries of their craft with pure flourish.