By Andy Young
This year's judging panel for the Australian National final of the Bacardi Legacy competition has been announced.
Barcadi's global brand manager Enrique Comas will be joined on the 2015 panel by bartender and former owner of Sydney's Cafe Pacifico, Phil Bayly (pictured left) and the 2014 National Legacy winner, Fred Siggins (pictured below right).
Comas is the son of a Bacardi master blender and a sixth generation Bacardi family member, while Bayly, who holds the Southern Hemisphere's only "Distintivo T" award, is known as one of Australia's leading authorities on tequila. The third judge on the panel, Siggins, won last year's national title with his "Empire of Dreams" cocktail, which featured whole espresso beans and was described by its creator as a "cultural collision in a glass."
Bacardi Lion's head of marketing, Kristie Asciak, said: "We're both proud and excited to have these bartending legends judge the national final. For them, it will be about finding the next addition to the Legacy story and a contender to stand alongside the classics we all know so well."
From now until the final is held on March 3, Siggins will be upping his Bacardi collaboration at Black Pearl, the Melbourne bar where he is bartender. Black Pearl has created an all Bacardi cocktail list, featuring five Black Pearl inspired cocktails alongside five Bacardi classics.
Tash Conte, owner of Black Pearl, said of the collaboration: "Over the past 13 years, we have been working relentlessly to create premium cocktails and that's achieved by working with the best.
"Bacardi has a heritage we're proud to align with, particularly given our shared value of family; one that is integral to how we work at the Pearl."
This year's Bacardi Legacy competition will take place across 36 countries with the Australian national final taking place at Melbourne's Cuban bar El Coco on 3 March.