Six of Australia’s best bartenders will compete for the opportunity to represent Australia at the global final of the Angostura Cocktail Challenge.
Luke Redington, Dave Meadows, Evan Stanley, Sean Chow, David Nguyen-Luu plus wild card Mike Tomasic will battle it out in Sydney at the national finals on 21 and 22 October in the hope of winning the chance to compete in the global finals in Trinidad in March next year.
Auriane Bourdin, Angostura Brand Manager, says, “We’ve met some incredibly passionate and talented bartenders on this whirlwind tour of the country. We’ve been blown away by the creativity and the skills of everyone who has competed in the state heats.
“One thing’s for sure, the national finals will be a very close competition. We plan to put the finalists through their paces by running a range of challenges over two days. They won’t just have to make cocktails, although that will be a key focus of course, they will also have to think on their feet and be exceptional to win this cocktail challenge.”
This year the stakes are even higher as the prize for winning the Australian finals has been boosted to $10,000 in cash and a trip to Trinidad to compete in the global finals, plus $5,000 worth of stock for the winning bartender’s venue.
In past years, the challenge has seen some of the most influential bartenders in the industry compete for the title of ‘Angostura global ambassador’. Previous Australian winners include well-known bartenders such as Marco Nunes from Canvas in Brisbane, Joe Sinagra from Bobeche in Perth and Andy Griffiths from Melbourne. Both Andy and Marco took out not just the Australian title, but also the global title in Trinidad; Marco in 2006 when the competition first began and Andy in 2011.
For further information, please contact:
Media – Jocelyne Simpson at Cabana Boys
at jocelyne@cabanaboys.com.au | 0403 919 340
Or
Trade – Auriane Bourdin, Angostura Brand Manager at abourdin@island2island.com.au