Stefanos in Mexico for Dons of Tequila final

Stefanos Athanasiou, owner of the Madame Bar in Limassol, is in Mexico this month to take part in the finals of the Dons of Tequila cocktail competition.

Stefanos was one of 17 chosen in national competitions by the local distributors of Jose Cuervo tequila who won a trip to the 250-year old distillery in La Rojeña, Tequila. There, the finalists will be given the chance to harvest their own crop of agave on the Jose Cuervo estate, blend it into their very own Tequila which will be batched and labelled under their own name.

The 17 finalists are Clément Maucuit, of France; Erica Rossi, of Italy; Andy Walch, of Switzerland; Lee Daniel Hobbs, of Germany; Lefteris Petrogeorgakis, of Greece; Laura Duca, of UAE; Thiago Sanchez, of Brazil; John Anderson Bautista, of Colombia; Jair Rosas, of Peru; Ariel Rosario, of Puerto Rico; Nicolas Lamborizzio, of Argentina; Edwin Arenas, of Chile; Angelica Castro, of Philippines; Tessa Kerslake, of New Zealand; Sung-Min Park, of Korea; Koji Esashi, of Japan; and Stefanos Athanasiou, of Cyprus.

Becoming a Don of Tequila is the ultimate accolade, fit only for the very best,” said Juan-Domingo Beckmann, Jose Cuervo CEO.

“We are excited to see how the bartenders fare in what is bound to be a tough final.”

The group of finalists will be put through a series of challenged where a panel of expert judges will determine their “passion, grit and cojones” to decide the next Don of Tequila. Jose Cuervo’s Dons of Tequila competition is part of a long-term education platform, at the heart of which sits the Dons website providing a “definitive resource” on the brand.