Diageo cocktail contest raises the bar

UNLIKE too many cooks spoiling the broth, more bartenders almost always equals more fun.

This year, Diageo World Class has 27 contestants from bars around Metro Manila and one from Boracay, increasing the count from 23 contestants last year, as

saw during the contest’s kickoff earlier this month in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

Diageo World Class, run by beverages company Diageo Plc. (owning brands such as Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff ), will pit 50 bartenders from all over the world in Berlin on October. In the meantime, a series of four challenges will whittle down the roster of 27 bartenders from the Philippines to just one, who will fly off to Berlin to represent the country.

Bars with participating bartenders include 1824 of Discovery Primea, 5ynco, ABV, Blueleaf Cosmopolitan, Cove Manila, Dulo, Edge of Discovery Primea, OTO, Prisma Boracay, Long Bar in Raffles, Nobu, Toyo Eatery, Yes Please, and La Coctalera by Rambla. “It’s big because the cocktail industry has grown,” said Marie Ona, Manager for Diageo World Class. “There are cocktail bars sprouting in every part of town.”

Okay, so more bartenders are a sign of more cocktail bars, which have apparently become a sign of a changing business environment. “Higher-energy clubs are... not really dying, but it’s really moving towards a bit of these more lower-energy [environments] where they can talk,” said Cesar Gangoso, Marketing director for Diageo Philippines.

“People are looking for different experiences,” said Ms. Ona. “There’s a surge for craft[ed] experiences, authenticity — all of these buzzwords you hear about millennials.”

As for the advantages of having a bar have its bartender participate in the worldwide competition, Mr. Gangoso said: “What’s good about it is, if they [the bartenders] can serve fancy drinks or these drinks with a lot of theater in it, people are actually willing to pay for it. It’s good business sense as well for the bar owners.”

Ms. Ona noted as well that as for the bartenders, the contest becomes a learning and networking experience.

“It’s literally raising the bar,” she said. —