The Bacardi Legacia competition South Africa was held on Wednesday 3rd April 2013

The aim of the competition is to push Bartenders to create classic legacy cocktails such as the Mojito, Original Daiquiri, Pina Colada etc, and whilst doing this making them legendary bartenders. The way the competition also differs, is that the bartenders are urged as part of scoring to go out and “promote” their drinks. Bartenders cant have a legendary cocktail if no one knows about it.

For the final we setup a “speak easy” bar in the hotel section of the Kimberly Hotel, Guests were informed to meet on the corner of Buitenkant and Roeland street and look for the “Bat”. Once found the doorman would show them through to a solid door where guests were greeted through a peep hole and only gained access if names were on the guest list. Once upstairs they were led into a a typical 1920’s themed space, with music, lights and drinks to match. Drinks like the Mary Pickford, Daisy De Santiago, Classic Bacardi Daiquiri and a Tea Rum punch served in teapots and tea cups, as they may have done during prohibition.

The competition itself had been dwindled down to four competitors. Travis Kuhn, Anil Sabharwal, Nick Koumbarakis and Ryan Duvenage, and on the night had to present their drinks to the guests whilst making it and explaining the stories behind them. Each competitor had seven minutes to do so. As with all competitions unfortunately their can always only be one winner, and this year the title went to a very overwhelmed Nick Koumbarakis for his drink “The Tourist”  The cocktail focused around being easy to make at home with ingredients and equipment that anyone can get their hands on.

What we enjoyed most about the competition was the ability to bring consumers closer and into the world and art of Bartending. We wanted to Consumers to see that Bartending is not always simply slinging drinks across the bar, but that Bartending has a sense of craft to it, with bartenders wit Stories, personalities and skills, and I thikn we hit the nail on the head with this one. It was great to see how the consumers stood in awe and watched and listened, giving the bartenders the respect. And all the while, down stairs at the Bar no one had any idea what was going on, a very cool experience.

The winner of the competition, Nick, will now travel to Miami and Puerto Rico to compete in the Global Final representing South Africa, this event has the worlds top Bartenders from around the world competing for the prize of being a true original.