Cocktail Challenge

According to Gabriel Faria, executive manager of marketing, at Angostura, “this is for young talented bartenders to use Angostura bitters so that it gives their cocktails a kick in the glass.”

The competition will be fierce as ten top bartenders from around the world, including two from TT, will vie for the title. The contest takes place at the Hilton Tobago on May 17 and is free to the public.

The four judges are Patience Gould, Josue Merced-Reyes, Hayden Wood and Trinidadian Patrick Patel, master blender of Angostura Aromatic Bitters.

Gould is the consulting editor for Drinks International, Merced-Reyes is a recognised “gourmand” with extensive knowledge of the kitchen, food and drink and is producer and host of Pleasures in the Caribbean and El Buen Vivir which explore the Caribbean culture from art to wine.

Wood has been mixing drinks since he was a kid in his native New Zealand but now resides in Australia. He is known as the leading authority on bartending and mixing drinks. He has won the world Flair Bartending Champion in 1996 and 1997.

The competing bartenders are Raymond Edwards and Raakesh, Madoo of TT, Merlin Griffiths, UK; Danny Smith, UK; Milo Rodriquez, UK; Stuart Hudson, UK; Joseph Bialotto, France; Marco Nunez, Australia; Syeran Gevorkyan, Russia and Bobby Gleason, USA.