SHANA STIRS IT UP

SHE came so close to her dream of travelling and representing this country as a female bartender, only for it to be dashed just two weeks before its fulfilment. But 30-year-old Shana Kanesha Ramjahram refuses to give up, and will continue to work towards competing in the Taste of the Caribbean Culinary Competition as part of the National Culinary Team.

Ramjahram works as a waitress, bartender and secretary at The Rise restaurant in Chaguanas. Her bartending dreams started three years ago when alcohol companies began inviting the restaurant’s employees to free bartending training sessions. She said everyone, from the hostess to kitchen staff, attended.

“As a waitress it is important to have information about the drinks. Guests come to you first so you should not have to run to the bar to find out what’s in a cocktail.

And then sometimes, if the bartender does not come to work, I would fill in.” “I did not know about balance, why lime is used, nothing. But we started participating in various competitions because it was fun for us and we learned a lot.” By her third competition, after three months and four training sessions, Ramjahram tied for third place with her Don Julio Spice cocktail, which contained Campari and pimentos. It inspired her to start watching bartending videos on YouTube, and to do research. She ordered the tools of her new trade online and started practising at the bar at work. Thankfully, her managers and co-worker supported her, encouraged her to keep going, and gave her feedback.

“Bartending is dominated by men. You rarely see female bartenders. It has always been a fight but I choose to fight because I wanted to see more women bring their passion and strength to the field.” Ramjahram kept practising, and kept entering competitions for the experience.

In June 2015, she entered the Grand Marnier challenge and took first place with her drink, The Grand Bitter Sweet, beating more experienced bartenders.

After that, the opportunities started pouring in. Several alcohol companies and distributors contacted her to work at special events, all of which she accepted.

“People saw something in me that I did not see myself. I really liked it because things were exciting.” Then, she entered an online competition, the Fireball Bartender of the Month, which required her to send a video of herself making the cocktail, the recipe for the drink, and a picture of herself with the cocktail.

One week later she got the results and found out that she placed second out of 71 Caribbean and Latin American entrants. This resulted in more calls from alcohol representatives requesting that she enter more competitions.

Last year, she participated in Making the Cut, the local competition used to choose the national team members, but she was not successful. That did not deter her and she tried again this year.

“I had a better vision of what might have come in the Mystery Bar, how to build your cocktail, and what elements you should look for to make a perfect cocktail.

For me it means having four elements – sweet, sour, weak and strong, and then you build from there. I had more confidence the second time around.” Ramjahram’s confidence was wrecked when a colleague called and told her the results of the competition. She did not win the bartender position.

Although she was heartbroken, she still attended the awards ceremony in support the other contestants. And it was a good thing she did. She was shocked when it was announced that she had won Best Vodka Cocktail, and more so when that she had made it on the national team as the Alternative Bartender.

“That was really amazing because I put a lot of effort and energy into that drink. I was blown away. And when I got alternative bartender, I slipped right out the chair. I wanted to hug everybody. No one could ever take that feeling away from me.” She spent two and a half months training with the team, either before or after her shift at The Rise.

In fact, she said between the two, she hardly saw her 11-yearold daughter, Briana Buckmire, who she described as her number one fan.

Two weeks before her trip to the competition in Miami, two of the five people on the team who had applied for US visas, were denied the essential travel documents - she and the main bartender, Tyrone Benjamin. She was devastated.

Ramjahram recalled how she just wanted to slip to the floor of the US Embassy, curl up and cry. She made it to her car before she broke down and ignored all phone calls because she could not speak.

It was over a week before she could gather the strength to tell her daughter the news because she did not want to break down in tears in front of her.

Buckmire told her not to be discouraged, was supportive, bad-talked the embassy a bit, and generally made her laugh. “Thank God I have a child like her.

She is the one who has me strong. I have to be strong for her, and she makes me stronger with the things she says and does.” Ramjahram continued to attend team meetings and training sessions to show her support for the team, as well as to show the replacement bartender, Clinton Ramdhan, all the concepts and recipes she and Benjamin had worked on over the months. Her creation was a cocktail called Shrimp in Play Whe.

She worked on it with team captain, chef Adrian Cumberbatch, and with the adjustments made by Clinton during the Taste of the Caribbean competition, it won best vodka drink.

The original ingredients included onion, pimento, chadon beni, salt, fresh orange and lime juice, with a base of grey goose vodka and a shrimp garnish. “It is kind of like a shrimp souse as it is supposed to be a culinary cocktail.

It was perfect. When they left for Miami, I 100 percent knew that cocktail was going to win something.” Ramjahram told Sunday Newsday she watched every competition as well as the awards, which was live streamed on Facebook, and kept in contact with her former-team members while she was at home, at work, or on the road.

“The system failed me but I did not fail the system. I earned that spot. I worked really hard for it. But I also believe when things like this happens God is preparing you for something bigger. I probably didn’t have the strength a month ago but I have it now. I can feel something bigger is going to happen.” Ramjahram said she would continue entering competitions and keeping her skills sharp for next year’s Making the Cut. She also intends to apply for her visa well in advance.