Will Meredith from Dandelyan and Dominic Whisson from The American Bar at The Savoy, now the World’s Best Bar completed the list of six bartenders ready for the next phase.
Meredith told DI: “It’s awesome getting to the next stage and Amsterdam will be great fun. I was the last competitor of the day so I had to try hard to keep people awake.”
Meredith works at Dandelyan, former World’s Best Bar under Ryan Chetiyawardana.
“I wanted to do something a little different. It’s amazing working at Dandelyan but when you’re working hard consistently it’s nice to keep things fresh.”
The London-based bartenders will join Christopher McQuillan from Oliver’s Restaurant in Belfast, Leon Back from Panda & Sons in Edinburgh and Oliver Pluck from Epicurus in Leeds who will all compete in Amsterdam to become UK champion.
Dickie Cullimore, Bacardí global brand ambassador told DI: “The standard of the winners was as good as ever but I was impressed by the overall quality of the constants, it’d definitely risen again.”
The overall winner in Amsterdam will then represent the UK in the global final in Mexico City next May and the competition challenges bartenders to create a ‘legacy’ cocktail with the greatest potential to establish itself as a classic alongside the mojito or daiquiri.
Runners up from each UK heat were:
Ryan O’Kane from The National Grand Café (Belfast)
Bettina Kovacs from The Bon Vivant (Edinburgh)
Adam Day from Peggy’s Bar (Manchester)
Robb Collins from London Cocktail Club (London)
From the runners up, Robb Collins from London Cocktail Club was selected as a wildcard after impressing the judges with his entertaining presentation, and unique and innovative cocktail. He will join the other finalists in Amsterdam next month.
Metinee Kongsrivilai, UK brand ambassador for Bacardí, added: “Bacardí Legacy has been running for 10 years and we’ve seen a lot of drinks. So the hardest part of this competition is finding something truly different and that is what all finalists have presented.”
