The Nutcracker hovers somewhere between a flip and a sour and is inspired by the ballet of the same name. According to Peter the cocktail ‘shares the same hidden qualities, not observable from the surface.’ The deeper you dig, the more you find. The components are selected to highlight the rich flavours of the drink’s mainstay, Johnnie Walker Blue Label. Thus the maraschino cherries draw out the fruit notes amid the maltiness of the whisky, the peanut butter its nutty character, and the cinnamon and nutmeg its spice aromas.
Watch Peter create his cocktail
The Technique
Johnnie Walker Blue Label • 60ml
Egg white • 30ml
Crème de Cacao • 15ml
Luxardo Marashino Cherries • 3 fruit
Amontillado sherry • 1 bar spoon
Organic peanut butter • 1 bar spoon
Cinnamon powder and grated nutmeg (to garnish)
Contains 25.5 grams of alcohol per serve (Serves 2)
Place the first six ingredients into a shaker. Shake and double strain. Serve over a large block of ice in rustic Julep cups and sprinkle with the spices.
To try the cocktail made by the man himself visit 28 HongKong Street, Singapore, Ponsonby Central, Auckland, New Zealand
As its name might suggest, Mediterranean Treasure is inspired by the flavours that surround Barcelona. It is a sour/savoury cocktail that blends flavours of both land and sea. The full-bodied Tanqueray No. Ten with its fresh citrus fruits and botanicals is muddled with coriander in the preparation of the cocktail. Furthermore, Oyster leaf (a member of the borage family, also known as sea bluebell, with a taste that resembles that of the shellfish) is infused in Fino sherry to give saltiness and a distinctly Spanish tang to the recipe. If you really want to go for maximum maritime, it can be served in a seashell and enjoyed with fresh seafood
The Technique
Tanqueray No. Ten (muddled with coriander) • 50ml
Fino dry sherry infused with Oyster leaf (25 leaves per half litre for three days) • 20ml
Elderflower liqueur • 5ml
Fresh lemon juice • 18ml
Mediterranean honey • 12ml
Fresh coriander leaves • 10 (to infuse)
Egg white • 15ml (for foam)
Contains 21 grams of alcohol per serve (Serves 2)
Grind the coriander leaves in a mortar and cold infuse the Tanqueray No. Ten for a few minutes. Then dry shake all ingredients (apart from the egg white) and double strain. Top with the foam.
To try the cocktail made by the man himself visit Ohla Boutique Bar, Barcelona, Spain
In its combination of the sweet fruits and smooth creaminess of Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve and a tea at its most milky, Andreevsky Punch is a nod to the traditions of both Russia and Scotland – two countries that Vitaly believes share much in culture and climate. Taking its name from St Andrew, a shared patron saint, it is an Autumnal drink, bitter-sweet and spicy, blending the warmth and honey of the Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve with the creaminess and subtle citrus of the Earl Grey tea/sweetened milk blend. The Advocaat adds further body and the Cynar gives bitter herbal notes to complement the West-coast smoke and wood finish of the whisky.
The Technique
Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve • 30ml
Earl Grey tea/condensed milk blend (1:1) • 50ml
Cynar • 7ml
Advocaat • 10ml
Contains 16 grams of alcohol per serve
Shake all ingredients together, double strain into a teacup and present in classic fashion on a saucer.
To try the cocktail made by the man himself visit Funny Cabany, Moscow, Russia
Pepperish Journey is a twist on an Old Fashioned dedicated to the joie de vivre of Aida’s fellow countrymen. Inspired by their energy and passionate approach to life, she uses a liqueur she prepares from tuica (a Romanian plum/cherry schnapps) and the flavours of traditional secarica (a caraway-flavoured sweet brandy) cooked up with pepper and cloves. She describes the drink as a river of flavours: ‘first you are hit by the orange oils, then the silky smooth texture and spiced, chocolate flavour of the Zacapa, and finally the surprise of the caraway and pepper aftertaste.’ It is ideal after dinner or perfectly paired with pudding or cake.
The Technique
Zacapa 23 • 30ml
Homemade liqueur • 30ml
Angostura bitters • 15ml
Maraschino liqueur • 30ml
Orange zest
Contains 13 grams of alcohol per serve
To make the Homemade liqueur: boil the tuica in a pan with cloves and black peppercorns for 10 minutes. Caramelise sugar in a second pan and add caraway seeds and stir for 5 minutes. Add the tuica mixture and boil together for a further 5 minutes while stirring. Allow to cool, then strain and bottle.
Add all the ingredients to a chilled mixing glass, stir and strain into an Old Fashioned glass with ice. Garnish with orange zest and a cherry in a spoon sitting atop the glass.
To try the cocktail made by the woman herself visit Flair Angel, Bucharest, Romania
Jason’s recipe takes its name from Aotearoa, the Maori word for New Zealand, which means land of the long white cloud in translation. It’s a light, fresh, frothy, herbal drink, that showcases Ketel One’s smooth, crisp notes of citrus and honey as well as some unique and exotic New Zealand ingredients. Chief among these are a dessert wine from Hawkes’ Bay and Ti-toki, a liqueur made from herbal bush honey. In full service mode it’s delivered on a wooden tray covered in seashells and seaweed, with a drizzle of homemade feijoa essence and an underlay of dry ice – which creates an aromatic vapour that alludes to the cocktail’s name.
The Technique
Ketel One • 30ml
Noble Viognier dessert wine • 30ml
Ti-toki liqueur • 15ml
Fresh lemon juice • 30ml
Free-range egg white • 20ml
Extra virgin olive oil • 3ml
Contains 18 grams of alcohol per serve
Dry shake, then wet shake all ingredients and strain into a stemless wineglass with a seaweed salt rim. Garnish with a fresh mint leaf and freeze-dried feijoa crumbs.
To try the cocktail made by the man himself visit Bedford Soda & Liquor, Ponsonby Central, Auckland, New Zealand
Coffee Break, is a twist on a Negroni, which replaces gin with Zacapa 23 to give a full-bodied base with rich, sweet notes. It incorporates a honey coffee mix that Claudio makes using warmed wildflower honey and Italian Arabica coffee (prepared in a stovetop moka pot) that are combined at a ratio of 4 to 1 and blended for 10 seconds. The result is rich and robust, just sweet enough and with a digestif character, perfectly paired with homemade pistachio crisps and fresh green apple slices sprinkled with ground Tonka beans.
Watch Claudio create his cocktail
The Technique
Zacapa 23 • 45ml
Cocchi Americano Rosa • 30ml
Cynar • 10ml
Honey coffee mix • 5ml (see above)
Apple wood for smoking
Contains 19.5 grams of alcohol per serve
Pour the first four ingredients into one of a pair of chilled Boston shakers and swirl gently with a bar spoon. ‘Throw’ the cocktail ten times from one shaker to the other. Strain into a glass bottle previously smoked with apple wood. Stir and pour into an Old Fashion glass over ice.
To try the cocktail made by the man himself visit Bartenders Academy, Verona Italy
Viva la Vida is a celebration of life via the bartenders’ craft that allows an exploration involving all the senses. Full presentation involves an elaborate ritual involving a bottle smoked with Sri Lankan cinnamon using a chef’s gun. The drink is sweet, highly aromatic and spicy on the nose, with notes of red fruits and nuts, and complements the Don Julio Blanco’s citrusy characteristics. It’s a double dose of agave, featuring both in the 100% blue Weber agave from the Jalisco highlands in the Don Julio Blanco, but also in the nectar that compounds this as it sweetens the drink.
The Technique
Don Julio Blanco • 60ml
Agave nectar • 30ml
Cranberry bitters • 3 dashes
Black walnut bitter • 3 dashes
Contains 19 grams of alcohol per serve
Add all ingredients to a chilled Boston shaker and roll. The mix is poured into a bottle smoked with Sri Lankan cinnamon, which is then capped and served with a flute glass with 2 ice cubes and a spray of pink grapefruit oils.
To try the cocktail made by the man himself visit Tailor Made, Athens, Greece
Tanqueray No. Ten • 60ml
Fresh lime juice • 20ml
Flower tea syrup • 15ml
Jasmine essence • 20 squirts
Elderflower liqueur • 2cl
Texturas Sucro • ½ gram
Contains 22 grams of alcohol per serve
To make the jasmine essence add rich simple syrup to a concentrated brewed mixed flower tea. Add fresh mint, jasmine flowers, dried pineapple and papaya. Allow flavours to infuse and strain.
Combine the Tanqueray No. Ten, lime juice, syrup and jasmine essence in a shaker and shake well. Pour into an Old Fashioned glass over an ice ball, top with foam. Garnish with bergamot zest and jasmine essence.
To make the foam mix the elderflower liqueur and texturas Sucro and chill, whip with a cappuccino frother and chill again to stabilize before spooning some over the cocktail (the sweeter you want it the more you add).
You couldn’t get more Brazilian than the Piladinho if you tried – and without the faintest whiff of cachaça. It’s inspired by the texture and aromas of batidas, the style of muddled cocktail consumed during the carnivals of Bahia. The recipe requires coffee, cacao, and the fruit of another rainforest tree, the cupuaçu (the flesh of which is described as a cross between chocolate and pineapple). Zulú sources sugarcane honey from indigenous communities around the northern city of Abaetetuba and adds his own ‘Zulú’ branded bitters. He even uses the cupauça shells as the shaker. The result has citrus and botanical aromas from the Tanqueray No. Ten that set the tone, light hints of coffee, spice from the bitters, as well as a tropical tang and smoothness from the cupuaçu and cacao.
Watch Zulu creating his cocktail:
The Technique
Tanqueray No. Ten • 60ml
Cupuaçu and cacao reduction (using the fruit pulps) • 50ml
Abaetetuba honey • 10ml
Zulu Bitters • 2 dashes
Limão Cravo (a mandarin/lemon cross with notes of clove) • 20ml
Toasted coffee • 20g
Contains 19 grams of alcohol per serve
Grind the coffee beans in a muddler and infuse in the Tanqueray No. Ten for a minute. Strain the infusion into a Boston shaker. Add the remaining ingredients and ice. Chill the mixture using a throwing technique and serve
Coco Roche is named after two key ingredients: chocolate and Cîroc. It traces its pedigree to the Espresso Martini and with chocolate flavours and jenever gives a great deal of Belgianness to the bar top. The recipe uses a homemade cascara berry syrup that brings bitterness and coffee taste that perfectly melds with the smooth, fresh and fruit-filled Cîroc. The syrup is made by adding a handful of cascara berries to a 1:1 simple syrup and left in a cool dry place overnight. The cocktail is sweet on the lips, but gives a slightly sharp finish. With its subtle chocolate taste it can be enjoyed after a beautiful supper, ideally with a few Belgian pralines.
Watch Hannah sourcing all the ingredients in her hometown and creating the cocktail:
Blood, Sweat & Tears relies on Talisker 10 and Zacapa 23 to give overall body and depth to the drink, developing a complex palate as they subtly engage with the other ingredients. As Charlie explains: ‘it starts its life as an Old Fashioned and progresses through different flavour sensations – it’s a fine balance of salty, sweet, sour, bitter and hot’. The floral aromatics are made by Charlie using five different flowers from his garden (steeped in a neutral spirit and sprayed from an atomizer). Involving a five-minute walk, the Bondi sea salt is pretty local too; though feel free to substitute with a sea salt handier for you to source.
Watch Charlie creating his cocktail here:
The Technique
Zacapa 23yr • 30ml
Talisker 10yr • 20ml
Ginger • A thumb
Coconut vinegar water (coconut vinegar & coconut water 1:1) • dash Dale DeGroff’s Pimento bitters • dash
Bondi sea salt rim (Heat filtered Bondi Sea water until dry, scrape off salt)
Garden aromatics (5 local flowers steeped in neutral spirit, sprayed from an atomiser)
Contains 18 grams of alcohol per serve
Muddle the ginger, stir & fine strain the ingredients into a chilled wine glass rimmed with Bondi sea salt. Spray over the garden aromatics.
To try the cocktail made by the man himself visit The Anchor & Bulletin Place, Sydney, Australia
Charles’s Solstice Shrub is a patio-ready drink perfect for summer in which Tanqueray No. Ten and vinegar are the most notable flavour profiles. The shrub is made with 1:1 berry juice simple syrup (by weight, 2 parts), apple cider vinegar (1 part) and fresh seasonal berries (1 part), to which muddled herbs (thyme and tarragon preferred) are added. The result is a crisp aperitif, with plenty of tartness and zing, which can be paired easily with a starter such as salad or fish.
Watch Charles creating the cocktail, along with an insight into his hometown of Chicago.
The Technique
Tanqueray No.Ten • 75ml
Pear brandy • 7ml
Breckenridge Bitters • 7ml
Shrub • 120ml
Water • 90ml
Contains 30 grams of alcohol per serve (Serves 2)
Combine all the ingredients, chill and carbonate. Place thyme and lavender into clear glass bottles. Fill with the cocktail and cap until ready to serve.
Chicago native Charles spent the week of the finals mixing, stirring and shaking up some incredible drinks – including his signature cocktail, Above the Clouds, which he mixed for the judges during the last day of the competition – which were always served up with his warm, welcoming American charm.
Charles is the resident beverage director of The Aviary in the Windy City and has worked in the industry for 17 years so certainly knows his way around a bar. This knowledge was reflected in the range of drinks he mixed throughout the week and we’re sure will serve him well as he holds the title of the Bartender of the Year for the next twelve months.
They then made their way to the dizzying heights of the Shard to complete their challenge at the Aqua Shard bar. At the same time, a Zacapa gastronomy challenge took place at Oblix restaurant one floor above, where each of the bartenders had to pair cocktails with surprise dishes created for them by head chef Rainer Becker.
The elimination after these challenges saw us lose Denmark, Belgium, Japan and Thailand. The final challenge of the day was the Against the Clock speed challenge where the competitors had just 8 minutes to create a series of complex drinks... At the end of this challenge, we lost another 2 bartenders so we are now down to our final 6!
GRANT SCENEY, CANADA
CHARLIE AINSBURY, AUSTRALIA
MIDO AHMED YAHI, FRANCE
CLAUDIO PERINELLI, ITALY
PETER CHUA, SINGAPORE
CHARLES JOLY, USA
In the evening, there was a shock elimination and 4 bartenders left the competition: Anton Velich from Slovakia, Jan Liska from UAE, Le Thanh Tung from Vietnam and Leroy Soumokil from the Netherlands. Our final 12 are now:
GRANT SCENEY, CANADA
CHARLIE AINSBURY, AUSTRALIA
MIDO AHMED YAHI, FRANCE
CLAUDIO PERINELLI, ITALY
KAORI KURAKAMI, JAPAN
JEFFREY CHANG, TAIWAN
PETER CHUA, SINGAPORE
HARDEEP REHAL, DENMARK
HANNAH VAN ONGEVALLE, BELGIUM
CHARLES JOLY, USA
GIACOMO GIANNOTTI, SPAIN
RONNAPORN KANIVICHAPORN, THAILAND
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