This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
French bartender wins Bacardi Legacy 2015
France’s Frank Dedieu has been crowned winner of the Bacardi Legacy Global Cocktail Competition 2015 following a close final held in Sydney, Australia.
Frank Dedieu impressed a panel of judges with his Le Latin cocktail during the Bacardi Legacy 2015 final
Dedieu, bartender at Redwood in Lyon, impressed a panel of judges with his Le Latin cocktail, a mix of Bacardi Carta Blanca, white wine, lemon juice, olive brine and caster sugar.
Pitted against bartenders from 33 countries across the globe, Dedieu’s win marks the second time a contestant from France has won Bacardi Legacy, with Marc Bonneton, founder of Redwood, taking the title in 2011.
France is the first country in the seven-year history of Bacardi Legacy to win the cocktail competition twice.
Dedieu competed against 33 other international bartenders, including the UK’s Ally Martin, of Peg + Patriot.
He was judged by José Sanchez Gavito, Maestro de Ron Bacardi; Steve Schneider, from New York’s Employees Only bar; Ago Perrone, winner of the very first Bacardi Legacy; and Tom Walker, the current Bacardi Legacy champion; at the grand finale on 2 May.
“Le Latin is a cocktail that fuses together the elements that we look for in a Legacy cocktail; it is a drink I could see being made and enjoyed around the world for many years to come,” said Dickie Cullimore, Bacardi global brand ambassador.
“This year Frank has produced something that feels both original, and yet quintessential. It has been more difficult than ever to pick the winner from such a strong field, but in Le Latin I think we truly have the makings of a modern classic.”
Bacardi will now work with Dedieu over the next year to support his career development and help his Le Latin cocktail “gain worldwide recognition”.
The runners up of the competition were New Zealand’s Barney Toy with The Pan Am Cocktail and Lebanon’s Jad Ballout with his El Mediterráneo.
Last year, the UK’s Tom Walker, of The American Bar at The Savoy, won Bacardi Legacy 2014 at a final held in Moscow, Russia.
Bacardi Legacy 2016 final will be held in San Francisco.