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Altos Tequila revamps global competition
Pernod Ricard has relaunched its education-focused programme and competition for Altos Tequila, which now has a greater focus on sustainability.
The Tahona Society Collective Spirit is the new-format cocktail competition from Olmeca Altos
The Tahona Society Collective Spirit replaces the annual Tahona Cocktail Competition and challenges bartenders to present a new sustainable initiative, event or project.
The winner of the Tahona Society Collective Spirit will receive a US$50,000 grant to bring their concept to life.
“In conversations with brand ambassadors and bartenders, a single issue kept coming up,” said The Tahona Society’s co-founder and spokesperson, Dré Masso. “While cocktail competitions are fun, we identified that the community wanted to leverage The Tahona Society’s incredible talents and energies to a higher end. Our US$50,000 commitment will allow great ideas to become an on-the-ground reality.
“The Tahona Society Collective Spirit celebrates more outward-looking, locally-focused efforts that reflects bartenders’ larger concerns to ‘give back’ to their colleagues, communities and industry as they further evolve the society’s commitment to human and environmental sustainability.”
The Tahona Society is a global network of bartenders that champions the tahona process in Tequila-making.
Under its new-format competition, bartenders from 22 countries will be invited to submit a project that relates to one of five categories: bartender welfare, social engagement, upcycling and recycling, waste reduction and sustaining the environment.
Before submitting their project online at www.tahonasociety.com, local training will take place over the course of two days. Contestants will then have one month to hone their creations.
Then, in September 2018, a panel of judges made up of leading Tequila experts will select 10 finalists to travel to Mexico in November to take part in the last stage of the competition.
The global winner will receive a US$50,000 grant from Altos Tequila and continued mentoring from The Tahona Society as they bring their concept to life. The winner will also become global ambassador for The Tahona Society and will host educational programmes for other bartenders in the coming year.
The first ever US$10,000 Henry Besant Scholarship, named after the late Altos Tequila co-founder, will be awarded to a rising bartender to fund a technical course for their career advancement.