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TOTC’s top bartenders across the globe

Tales of the Cocktail named the 10 nominees in the International Bartender of the Year category in its 2020 Spirited Awards this month. We take a look at the trailblazers shaking up the industry.

Kelsey Ramage, one-half of waste-reducing pop-up Trash Tiki, opened a cocktail bar in Toronto last year

Earlier this month, Tales of the Cocktail (TOTC) revealed its top 10 Spirited Awards nominees, including the people in the International Bartender of the Year category.

From Toronto to Taiwan, there are a number of leading bartenders across the world highlighting important on-trade issues and storming to success in highly-regarded cocktail competitions.

The Spirited Awards shortlist (top four) will be released on 1 June. In the meantime, we take a look at each bartender that grabbed a highly-coveted spot in the International Bartender of the Year category.

Click through the following pages to see the nominees in alphabetical order.

Claudia Cabrera – Kaito del Valle, Mexico City

Mexico City-based bartender Claudia Cabrera started in the food industry at the age of 20 and quickly fell in love with mezcal.

She went to Vancouver and studied at the Metropolitan School of Bartending in Calgary, before travelling back to Mexico to work with mezcal and organic cocktails.

Cabrera currently works at Kaito del Valle, a Japanese-style bar in Mexico City.

Andrea Gualdi – Maybe Sammy, Sydney

Andrea Gualdi is the group beverage/creative director of Sydney bar Maybe Sammy. His journey into bartending began in London at the world-renowned Artesian bar at The Langham hotel.

Gualdi also won the Australian heat in the 2017 Diageo World Class competition.

Maybe Sammy was one of the 10 nominees in the Best International Cocktail Bar and Best International Bar Team categories in this year’s Spirited Awards.

Bannie Kang – Mu, Taipei, Taiwan

Korean-born Bannie Kang came into the spotlight in 2019 when she took the much-coveted title of Diageo World Class Bartender of the Year during her third attempt of the competition.

Kang moved to Singapore from her native Korea in 2010, and it was while working here that she was inspired to develop her bartending skills. She entered the contest in 2013 and again in 2014, when she made it through to the final four in the Singapore round.

Kang started her on-trade career as a waitress and previously worked at Anti:dote in Singapore’s Fairmont hotel. She is set to open a new bar and restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan, with her husband.

José Luis León – Ritual H Bars, Mexico City

Bartender José Luis León has worked at a number of bars in Mexico City, New York, Chicago, Spain and Shanghai.

In 2018, he won Patrón’s Margarita of the Year competition and led the bar team at acclaimed cocktail bar Licorería Limantour in Mexico City, which often features on the world’s best bars list.

Kelsey Ramage – Supernova Ballroom, Toronto, Canada

Canada-born bartender Kelsey Ramage is the co-founder of zero-waste pop-up Trash Tiki, along with Ian Griffiths.

The duo have travelled the world and hosted pop­-ups to educate bartenders on different ways of using what we see as trash.

Griffiths and Ramage, who both worked at London’s award-winning Dandelyan bar (now known as Lyaness), opened their own bar last year in Toronto.

The new drinking den, called Supernova Ballroom, offers a “dazzling disco party” with a 1970s colour palette. The venue recently made the nominees list in the Best New International Bar category in the 2020 Spirited Awards.

Remy Savage – Le Syndicat, Paris, France

Raised in France by his Italian mother and Irish father, Remy Savage made his on­-trade debut working in an Irish pub in Lyon in the evenings and at weekends.

Savage travelled from Oxford to Bangkok consulting in bars and previously worked as head bartender at Paris bar Little Red Door and, more recently, London’s Artesian at The Langham.

In October 2019, Savage made the decision to depart the London hotel bar after two years to “pursue his own project on both sides of the channel”.

Savage and bar manager Anna Sebastian created a number of cocktail lists for the Artesian, including a minimalist menu in April 2019, the Artesian Moments menu in 2018 and Cause, Effect & Classic Cocktails in December 2017.

Marcio Silva – Guilhotina Bar, São Paulo, Brazil

Marcio Silva is the owner of Guilhotina Bar in São Paulo, which was opened in 2016 and has since scooped up a number of awards.

Guilhotina offers a “delicious and unpretentious experience” for guests at the rustic, industrial-style venue.

Prior to opening the bar, Silva worked as the global brand ambassador for Yaguara Cachaça.

Kaitlyn Stewart – Royal Dinette, Vancouver, Canada

Toronto-born Kaitlyn Stewart began bartending 15 years ago and worked in the on-trade initially to help pay for university until she discovered her passion for hospitality.

In 2017, Stewart entered the Diageo World Class competition, winning the Canadian round of the competition, until she beat 56 bartenders to be crowned World Class Bartender of the Year.

Since her win in Mexico City, Stewart has travelled around the world giving seminars, holding tastings and doing guest shifts as part of the World Class programme in a bid to inspire and engage with other bartenders and share the message of better drinking.

Luke Whearty – Byrdi, Melbourne

Luke Whearty’s bartending career began at the award-winning De Raum bar in Melbourne, where he worked for a number of years as head bartender. He then moved to South East Asia to work alongside chef Ryan Clift at the acclaimed Tippling Club in Singapore.

Whearty and his wife Aki Nishikura opened Oxwell & Co in 2013 in Singapore with chef Mark Sargeant. The couple then went on to open trailblazing cocktail den Operation Dagger in Singapore, which secured a number of awards in its first few years of trading. This was followed by the opening of Cape Town bar Outrage of Modesty.

Returning to Melbourne, Whearty and Nishikura opened Byrdi bar last year, which focuses on using local ingredients. The venue has also been nominated in the Best New International Cocktail bar category in this year’s Spirited Awards.

Matt Whiley – Scout London & Sydney, UK

Known on the London bar scene for his sustainable approach to cocktails, bartender Matt Whiley is the man behind the city’s Peg + Patriot and Talented Mr Fox venues.

In 2017, Whiley opened acclaimed zero-waste cocktail bar Scout in London’s Hoxton area, which has since relocated to Hackney. 

Whiley also runs a consultancy company with bartender Rich Woods, of Duck & Waffle fame, which has seen the duo relaunch the drinks menu at London’s Zetter Townhouse bars and enhance the drinks offering at chef Adam Handling’s London restaurants.

Last year, Whiley opened the first international outpost of Scout in Sydney.

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