Monkey Shoulder Ultimate Bartender Championship returns
Tales of the Cocktail Foundation (TOTCF) has partnered with Monkey Shoulder to present the Ultimate Bartender Championship (UBC), which kicks off tomorrow (24 February).
This year, UBC will offer heats at each of the stops of TOTCF’s Tales on Tour series, which takes place in cities across the US in the run-up to the TOTC festival in July.
UBC is a bartending skills-based competition that challenges participants across five disciplines: general spirits knowledge, professional service, speed, precision, and sensory expertise.
The competition features six challenges, including the perfect serve, which asks competitors to create cocktails under time pressure while maintaining quality and technique, and a head-to-head round-building challenge against the clock.
Other challenges include a general knowledge quiz, accuracy of pouring, blind nosing of spirits and tray service.
The quiz will be held online and serves as the application and qualifying round. Complimentary tickets will be provided to those who pass.
Qualified bartenders will then participate in live competition rounds during Tales on Tour events, where they will complete the remaining challenges in 20-minute time slots.
A running scoreboard will track performance across all heats. The top-scoring bartender from the US will advance to an international grand final.
The Tales on Tour and UBC schedule is as follows:
- 24 February: Chicago
- 24 March: Dallas
- 14 April: Los Angeles
- 22 September: Washington DC
- 27 October: Miami
- December: Global Championship Trip
Montreal bartender Marie-Louise Roy-Bilodeau won UBC’s Americas competition last year.
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