Cocktail competition attracts bartenders in Helsinki

Creative bartenders and cocktail lovers had an amazing experience at a Cocktail Competition held recently in Helsinki.

Jointly organised by FBSK - Finnish Bartender Association in Helsinki and Kweichow Moutai, a total of 14 qualified bartenders were chosen to join qualification round on Sunday, on the first day, where they had 6 minutes to make 2 same cocktails.

Seven successful contestants entered the final round on the second day and delivered a 10-minute performance on stage for 4 same cocktails.

All the recipes must contain minimum of 2 cl of a certain product and certain creativity in technique, presentations, taste, and aroma are very important criteria. Besides, the charisma of the contestants on the stage might attribute greatly to the results. Jan Lindgren won first prize of one-week media trip to China, while Patrick Chang and Joel Österholm placed 2^nd prize of 1000 EUR and 3^rd prize of 500 EUR respectively.

“Excellent performance from everyone in the 1st year! Most of the participants did not expect that we organized such a big competition. They all handled the pressure well and did their best in the competition” said Tang Chao, Representative of Kweichow Moutai in Finland.

Jan Lindgren is considered a popular candidate since he won the crowd on social media and became Shaker magazine editor's favorite. With his best result from the qualification round, Jan wowed the audience in the final with his many years of experience in bartending and competing at around 50 cocktail competitions. “I had been placed 2^nd many times before, so this is a big achievement,” said Jan Lindgren, winner of the competition.

One of the interesting rules of the competition is that all the contestants need to make a social media post of their drinks with given hashtags, aiming to draw attention and awareness from professionals all over Finland.

“We had great collaboration with Moutai Finland” said Greta Grönholm, President of Finnish Bartender Association, adding, “the event was organized successfully after 6 months of preparation and promotion”. “We expect certain amount of skill, knowledge and professional techniques from the contestants, as they get to know the products for a balanced cocktail” Greta added.

”The organizers did a good job in connecting us together. Every contestant is so talented and inspiring. I am looking forward to a comeback in this competition next year with a better preparation” Chang, runner-up of the competition said.

Organizing such cocktail competition event is one of the key strategies to grow from local to international and promote Chinese craftsmanship in spirits.

”This is just the beginning. Moutai in Finland and FBSK will organize the competition every year in Finland. We aim for a bigger scale and more international event. We are expecting bartenders from Europe and rest of the world to participate.” Chao added.