They came from far and wide…..all seeking to be crowned the best bar person in Belgium.
Bartenders, who come from all over the world, converged on a horeca training centre in Anderlecht for their gold standard event of the year: the national cocktail championships.
This writer was among the judges who joined an elite group of young men and women, all vying to win the sector’s top prize.
The event was organised by the Union of Belgian Bartenders, founded as long ago as 1961 with the aim of training future generations of bartenders.
Some of Belgium’s best got the chance to showcase their talents and know-how at the finals on 16 June.
And I got the chance too to judge what they could do, in my case, in the presentation category.
This involved each finalist speaking for a few minutes to introduce themselves and explain their chosen cocktail.
The theme of this year’s championships in Belgium was coffee – that being the specific category that Belgium has been selected for in the world championships in Colombia in November.
Louis Lindle-Lavin, from Brussels, explained this to the audience at the start of his presentation, saying, “I have based my cocktails, like everyone else here today, on coffee.”
“But I have also added things like spiced rum, maple syrup and avocat and hope these flavours come to the fore.”
Louise pointed out that advocaat means lawyer in Dutch so he said that was why he had called his cocktail “Case Closed.”
The finalists this year all live and work in Belgium but their families originate from all over the world, including Domenico Palmieri, from Italy; Axelle Forster, who is part American; Lavesh Shrestha, from Nepal; Hernando Bravo, from Ecuador; Rabath Saleba, from Syria and Daniel Papageorgiou, from Greece.
Their presentational skills did vary widely but all, apart from the three students, or rookies, who were exempt, had to speak in English. This is because English is the language that will be used in the world finals later this year.
All, though, had an impressive command of what constitutes a cracking cocktail, one of the reasons why they had made it through to the national championships, of course.
Other participants included Godefroid Larry, Virginie Daux, Alex Soler (a student), all from Brussels, along with Maite Pietquin, from Fleurus, near Charleroi, and Claude Remacle, from Genval.
Some spoke in fluent English while others struggled somewhat but what linked them all was a clear passion for what they were doing… making great cocktails.
The presentation came after each participant garnished their cocktail and just before they actually made them on an elevated stage in front of the packed audience and the all-important “technical” judges who circled them as they set about the task at hand: making 5 glasses in seven minutes.
The last step was, arguably, the most enjoyable one: the degustation where a jury sampled the aforementioned offerings.
Coffee- not something many lay people (like this writer) might normally associate with a cocktail) was a recurring theme at this year’s finals. One necessity was that each of the five cocktails had to contain a minimum of 2.5 cl of coffee.
It certainly made for some very interesting and different looking cocktails and should get the winner ready for the world finals.
Earlier in what was a quite gruelling day, each finalist underwent a written test.
A recent double Belgian winner, Julie Nullens, now president of the Union, explained what winning the award had meant for her.
Julie, who is based in Liege, said, “It made a big difference. Of course, people were recognising me in the street but it really lifted by visibility as a bartender. It has been really good in that respect. It is an important achievement for a bartender in this country,” added Julie who will be joining the Belgian delegation in Columbia.
It was a highly enjoyable occasion and a delight to see at first hand such skills which are often taken for granted or overlooked.
Arguably, the best summary of it all came from one of the participants, Lavesh who told the audience and judges he had called his cocktail “The Great Barman.”
Why? Well he said, “Everyone here today dreams of being a great barman and I am no different.”
