By Sacha Delfosse – editor bars&clubs
Bacardi's global brand ambassador, David Cordoba, recently arrived in Australia to judge the top 25 local entries in this year's Bacardi Legacy competition, accompanied by industry veteran Phil Bayly.
First stop for Cordoba was Sydney’s new Cliff Dive rum bar, where he conducted a training session for the trade. His next destination will be Brisbane’s Alfred & Constance bar, where he will be mixing up Daiquiris on November 7.
During his time in Australia, Cordoba will be visiting each of the 25 Bacardi Legacy semi-finalists to try their cocktail entry and hear them make their case as to why they should be chosen to move onto the next round of the competition.
The 25 semi-finalists are: Daniel Molnar (NSW), James Irvine (NSW), Luke Marosszeky (NSW), Paolo Sossi (NSW), Phoenix Naman (NSW), Alexander Boon (QLD), Christopher Denman (QLD), Elle Tizzard (QLD), Nathanael Gonelli (QLD), Marco Nunes (QLD), Dave Meadows (SA), Chris Schulze (SA), Damien Boyd (SA), Eoghan O'Niel (SA), Ben Webb (TAS), Niall Maurici (TAS), Rohan Massie (TAS), Betty Cooper (VIC), Damien Kos (VIC), Fred Siggins (VIC), Jacob Taylor (VIC), Tim Pryde (VIC), Brett Arendse (WA), David Nguyen-Luu (WA), and Kenny Soetomo (WA).
Five out of the 25 semi-finalists will be chosen to move on to the next round, and they will be announced at the end of November. The 25 local semi-finalists were chosen after a blind tasting of all the entries by a judging panel that included industry veterans, Phil Bayly and Alex Beaumont.
“I really appreciated the integrity of reviewing the recipes blind. The calibre of entries was outstanding and each entrant can be confident Alex and I judged their recipe on its own merit and according to the judging criteria. Congratulations go to everyone who entered the Bacardi Legacy Cocktail Competition, but in particular our Top 25,” said Bayly.