By Sacha Delfosse
Beam Global is inviting local bartenders to enter this year's Bols Around the World competition, which could reward them with an eight-day global bar tour visiting the best cocktail bars in the world.
To enter, bartenders must submit a Bols cocktail recipe to the company's website by March 15th. The top ten local entries will then be chosen for the next round, which will be a 40-question online exam.
The exam will cover a range of topics such as the history of distilling to influential cocktail personalities and bartenders will receive factsheets to study before the test. The bartenders with the top three results will then move on to the next round.
"The purpose of test is to see the fundamentals in bartending. The three heats will test all the three facets of the true bartender and fundamental theory is one of them," said Bols brand manager, Cheryl Tang.
For the final heat, bartenders will be required to present their cocktail entry in a short film that will give them a chance to display their flair for technique, passion for bartending and style of service.
Tang said the judges will rate competitors on how their cocktails are built, served, consumed, and most importantly, how they "add flavour".
"This year we also have a Young Talent Programme, which is created for bartenders under 23 years of age, and with less than one year of experience, to submit their cocktail recipe," Tang said.
"Our Bols Bartending Academy trainers will provide online coaching throughout the three heats of the competition. The Young Talent who scores the highest points through the three heats will go on to compete against the other 11 regional finalists."
The regional finalists will head to Amsterdam for a three-day competition that will begin on May 15th and culminate in a Grand Finale that will be judged by Hidetsugu Ueno, Jeff 'Beach Bum' Berry, Helmut Adam, Jared Brown and Anistatia Miller.
Apart from winning an eight-day global bar tour visiting the best cocktail bars in four different cocktail capitals of their choosing, the 2012 World Champion will also receive a Bols Platinum Ambassadorship that includes two trips to Amsterdam for intensive training.
The winner will also receive an all-expenses paid visit to a world-class bar show such as Tales of the Cocktail, Manhattan Cocktail Classics, Bar Convent Berlin or Cocktails and Spirits.