Every few years Japanse whisky brand Nikka Whisky hosts it’s Perfect Serve bartending competition. Yes, a bartending competition. Not just a cocktail competition.
This contest focusses more on hospitality rather than on the drinks made by the bartenders. Of course, tasty drinks are a big part of hospitality, but a good bartender is jack of many trades. Making people feel welcome and sending them home feeling good at the end of the evening is at least as important as serving nice cocktails.
Nikka hired me judge the participants on their hospitality skills. Together with co-judges Yen Pham (Yi Chan, Brussels) and Harouna Saou (Life is Beautiful, Brussel) I was asked to play out a couple of scenarios and see how the participants reacted on the situations. For example, as judges we needed to act out as 3 friends getting quite drunk, or as a couple on a first blind date while being disturbed by another guest at the bar.
Little Red Rooster’s Bart Capoen won the competition with a well-balanced drink and impressive hospitality skills.
