Bannie Kang from Singapore has been named the world’s best bartender for 2019 at the biggest cocktail competition on the planet: Diageo World Class Bartender of the Year.
Thousands of bartenders competed, but the list was whittled down to 53, who were then invited to the finals.
At the Ketel One Distillery in Schiedam, Netherlands, the finalists were tasked with creating cocktails that had a positive environmental impact and a sense of community at their core. They were then whisked to Scotland, to the Talisker Distillery on the windswept Isle of Skye, where they were presented with a ‘mystery box’ of ingredients and bar tools and challenged to mix up a Talisker masterpiece.
Final stop was Glasgow and the hub of the four-day drinks culture experience. At the city’s transformed SWG3 event space, finalists were required to create cocktails that respected, enhanced and complemented renowned single malt The Singleton; devise a cocktail flight of three small drinks that explored the fresh citrus heart of Tanqueray No. Ten; excel at a Johnnie Walker ‘highball in a can’ challenge; and ace a final speed round where they were judged by industry legends on the quality of their cocktail-making under immense time pressures.
The South Korean native mixes drinks at the Fairmont Singapore and Swissotel The Stamford. She uses flavors from her homeland to reinterpret classic recipes with contemporary flair. (BBC StoryWorks).