Patrón Tequila has announced the five bartenders who won the Regional Heats of the Australian and New Zealand Patrón Perfectionists Cocktail Competition held earlier this week in New Zealand, Adelaide and Sydney respectively.
SA Regional Winners:
Rohan Massie from Rude Boy in Lauderdale, Tasmania — ‘Summertime Queen’
Oisin Conneely from Black Pearl in Melbourne, Victoria — ‘The In-Laws’
NSW Regional Winners:
Anneliese Grazioli from Hot Tamale in Darwin, Northern Territory — ‘Over & Above’
Jamie Fleming from Alba Bar & Deli in Brisbane, Queensland — ‘My Hands’
New Zealand Winner:
Jordan Davies from Los Banditos in Wellington, New Zealand — ‘Conquistador’
The South Australian regional heats were held at Electra House in Adelaide on Sunday 8 September and was judged Andres Valderrama, marketing manager of Patrón Tequila Australia, Marcus Motteram from Hains & Co and Libby Curran from Concrete Playground.
Rohan Massie from Rude Boy in Tasmania impressed judges with his cocktail ‘Summertime Queen’. “Its been such an amazing experience from the entry process up until now,” says Massie. “It’s the most beautiful thing to be able to display all this local produce from Hobart too!”
Oisin Conneely’s cocktail ‘The In Laws’ was inspired by his first Christmas on the beach in Queensland. “My cocktail is a perfect representation of that day, gathering whatever was around me at that time from strawberries, watermelon and cucumber and it worked almost too well with the flavour profile of Patrón Tequila, creating the perfect light aperitif,” he says.
The NSW regional heat was held at Bar Patrón in Sydney on Tuesday 10 September and was judged by Valderrama, Chris Jepson from Palmer & Co and Marissa Ciampi from Concrete Playground.
With competing bartenders hailing from the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales, Anneliese Grazioli from Hot Tamale in Darwin and Jamie Fleming from Alba Bar & Deli in Brisbane were as the Regional Winners for NSW.
“After being in the agave industry for seven years, I am totally inspired by what the industry is today from the bars, the people and brands,” says heat winner Anneliese Grazioli. “This is one competition that focuses on just tequila so I am thrilled to be going to finals.”
Jamie Fleming commented on the competition, saying “My highlight was seeing the other competitors and how they interpret the same spirit and put their own spin on it!”
Joining the Australian Regional Winners is Jordan Davies from Los Banditos in Wellington who took out the competition in New Zealand with his Patrón cocktail ‘Conquistador’.
All five bartenders will travel to Melbourne on Tuesday 15 October to compete at the Australian and New Zealand National final of the Patrón Perfectionists Cocktail Competition with expert judging panel including special guest and creator of the Tommy’s Margarita Julio Bermejo, director of International Marketing at Patrón Tequila, Matthew Sykes and editor in chief of Executive Style Michael Harry.
