By
Rebecca Gibson |
Five bartenders from cruise and ferry companies have been chosen to compete in the 2019 Bacardi Legacy Cruise Competition finals in Puerto Rico next February.
Bacardi has been running the annual competition for 14 years and in 2016, it introduced the cruise category for the first time. Each entrant must make their own unique cocktail using Bacardi Superior, Bacardi Gold, or Bacardi Ochos (8) Anos. They are judged on their source of inspiration for the recipe, technical aspects and the taste of the drink.
This year, five finalists have been chosen from more than 12,00 entrants. They include Carnival Cruise Line’s Sanja Cvijetic, Holland America Line’s Narciso Mariano Jr, Norwegian Cruise Line’s Marc MacArthur, P&O Cruises Australia’s Siddhant Naik and Tallink Silja Line’s Mattias Nilsson. All five will now embark on a campaign to promote their cocktail ahead of the final.
“Being part of the Bacardi Legacy Cocktail Global Competition, the finalists from cruise and ferry are required to build on their recipe developments skills and now develop their prowess in sales and marketing,” said Zachary Sulkes, international key account manager for cruise at Bacardi Global Travel Retail. “A fundamentally important phase of the competition is the measurement of how well the bartenders get behind their creation and demonstrate its potential to become established in the drinks industry as a true classic. This can only be achieved by securing trial, consumer and trade awareness and distribution, so our five finalists are now busy promoting their recipe direct to guests and sharing it with fellow bartenders in their company so as to get it listed and served across the fleet.”
All five finalists receive US$1,000 and an all-expenses paid trip to the finals in Puerto Rico. The Bacardi Legacy Cruise Bartender of the Year will then compete against 41 other finalists from different markets in Bacardi’s overall competition in Amsterdam, Netherlands in May 2019. Prize money will total US$4,000.