The World Class Cocktail competition is taking place for the second time at Roxxy on Tuesday June 6th. Ludovica Telese, bartender in charge of the event organization, is telling us about this contest, open to the public, which is giving pride of place to bartenders and mixology.
What is the World Class Cocktail Competition?
Ludovica Telese: "It’s an international competition happening all over the world. It’s the world championship of cocktails. It is organized by the biggest distribution company in the world, Diageo, which has been collaborating for 15 years with ILTT (International Liquor and Tobacco Trading). Two years ago, St-Martin was included for the first time in the competition. I like to call it a cocktail festival day. It’s a celebration of the craft of our bartenders because beside choosing who will represent St-Martin in the world-wide final, we will also celebrate the level of bartending of the island which has raised in an extreme way these last few years."
What were the pre-selection steps?
"14 bartenders applied to the pre-selection in April and 7 were selected. They had to send a Ketel One cocktail recipe with certain criteria. The selected candidates were then invited to a masterclass where they had to reproduce cocktails made by the winners of the last competition. In May we made a boat trip. I gave them more challenges but also tips to prepare for the competition."
What are the challenges planned on June 6th?
"They will have to reproduce a cocktail they have created with Ketel One and a special garnish. The Ketel One company is very focused on sustainability and helping the community so the garnish they chose needs to be from a project that helps the community of St-Martin, like a product from a local farm for example. They have to promote this cocktail in the bar or restaurant they work in for a month and a half before the competition. The second challenge will be to create two cocktails with the Don Julio brand, one inspired by the person that inspired them the most in their career, the second inspired by the land of St-Martin. The second round will be the speed round. Every candidate will have to make one cocktail in one minute but they don’t know which cocktail yet".
What competences will help them to stand out?
"They have to be creative; they have to be clean. They also have to be good on stage, talking and executing at the same time. They will have a microphone that will leave their hands free. They will have to talk to the jury, to the crowd and explain the story of the cocktails they created. It’s exactly like behind your bar when 99% of the time you have to entertain the people while preparing the cocktails."
ABOUT LUDOVICA TELESE
Originally from Italy, Ludovica Telese entered the world of nightlife and party quite young, as a waitress and then as a hostess. At 18 years old, she started a career in a travel agency in London. However, she was fascinated by the world of spirits, she registered at a bartending school after returning to Italy to learn the basics of the craft and to help make ends meet by freelancing. Encouraged by one of her friends, a teacher at this school, she was fully invested in what she understood to be more than a passion. A few years later, she even became a teacher at this very same school. In 2018, she met a couple who offered her to work as bar manager at their restaurant in St. Maarten. In addition to having to rebuild the restaurant, destroyed by Hurricane Irma, over the months she had to build her own team to turn the Palapa into one ofthe bests cocktail bars and restaurants of the island within a year and a half. During Covid, the bartender participated in the “Do it Yourself” online contest in which she had to create one video per week during 5 weeks to entertain internet users and give them cocktail ideas. Ludovica Ledese won the contest and was spotted by Diageo and ILTT who gave her a job offer. Nowadays, she combines several activities: consulting, brand ambassadorship and marketing.
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