Benu Kundra of Brew Bistro Bar and Lounge has been crowned Nairobi’s best mixologist by ABSOLUT VODKA. This title, KSh. 100,000 and a return trip ticket to the ABSOLUT Company headquarters in Sweden, were awarded to him at the ‘Mix It Up with ABSOLUT Professional Challenge’ finals held at the Aqua Blue night club on Tuesday, 18th November, 2014.
Benu beat 12 other mixologists from other prestigious pubs and restaurants in the city, to be crowned king. His winning cocktail, the ABSOLUT D.S. 1879, was the only one which needed to be heated on a gas burner as part of preparation. In addition he scored points with the judges and the crowd for his personality and presentation.
Dennis Olonyi of Dusit 2 clenched the KSh. 50,000 second place victory with his ABSOLUT Sensation and Mellisa Njiru of Bar Chef won third place and KSh. 25,000 with her ABSOLUT Raspberry Guru. Other notable mixologists from the event include Ndoto Babu of Seven Village Market, who made an authentically Kachumbari flavored cocktail, Joan Samia of Villa Rosa Kempinski and her ABSOLUT Tom Kha and Yeru Randu from Sankara with the ABSOLUT Herbaceous. Uganda was also represented by Ivan Ziritwalula from Big Mike who made his ABSOLUT Touch.
These ABSOLUT professional challenges are held in recognition of mixology as a career. In addition, they are meant to identify talent and nurture creativity in the sector. These sentiments were echoed by Wanjiru Njenga, the Marketing Manager for Pernod Ricard.
As a surprise twist, all of this year’s 6 finalists get automatic entry into the much coveted Taste Awards 2015, to battle it out for Mixologist of The Year.
Who do you think will win?
