Diageo Kenya has officially launched the World Class Bartender of the Year competition, the industry’s most prestigious and respected mixology competition worldwide.
100+ of Kenya’s finest bartenders will be battling it out to win the World Class Bartender of the Year. The winner will represent Kenya in the global final that will be held in Sydney, Australia in September 2022, where they will compete with top bartenders around the world.
To participate, bartenders submit their details through the World Class Kenya team. The launch took place at Hero Restaurant – Trademark hotel that produced the 2021 winner, Kelvin Thairu currently stationed in Dubai. 
The participants will go through a series of training programmes dubbed ‘World Class Studios’, that seek to push boundaries, educate and inspire bartenders around the globe on how to create exquisite cocktails. The studios will be a hybrid of physical and virtual sessions to accommodate all participants. The sessions are run by Diageo Kenya Brand Ambassador team.
From left: Joy Wairimu , General Manager at EatOut & Jayson Wamae - Events & Influencer Manager at Eatout
This year’s studios will center around The ‘Ketel one Community brew – will focus on the history and varieties of tea and coffee, the local community impact, and how they can be incorporated into serves in a sustainable way.
Singleton & Talisker Cocktail Cartography- Touches on the whisky experience, including rituals and traditions, impact of landscape on flavors and stories behind scotch whiskies.
The ‘Johnnie walker First draft’ – that will deep dive into the history of Scotch drinks, how to elevate your highball and closed loop practices with Johnnie Walker.
And the ‘Tanqueray Magical Modifiers’ that will dive into the world of gin, including the fundamentals of modifiers and the importance of flavor and theatre in the drinks industry.
“World Class main purpose is to improve the cocktail culture by training up the bartending community and enabling them to hone their craft. The skills they learn through World Class give them an opportunity to make careers by being behind the bar, resulting in higher incomes and higher quality experience for the customer. A higher number of trained bartenders have and will enable the hospitality industry to diversify and create more signature drinks with each restaurant looking to make its own mark on the industry,” he added.
The global competition is now in its 13th year and has trained and educated over 400,000 bartenders in over 60 countries.
