Over spring 2023, The Blend invited those within the hospitality industry far and wide across Australia and New Zealand, to enter The Perfect Blend Cocktail Competition by creating a new, imaginative, and great tasting cocktail using a minimum 45mls from the diverse Beam Suntory portfolio. Entering was simple, by putting on your creative genius playlist, getting into the ‘innovation’ zone, working your individual magic, and submitting a cocktail in response to the brief TRADITION, or PERSONALITY.
Over the last few weeks, the panel of judges have been working overtime to narrow down the 300 entries received from bartenders from all corners of Australia & New Zealand. After a grueling blind judging process, the following exceptional finalists have been selected from each state.
Drum roll please…
NSW & ACT
APPRENTICES
- Anzhe Huang
- Daniel Dai
- Dion Elfes
- Flynn Gilmore
- James Cooke
- Jarsh Liu
- Jonathon Nati
- Kishen Saai Rao
- Mickey Morgan
- Nat Young
- Ngametua Fatongiatau
- Saxon Harrison
- Thomas Nix
- Tony Nguyen
- Zachary Scoble
PROFESSIONALS
- Angus Power
- Charlie Coates
- Daniel Hilton
- Giacomo Franceschi
- Jackson Alan
- Jae Yeol Choi
- Joe Worthington
- June Avery
- Mahbub Hasan
- Orion Leppan Taylor
- Peter Golding
- Quinn Zuo
- Roean Patawaran
- Ryan Betts
- Storm Evans
- Wintour Phelps
QLD
APPRENTICES
- Alessandro Pawelzik
- Georgia Gresham
- Harry Ling
- Isaac Singh
- Jesse Kynaston
- Kielan Davidson
- Kieran Fleming
- Rebecca Lynne
- Tamim Siddique
- Thomas Svensson
PROFESSIONALS
- Aidan Perkins
- Blade Hauser
- Cameron Gray-smith
- Charlie Hunter
- Claudio Furio
- Lachlan Mangelsdorf
- Liam Shephard
- Loic Mouchelin
- Martin McConnell
- Mycol Cavalieri
- Samuel Russ
- She-arna Booker
- Tuncer Tokmak
SA & NT
APPRENTICES
- Annie Thao Nguyen
- Josh Lever
- Koby Gelven
- Matilda McCarthy
- Oliver Fulcher
PROFESSIONALS
- Alex Bubba Johnston
- Alfie Simmons
- Alfonso Lizana
- Beau Chirgwin-Schmidt
- Jay Playford
- Pouya Khoshtarash
- Riley Landini
- Tahgan-jiian Howlett
- Thomas Egan
- Wil Bickley
- Wunna Coleman-Goddard
VIC & TAS
APPRENTICES
- Ana Mitchell
- Emma Fayle
- Eric O’Malley
- Frank Jiang
- Jessica Gregory
- Jordan Mcdonald
- Joseph Maait
- Nick Weir
- Ruth Chapman
PROFESSIONALS
- Caroline Svarc
- Dominique Cacioli
- Edwin Ditchfield
- Eileen Zhang
- Ewen Davies
- Joseph Howlett
- Lachlan Watt
- RIchard Liu
- Tanguy Charbonnet
- Thomas McArthur
- Tony Huang
- Yuichi Hirayama
WA
APPRENTICES
- Claudia Terblanche
- Daniel Feyzollahi
- Jac Landmark
- Mark Liao
- Richard Thomas
PROFESSIONALS
- Benjamin Fincham-de Groot
- Charles Arias
- Dyllan Balm
- Francis Martin
- Kenny Lim
- Max Giudice
- Murray Walsh
- Nicholas Francis
- Pippa Canavan
- Sean Walker
NEW ZEALAND
APPRENTICES
- Connor Bowes
- Kelle Roberts
- Kevin Menezes
- Senuka Sudusinghe
- Swanny Monthuit
PROFESSIONALS
- Akira Ohki
- Charles Gillet
- Corbin parker Parker
- Dan Felsing
- Daniel Preston-Jones
- Dayyana Dimitrova
- Federico Casadei
- Harry Powell
- Jay Corcraighe
- Jonny Park
- Mangesh shah
- Martyn Wood
- Nick Widley
Kicking off in late February 2024, The Blend will be touring this great country of ours, hosting five state final events, then New Zealand, to select a winner from the Apprentice and Professional categories, all of whom will be vying for their chance to win a trip to UK, the ultimate fantasy-turned-reality trip, visiting Beam Suntory distilleries where they will receive the honor of working alongside a Master Distillers, plus visiting some of the World’s best bars, working alongside industry mentors, and the owners of these great bars, whilst dropping into a large industry event, all while in the UK, whoa!
Thank you to all those who submitted entries this year into The Perfect Blend competition, the entries were truly exciting to read and review, and the stories you shared were so inspiring and from the heart. It was difficult to narrow down the list!
Congratulations to the finalists, we are excited to have you on this journey with us!
If you’re a finalist that hasn’t been contacted so far, by your state The Exchange Ambassador, please email hayley.morison@beamsuntory.com. Some of you forgot to put your phone numbers… so we want to share the great news and next steps…
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