Russian wins Bacardi Legacy competition
Russian bartender Elizaveta Evdokimova won this year’s Bacardi Legacy Global Cocktail Competition, which took place at the Bacardi distillery in Puerto Rico yesterday.
Evdokimova, a bartender at Delicatessen in Moscow, prevailed from a field 19 bartenders and will now take on an ambassadorial role with Bacardi over the next year.
As part of her role Evdokimova will serve her cocktail The Knight Cup (Bacardi, artichoke liqueur, grenadine liqueur and sugar syrup) at bars around the word.
David Cordoba, Bacardi global ambassador, said: “Elizaveta has created a beautiful new Bacardi cocktail that has a genuine uniqueness. It’s simple to make, easy to drink and combines a masculine taste with a feminine touch.”
Elizaveta said: "There were some incredible bartenders and great cocktails in the competition. Iʼm so proud and very excited about taking The Knight Cup around the world. Itʼs impossible right now to take in this achievement, for now I want to enjoy the moment!”
Judging the competition was Enrique Comas, Bacardi family member; Maestro de Ron Bacardi José Sanchez Gávito; Salvatore Calabrese, of Salvatore at Playboy bar in London; Simon Difford, founder of diffordsguide; Alex Kratena from the Artesian bar at the Langham Hotel in London; Jörg Meyer of Le Lion in Hamburg, Nicolas Saint-Jean, world champion flair bartender and Marc Bonneton and Shingo Gokan, winners of Bacardi Legacy in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
In the days leading up to the grand final, Bacardi hosted the 19 bartenders for “a week of education and competition” in Miami and Puerto Rico.
After the first round of the event the field was narrowed to eight bartenders. Alongside Evdokimova the other seven finalists were: Mario Hofferer of Austria, Dennis Wolf of Germany, Nick Koumbarakis of South Africa, Boudy Ghostine of Sweden, Suwincha Singsuwan of Thailand, Chris Moore of The UK and Ireland and Nick Nistico of the US.