Thailand's Arron Grendon wins 2018 Chivas Masters Global Final

Arron Grendon from Tropic City in Bangkok has been crowned the 2018 Chivas Masters Global Champion.

The five-day final started at the Strathisla distillery in Speyside, the home of Chivas, before culminating at Oval Space in London.

Now in its fifth year, the Chivas Masters Global Final required the 21 national winners to establish their own sustainable pop-up cocktail bar.

Each finalist led a group of six bartenders to design the bar and Grendon’s team created One Night in Bangkok, which was honoured the 2018 Chivas Masters Collective.

“We wanted to bring Bangkok to London for just one night with our bar, so One Night in Bangkok was born,” said Grendon.

“I love the community in the market in Bangkok that brings together people from all around the world through food and drink – and that’s what I wanted to recreate. 

“My team spent five days together in the run-up to the global final, so I got to know what everyone was good at and how we could work best together.”

As the newly crowned 2018 Chivas Masters Global Champion, Grendon has won an all-access trip to Tales of The Cocktail 2018 in New Orleans and the chance to travel the world with Chivas.

Richard Black, global marketing director at Chivas Regal, added: “It was another fantastic year for bartending talent at the Chivas Masters Global Final in London, with an unrivalled display of creativity and teamwork on a global stage. 

“For the first time in the competition’s five-year history we also made our consumers part of the competition, giving them the chance to try Chivas cocktails made by some of the world’s best bartenders and then cast their vote to help crown the winner.”

Arron’s winning drinks ritual:

The Grind

50ml Chivas Extra

15ml Fino Sherry

30ml Coconut & Black sticky rice cream

5ml Sugarcane shrub

10ml Banana Syrup