Drinking cocktails is so much better when you’re doing it for a cause. DrinkManila Bartender Throwdown is an exciting series of bar takeovers where we take a group of drink enthusiasts, train them and help them concoct signature serves, then let them duke it out in an epic cocktail battle bar shift to raise funds for a non-profit of their choice and be crowned the Bartenders of the Night.
This year, two gorgeous teams battled it out behind the bar for a worthy cause at The Refined Lounge at The Fort Strip last November 19. Team 8ONE, made up of Brazilian bombshell TV host, singer, and actress Daiana Menezes and music producer Tommie King, chose The Red Whistle, a collaborative platform supporting People Living with HIV and AIDS through various media awareness campaigns as their beneficiary.
Team XiDu, composed of models/DJs Christi McGarry and Eduardo Lara, decided to support Planet Cora, an organization that is all about empowering the youth and local communities to take climate action and beat plastic pollution.
While teams are friends in real life, they all came into the competition to win. Since the winner will be determined by drink sales, supporters of our celebrity bartenders showed up in full force. Each team offered two cocktails. Team 8ONE served drinks inspired by their songs Feels Like and Back to the Crib, while Team Xidu played up the ‘opposites attract’ adage into their drinks Yin and Yang.
Read more about their cocktails here.
While the teams delighted the crowd with their cocktail concoctions, hosts Tatum Ancheta (DrinkManila’s editor-in-chief), and Jessica Sto. Domingo (SelvaRey’s Philippines Market Manager) gave away exciting prizes from our sponsors. Lucky guests received a duo set of SelvaRey Rum (White and Cacao), glassware sets from Ocean Glass, bartending sets from World Class Concepts Corp., bottles of syrups from Giffard, gift certificates from The Refined Lounge, and a watch from D1 Milano.
Since DrinkManila Bartender Throwdown is a plastic-free event, our friends from Kanin Products provided the straws for our celeb bartenders’ long drinks. Their straws are made of 70% rice and 30% tapioca and are great alternatives to paper straws that disintegrate so easily.
The Red Whistle offered free HIV testing to those who wanted to know their status. An ambulance provided by the Taguig government served as the testing van for people who wanted to get tested. The rate of increase in infections of HIV in the Philippines is one of the highest in the world. Knowing your status and removing the stigma of HIV testing is one of the first steps in HIV prevention.
Felicisimo Gourmet Homecooking set up a glorious grazing table filled with canapes, cold cuts, cheeses, and their gourmet spreads for our celebs and VIPs. Benefit Cosmetics’ Resident Experience Designer Celina Fernandez and National Brow Artist Chinx Domingo helped our celebs get camera-ready for their bar shift.
The competition was fierce and close. Both teams brought their A-games and their cocktails were delicious. The flavors offered by each were diverse yet balanced, so that there was a cocktail to fit whatever someone’s mood or palate was.
After an intense bar shift, the points were tallied and Team Xidu reigned supreme. The fight was close, as Team Xidu’s Yin and Yang cocktails edged Team 8ONE by just one point! At the end of the day, DrinkManila Bartender Throwdown is a fundraiser, and both non-profits got a percentage of the proceeds.
It was an epic night filled with fun and laughter, great drinks, lots of prizes, all for a good cause.
Watch the night’s live feed here. (part one, part two, part three)
DrinkManila Bartender Throwdown is brought to you by VASST Exchange International Inc., Giffard Syrups and Liqueurs, Savoroso Inc., The Refined Lounge, D1 Milano, World Class Concepts Corp., Ocean Glass, Wilmax England, Curious Textures, Kanin Products, Benefit Cosmetics Philippines, Felicisimo Gourmet Homecooking, Planet Cora, and The Red Whistle.