La Maison Cointreau Regional Finals 2016 recently concluded in Phuket, Thailand. 10 finalists from Southeast Asia battled it out for the 2016 Regional Finals: Joel John Timis (Malaysia), Ari Naryana (Indonesia), Dheeradon Dissara (Thailand), Biēn Ngoc Vū (Vietnam), Jimmy Barat (UAE), Yongjoo Kim (South Korea), Reena Mahendran (Singapore), Kenta Yoshida (Japan), Joshua O’Brien (Australia), and Cedric Cello (the Philippines).
For two days, bartenders showed off their skills in front of judges Michael Callahan, founding bartender of 28 HongKong Street; food writer and stylist Vivian Pei; DRiNK Magazine’s editor-in-chief Dan Bignold; and Remy Cointreau’s Richard Gillam.
The first challenge was to create a Tiki Margarita. This leg determined the final five contestants who battled it out for the second-day challenge. Australia’s Joshua O’Brien won the first challenge with his margarita cocktail that used thai green curry paste soda to give the drink a touch of salt. Vietnam, Singapore, UAE, and the Philippines also made the final five.
The second-day challenge was an adventure in the exotic Rang Yai Island in Phuket. The bartenders started the day with a brand quiz challenge that they had to fill out during a boat ride to the island.
On the island, the judges prepared a “foraging forest,” a tree filled with different Asian fruits, small toy buckets, and other items that the contestants could use for their cocktails for the next challenge. There was even a pirate ship floater in the open water containing Red Bull bottles, lemongrass juice, and passion fruit.
The challenge for the second leg was to create a Tropical Tiki Punch using the ingredients under the “foraging forest” and the bottles of spirits provided by Remy Cointreau. Finalists had to present an elaborate Tiki-themed setup made from what they could salvage from the island. For this leg, the judges also announced that one wild card contestant— Thailand’s Dheeradon Dissara—would rejoin the competition to complete the final six.
Once again Australia’s Joshua O’Brien came out on top with his Shipwrecked Rum Punch that made use of the passion fruit (a fruit that he only tasted for the first time during the competition) he foraged from the pirate ship floater. The other two who made it to the top three finals were the UAE’s Jimmy Barat and the wild card, Thailand’s Dheeradon Dissara.
For the final challenge, the remaining bartenders were tasked to make cocktails using foraged ingredients from their respective countries of origin, a task that they were made aware of before they arrived in Thailand for the competition. But as an added twist to the challenge, the finalists were asked to choose any of the bartenders who didn’t make it to the final leg to support them as their bar back and combine the ingredients foraged from the other contestants’ countries. The final presentation was done at the pool bar of Xana Beach Club, where the judges sat by the bar submerged in water.
Thailand’s Dheeradon Dissara created a refreshing gin and tonic cocktail named “Jim and Sonic” made with The Botanist gin, soda, tonic, and buckwheat, the foraged ingredient he acquired from South Korea’s representative. The UAE’s Jimmy Barat brought bougainvillea flowers as his foraged ingredient; assisted by Japan’s Kenta Yoshida he created a pink, sweet, salty, and floral cocktail called “Sexy Betty.” Australia’s Joshua O’Brien from The Bowery (assisted by Malaysia’s contender Joel John Timis) took home the coveted championship title with his winning cocktail “Where the Heart Is” made with his foraged ingredient from Australia called lilly pillies.
According to the judges, this year’s competition had very talented bartenders who showed a lot of creativity, especially with the use of resources presented to them during the challenges. “I’ve judged a few competitions and even in a regional final, and in a field of 10 bartenders competing, you usually get one or two drinks which were a little off or something went wrong. But these last two days, honestly, all the drinks have been really, really good,” said judge Dan Bignold during the announcement of winners. “There haven’t been any bad drinks among all of them, so that’s amazing. Where we are at bartending in the region now has really improved.”
Watch the recorded Facebook live feed video of the competition:
