For the fifth year, Licor 43 will host this impressive global challenge—apply now!
FROM STAFF REPORTS
BARISTA MAGAZINE
If we’ve learned anything from the global popularity of coffee-based cocktails, it’s that the trend is more popular and in-demand than ever. And the revered Spanish liqueur brand Licor 43 is plenty familiar with that fact: 2021 will be the fifth year that the company hosts an international championship called the Bartenders & Baristas Challenge.
As with last year’s edition of the Bartenders & Baristas Challenge, the 2021 competition will take place online: Preliminary rounds will be held virtually, and the grand finale will be screened via Licor 43’s YouTube channel.
“We are committed to supporting and engaging with bartenders and baristas, and in current conditions, maintaining the virtual format we started last year is the best way to do this,” says Julian Fernandez, the global marketing and innovation director of spirits for Zamora, Licor 43’s parent company. Julian notes that the virtual format in 2020 resulted in a much wider audience than the competition has drawn in the past: “Our figures show we reached 20.5 million [people] globally, with our mission to educate about and instill passion for Licor 43 as the reference liqueur of choice in coffee cocktails.”
Registration for the Bartenders & Baristas Challenge is now open to professional bartenders and baristas from select countries (Estonia, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and Germany), as well as students and instructors at the European Bartender School.
Entries will be accepted for three weeks per country (dates vary—see links below for the dates for your country). Judging will be completed in each country by a local judging panel, which will select a minimum of six and a maximum of 10 participants, who will face off in a local final event, where one winner will be determined and will go on to compete in the global challenge.
The finalists will face off on film on the Licor 43 YouTube channel on October 27, with one winner determined by the public, plus one determined by an esteemed panel of judges.
You can find tons more information about the Bartenders & Baristas Challenge—including the big money and opportunities that the grand champion will receive—at the Licor 43 website. Details listed include:
• Registration information and entry form
• Judging criteria and rules (downloadable PDF)
• Terms and conditions (downloadable PDF)
• Videos from the 2019 and 2020 events, and detailed information about the winning drinks
“There is a natural marriage of aromas and flavors between Licor 43 and coffee,” adds Julian of Zamora, “and over the last four years that we have run this competition, we can see what inspiration this has been to entrants from both the bar and barista worlds.”
Visit licor43.com for all the details, or reach out to the company via email at info@licor43.com.
