Winners from around the world won the once in a lifetime trip to Ireland to attend the “Jameson Hosts Global Summit”, access to the brand’s first ever mentorship programme with industry giants and €5,000 each
Following a record of over 380 entries, Jameson, the world’s most shared and most awarded Irish whiskey, is delighted to announce Vladimir Reitenbakh, Josh Black and Rohan Matmary as the winners of this year’s annual Jameson Black Barrel Bartender Series 2024 competition.
Competing at the Jameson HOSTS Global Summit in Cork Ireland this week [3rd September 2024], the top 10 finalists gathered to showcase their Jameson Black Barrel cocktails in front of 100+ industry guests, including global judges Danil Nevsky [Indie Bartender, Spain], Priyanka Blah [The Dram Attic, India] and Ethan Liu [CMYK, China] alongside Jameson HOSTS Global Summit speakers & hosts including Remy Savage, Anna Sebastian and Midleton Distillery Master Blender Dave McCabe to name a few.
A first for the Jameson Black Barrel Bartender Series, this year’s cocktails were prepared, presented and voted for anonymously, in a unique peer evaluation process, ensuring a fair and distinctive judging process. Tasting every cocktail meticulously, guests including 2024’s Regional Winners tasted every cocktail meticulously, collectively voting to crown Vladimir Reitenbakh, Josh Black and Rohan Matmary as 2024’s Global Winners at the celebration on Tuesday night.
Each of the 3 global winners, chosen by guests and judges alike, won a cash prize of €5,000 in addition to special access to the first ever Jameson HOSTS mentorship programme, where industry giants including Remy Savage, Danil Nevsky, Ezra Star and Beckaly Franks will work with each of the winners to complete a range of face to face and virtual mentorship sessions. Each session will be anchored in topics relevant to the bartending community, including building and operating a successful bar business, social media brand building and ideating a full bar concept and menu.
With the recent introduction of the world’s biggest family – the Jameson family – through Jameson’s new global brand platform ‘Must be a Jameson’, this mentorship programme and competition brings even more members of the bar community into the fold. The Summit has embodied the Jameson spirit of togetherness, camaraderie and approachability, with each entrant showcasing their skills, experimenting with Jameson’s smooth, easy-to-enjoy taste and light-hearted nature. These are, after all, the ingredients to make the world a more welcoming place.
All top 10 finalists represented the very best of 2024’s entries, with each finalist taking this year’s competition brief to ‘champion their local cultures and communities’ and crafting an exceptional regionally inspired cocktail. The final top 10 cocktails, representing four continents across the globe, were judged anonymously by their peers, and featured extraordinary regional ingredients – from fermented mare’s milk from Kazakhstan to Zamibian Mabuyu fruit – enhancing Jameson Black Barrel’s award-winning notes of vanilla and caramel sweetness, toasted wood, fruit and warming spice.
Winners
From Malaysia, Rohan Matmary’s entry ‘Day & Night’ took inspiration from local breakfast culture bringing a unique lens to his Jameson Black Barrel cocktail and heroing local Malaysian ingredients including local coffee, local Trigona cacao and Kaya Toast, a Malaysian cult breakfast product.
Speaking on the win, Rohan commented: “The competition was amazing, very well divided in two parts. The first part was very visual on one hand, and on the other hand when we came to Ireland it was not about how your cocktail looked but how it tasted, so the competition tested both sides of being a bartender really well. Overall being at the distillery and seeing what Jameson does with whiskey is great. Winning means a lot, I am probably one of the only global Indian champions in the bartending community.”
Also bringing a unique regional spin to the competition, Vladamir Reitenbakh from Kazakhstan’s use of Ku Miss (fermented mare’s milk), aged camel milk and Navat grape sugar in their entry won over guests at the Summit, including Jameson HOSTS Global Summit’s curator and 2024 mentor, Remy Savage.
Discussing the moment they were crowned a Global Winner, Vladamir said: “The competition process was very transparent, and I enjoyed how there was a blind tasting and a visual part with an in-person tasting. The community aspect of having bartenders together from all parts of the world was very cool, and the education element has been important also.”
Finally, Josh Black from UK emerged a worthy champion, with his ‘Paint it Black’ designed to enhance Jameson Black Barrel’s enjoyment and flavour with their addition of British Raspberries, cream soda and Black Tea inspired by British Rock ‘n Roll culture. Especially inspired by the Mentorship scheme prize, Josh noted: “The brief had a lot of scope for being creative, I partnered with a friend who’s a photographer and videographer to bring the dream to life. It is a big competition and it’s great for me to be in my home country and win at a global scale with friends and industry mentors. The event has been sensational, the community vibes are great, and it’s been a lot of fun.”
Mentorship Programme
The Jameson Black Barrel Bartender Series mentorship program aims to provide guidance and support to aspiring bar professionals seeking to enhance their skills and knowledge in brand building, social media strategy, content creation, bar operations, and team culture development. Commencing at the Jameson HOSTS Summit, the first mentorship session with the winners and mentors will take place face to face. The following virtual sessions will extend after the Summit, continuing the mentorship programme and support for Global Winners into the future.
Industry giant Remy Savage will discuss brand building and creative identity, sharing his expertise in building bars and his experience, working with each winner to define a bar project and brand, discuss venue concept and ideate a menu.
Social media trailblazer Danil Nevsky will utilise his expertise to discuss how winners can build their personal brand, develop a social media strategy and how to lead the game in content creation, creating high engagement and building a distinctive online presence.
Finally, power-couple Ezra Star & Beckaly Franks will jointly focus on more operational elements of bars, with Ezra running through aspects such as building and running a successful, high-performance bar, and Beckaly sharing her approach to creating and fostering team culture and development.
For more information and updates, bartenders can visit the Jameson website or follow @JamesonHOSTS
*Subject to Terms & Conditions
