The Grand Prix / Academia Havana Club 3 Años

During the past decade in nearly every domain of the arts such as music, dance, and cuisine there has been an explosion of contests and competitions to choose the next generation of great stars.  Since bartenders can nowadays be considered as artists, it was only a matter of time before they set up their own talent scout competition and that’s exactly what happened in Spain with Academia Havana Club 3 Años. 
During five days, from 22nd to 26th November, eight contestants were selected to represent equal regions of Spainand gathered in a hotel in Madrid to attend a series of courses hosted by some of the greatest bartenders and drinks specialists of the world.  
On the list were drinks innovator Tony Conigliaro who ran a class with Meimi Sanchez on understanding taste and flavour. Ian Burrell showed the contestants the great variety of the rums of the world. Andrew Nicholls examined the decisive factors that drive our drinking habits in a class called “Subconscious drinks". Esther Medina, a true example of an internationally successful Spanish bartender guided everyone to the history, innovations and techniques of London bartending and Michael Menegos, director of the Academia, gave a master class on classic Cuban cocktails with Meimi Sanchez, the influential ambassador of Havana Club to the UK.  
Four professionals who work in Spain excelling in their fields contributed to this week of learning: the legendary Juanjo Gonzalez unfolded the rich history of Spanish bartending, also tracing its links and influences to the art of Cuban cantineros, chef David Marsal gave a consummate lecture on fruit and vegetables, Denis Barela ran two intense workshops on flairtending and Giuseppe Santamaria, finalist of the Havana Club Grand Prix 2010 amazed everyone with his techniques and knowledge revealing to the participants the ingenious way to compete at cocktail challenges. 
The whole event was filmed throughout the day and its most important parts were projected on the especially dedicated website and through social media. 
As in every true competition, the contestants had to show their skills during the final day of the event. Thanks to the votes from numerous Academia Facebook fans and the jury’s own deliberation, a winner has been selected: Gegam Ghazaryan, 29 years old, from Elche in the southeast of Spain, is the first Maestro Coctelero of the Academia Havana Club 3 Años. 
Keep an eye on this one: he’ll most certainly become one of tomorrow’s great cocktail masters.