The Grand Prix / Ioannis Petros

When we did this interview, Greece-native Ioannis Petros came up with probably one of the best punch lines ever, when I asked him what was the main difficulty at the Grand Prix: "My English is like the Greek economy, it's a disaster. It was really difficult to speak in English making cocktail at the same time." 

Well, this little handicap didn't hold him back from getting to the finals. Here comes his story. 

Career
"My experience with bartending started out when I was 10 years old. I visited my dad at his work in Myconos Island. My father went to Bartending School in 1979 in New York City. And when I turned 18, I was looking for a job and he pulled some strings and sent me to a bar in the centre of Athens.
Five years later, I decided to become a professional bartender and started taking part in seminars and exhibitions. I was reading a lot of books, such as M. Boston - 1986. I traveled around the world, visiting distilleries and discovering cultures from other bars. Along those travels, I took on a bar-restaurant which has become a very busy place."
 
Experience at the Grand Prix
"In general, there was a high quality in the competition. Everybody made nice cocktails. But in order to make the difference, you really had to stand out from the others. I think I made it by serving my cocktails in a different way. What I did was that I sealed my cocktail in bottles and then I stuck a label on them saying, "bottled 5 minutes ago, really fresh!!!!" 
It was my first time taking part in the competition. The Havana Club Grand Prix really represents the modern bartending to me. Everything was very well organized, and also the concept of the competition had changed. I would say it had a higher standard."

Survival Kit 
"I bought 3 different types of shakers. The reason why is that each type of shaker gives you a different result. Also for glasses, I used some of my grandmother's glassware. Unfortunately, some of them got broken when I got in Cuba."

Best memory as a bartender
"My bar in Athens is called Pere Ubu. It is very closed to the seaside and I would describe my customers as  aged from 25 up to 35 years old. 
Five years ago, two customers showed up in front of me. A man and a woman who obviously didn't now each other. I offered them two shots and introduced them to each other. I didn't see them for a year. But they came back to the bar together a year later, dressed in wedding clothes, straight from the church!"

His recipe:

Havana club 3years old 40ml
Havana barrel proof 20ml
Ginger liqueur 20ml
Lime juice 20ml
Simple syrup 10ml
Grapefruit bitter 2 dashes
Orange marmalade 1 spoon
Mint leaves 4