The PATRÓN Perfectionists journey began last September when bartenders from around the world were invited to join this global program and challenge themselves to become the complete bartender embodying excellence in hospitality and embracing Tequila culture. After several regional rounds of education modules and presentations at the respective national finals, fifteen global finalists earned their place to travel to Mexico to experience Hacienda PATRÓN in the Highlands of Jalisco and share their talents with their fellow participants and a top-notch panel of Judges and community contributors. After three riveting rounds of challenges in Jalisco, Mor Koral, founder of Salt & Spirit company in Tel Aviv, Israel, achieved the highest cumulative score and was crowned the 2023 PATRÓN Perfectionists global champion!
PATRÓN Perfectionists global champion Mor Koral with Tara Fougner, Thirsty Co-Founder & CEO
This year’s PATRÓN Perfectionists global final event in Mexico consisted of three challenges – Field to Flavor, The Stories We Share and Mi Mesa es Tu Mesa. Challenge #1, Field to Flavor, was set in the middle of agave fields in the Highlands of Jalisco testing the Bartenders to create a PATRÓN Reposado highball on the fly. Presented with a bountiful Mexican market stall featuring indigenous ingredients selected by chef Ana Martorell, the bartenders were given 45 minutes to create a cordial made of one of the market’s ingredients and use it to build the PATRÓN Reposado highball. Challenge #2, The Stories We Share, tasked participants with developing and presenting a PATRÓN cocktail recipe inspired by Mexico’s rich culture. The grand finale, Mi Mesa es Tu Mesa, saw bartenders design a hospitality experience that would delight the judges sat at a table with a memorable service of a neat PATRÓN Tequila serve paired with a non-alcoholic side cocktail creation. For each challenge, a winner was crowned, respectively: Choni Song (Wild Card winner, from China), Alex Boon (Australia), Max Macaulay (UK).
Challenge Winners L – R: Choni Song, Alex Boon, Max Macauley
Over the course of the six-day PATRÓN Perfectionists global final experience in Mexico, all of the bartenders displayed remarkable talent, dedication and passion and should all be extremely proud of how they represented their work and their home country. Ultimately, there can only be one champion and Mor Koral was unanimously praised by the panel of judges for her consistent execution across the challenges and for being the epitome of the perfect host, always owning the room with captivating charm, grace, spontaneity and confidence. As part of the global winner prize, she will now embark on a year packed with travel and experiences around the world as PATRÓN Perfectionists and Academia PATRÓN community contributor. The global champion, Mor Koral gained a consistently high scoring across all the challenges and impressed the stellar line-up of international hospitality professionals who joined as judges and mentors over the global final event – Ivy Mix, LP O’Brien, Tara Fougner, Sandrae Lawrence, Haba Flores, chef Ana Martorell, and previous PATRÓN Perfectionists global champions Giulia Cuccurullo and Harrison Kenney.
PATRÓN Perfectionists global champion Mor Koral during The Stories We Share challenge
Mor Koral commented: “For me the PATRÓN Perfectionists has been a journey that started in 2017, when I first took part in the program in Tel Aviv. Since then, I’ve been dreaming of making it to the global final at Hacienda PATRÓN, in Mexico. I am so incredibly excited to have been able to join this amazing group of people and celebrate my culture, rituals and ingredients alongside PATRÓN Tequila in its very home. Thank you everyone for embracing the stories and creations, I’ve shared with you, from my fellow bartenders to the judges and the PATRÓN team. I cannot wait to contribute to some inspiring projects with the PATRÓN Familia back home in Israel and around the world with the global bartending community!”
Lauren Mote, Global Director of On-Trade Excellence at PATRÓN Tequila and lead of the PATRÓN Perfectionists program, added: “We were amazed at how the global finalists embraced the challenges – interpreting familiar and new flavours, expressing their own personality, and bartending style, showing us different techniques and approaches to hospitality, and most importantly, blending their own heritage with Mexico’s and Tequila culture. The standards were consistently high across the week, and we are pleased to see how the evolved format of PATRÓN Perfectionists and Academia PATRÓN provided a platform and a stage for the bartenders to rise and shine!”
Words from The Judges & Mentors
Judges L – R: Harrison Kenney, Sandrae Lawrence, Haba Flores, Giulia Cuccurullo, Chef Ana Martorell, Lauren “LP” O’Brien, Ivy Mix, Tara Fougner
Ana Martorell
“What I appreciated and loved the most throughout the global final event is how the bartenders worked the textures of their chosen ingredients delivering lovely, balanced preparations that blended perfectly in all the mixes. I like a surprise and delight element, and this was a key feature across all challenges and recipes. Great flavours, presentations and a wonderful experience, gracias a todos!”
Giulia Cuccurullo
“Going back to Hacienda PATRÓN is always a different, yet incredible, experience. This is because each time I get to meet and make connections with a new group of amazing individuals coming from all over the world. This time, in addition, the global final challenges brought a new layer of surprise and fun. Some of the tasks the bartenders undertook were so diverse and interesting that I would have loved to do those myself!”
Haba Flores
“For me, the most interesting element of the third and final challenge, Mi Mesa Es Tu Mesa, was that every bartender found their personal way to shine. They brought their stories, their personalities and their style of bartending to the table (literally!),and gave us a showing of who they are at their bars, with their friends and their guests, and what hospitality means to each one of them.”
Harrison Kenney
“The program is constantly evolving, and this year was unbelievable, with multiple challenges celebrating unique parts of our industry. Bartenders were pushed out of their comfort zones, they all managed to shine brightly through a multitude of interesting techniques and storytelling.”
Ivy Mix
“One of my favorite things about judging cocktail competitions is learning and I can confidently say I learned more at PATRÓN Perfectionists that nearly any other competition I’ve judged. From history about poets, artists and architecture to real inspiration about flavor combinations, it was a true education experience that the program delivered, making the judging of the global final a joy not a chore.”
LP O’Brien
“I love being able to experience the passion that drives bartenders to do the work that they do. I was so humbled by the presentations that we all got to experience, and it was an amazing reminder about why I do the work that I do.”
Sandrae Lawrence
“There were so many magical moments from this year’s global final but perhaps the biggest one for me is that it has been put together to educate, stimulate and motivate everyone taking part. Including the judges.”
Tara Fougner – Closing Words by Thirsty Co-Founder & CEO
“From the moment we arrived at the welcome reception in Tlaquepaque, the energy told me that PATRÓN Perfectionists would be an experience like none other. Getting to know each of the fifteen global finalists and watching them not only grow as bartenders but to grow as humans and grow into a united force forever bonded by their journey. Hearing their deeply personal stories and feeling their intense passion for their culture and their craft of bartending are memories that I will hold in my heart forever. Anyone can learn how to make incredible cocktails, but PATRÓN Perfectionists inspires bartenders to push their boundaries of excellence in hospitality. I am a better person and a better storyteller for this experience … and I know from all of our many conversations that each of the fifteen global finalists are all better bartenders and people because of PATRÓN Perfectionists.”
All the respect, appreciation & love to all the 2023 PATRÓN Perfectionists Global Finalists:
– France – Gabriel Pons @gabrielpons_lisavi
– Spain & Portugal – Denys Cherkasov – @denis_chequebarman
– Italy – Andrea Benvegna – @mr.welcome
– Canada – Dash Tume – @dasht______
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