February 24 is the World Bartender Day

Drinks+ Media Group extends its greetings to everyone who is involved with this professional holiday. We would like to honor representatives of the bar culture – nominees for the Wine Travel Awards (WTA), because their contribution to wine tourism as ambassadors of local wines and other drinks gets brighter each year.

Our reminder: The World Bartender Day was initiated concurrently with creation of the International Bartenders’ Association (IBA) in 1951. Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Great Britain became the founding members. Today, the IBA includes 67 countries.

The bar professionals are indispensable in the hospitality industry. They are not only pouring and mixing drinks, but also taking care of educating guests about local specialties, tastes, customs and even historical and architectural monuments.

If you’re not sure, what drink to get or want to try something new, you’ll likely address the bartender for help. If you want to learn about peculiarities of the wine region, little-known places or traditional drinks, you would usually go to the bar, too.

The bars around the world, while similar in offering their range of classic basic drinks, demonstrate their diverse identities that match their unique localities, and offer their own drinks and mixes. And bartenders – like no other profession – do have the tools to vividly represent both drinks themselves and the regions where the drinks are created.

That is why, every year, Wine Travel Awards (WTA) include to its nominees more and more bars and bartenders, which are engaged by the wine associations as ambassadors. Mixologist and entrepreneur Javier de las Muelas joined the award jury this season. A world-renowned pioneer in the cocktail industry brings his expert opinion to the WTA to identify those, who are the best in wine tourism.

Señor de las Muelas earned international fame as the creative genius who invented the revolutionary Droplets, established some of the most innovative cocktail bars and food venues in Spain and Latin America. His wine bars Dry Martini Madrid, Dry Martini Barcelona, Speakeasy, Montesquiu, Gimlet, Casa Fernández are nominated for the WTA award in the Must Visit category this year. These establishments are popular and receive the best reviews from visitors for their quality ingredients, elegant presentations and expertly combined flavors. In 2019, Señor de las Muelas became a member of the Catalan Academy of Gastronomy and Nutrition and in the same year, received two major awards: from FEBE (Federación Española de Bebidas Espirituosas) and HELEN DAVID LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD (the highest award in the world of cocktails). During conversation with Drinks+ editor-in-chief (Javier de las Muelas: “Bars are the perfect scenography for real relationships” – Drinks.ua), he explained the role of contemporary bartenders in a very apt manner:

“Bars are a part of people’s lives. I understood this one day when I was having a coffee at a bar and another customer came over to me and asked if I was Javier de las Muelas. ‘I’d like to thank you because the bars and restaurants created by people like you are a part of Barcelona. I’ve laughed in them, I’ve fallen in love, I’ve cried and now I take my children there. You’re part of my life”.

Today, more and more representatives of the bar culture are becoming ambassadors not only of spirits, but also of wine brands and wine regions. For the second year in the WTA Ambassador nomination, Giorgio Facchinetti – a bartender who became the ambassador of Consortuim Asti Spumante and Moscato d’Asti DOCG – is contesting the victory. The talented bartender offers new and modern drinks emphasizing the versatility and natural properties of Asti Spumante and Moscato d’Asti. Piedmont sparkling wines, adored all over the world, become the ideal ingredients for new and sophisticated mixes.

We would like to remind you that the new nominee for the award in the category: Brand – the Visiting Card of the Country, which nominee has a relationship to the Bartender Day, is the unique herbal balm RUTA, that was created from 96 aromatic plants collected from different parts of Ukraine, and is an excellent ingredient for various mixes.

The WTA team extends its greetings to all bartenders of the world as well as to all relevant hospitality industry operators on the occasion of the professional bartenders’ day. We wish everyone to celebrate this day in their favorite restaurant, enjoying their favorite drink…