The Tasting Panel magazine

August 2016

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54  /  the tasting panel  /  august 2016 COMPETITIONS Are You the World's Most Experimental Bartender? GLENFIDDICH GOES GLOBAL ON THE QUEST FOR THE BEST by Mitch Bechard, National Glenfiddich Brand Ambassador Fancy a dram and a paddle? Mitch Bechard's Glenfiddich collaboration brings these two together. As I write this, 14 bartenders from around the U.S. have just landed in Scotland to embark on this year's Kindred Spirit trip. They will start in Edinburgh, then go on to compete against each other at the Glenfiddich Distillery by recreating the winning serves they've been offering at their bars and restaurants across the country. In its second year, the Kindred Spirit competition enticed bartenders to create amazing, unique, creative serves with various expressions of Glenfiddich, making it very hard to select winners from around the country! But the competition is about to get even tougher: This year, we will be looking to select the three most talented bartenders in the U.S., who will go on to test their skills against the rest of the world at the Glenfiddich Distillery. This year we go global to find the World's Most Experimental Bartender. This is not your typical cocktail competition. We want bartenders from around the U.S. to create an amazing Glenfiddich collabora- tion. This could be as simple as working with a local coffee roaster to create a specific coffee blend that will complement an expression of Glenfiddich or working with a glass blower to create a bespoke glass that will enhance the flavor profile of a particular expression. The opportunities to be creative and innovative are truly endless. This fall, three bartenders and their collaborators will be selected to represent the U.S. at the Glenfiddich Distillery, where they'll compete against finalists from UK, Germany, India, Columbia, Switzerland, Australia, South Africa and Dubai. These finalists will work at the distillery for three days, learning first-hand how Glenfiddich is made, then creating their very own Glenfiddich expres- sion with the help of the Glenfiddich Malt Master, Brian Kinsman. To inspire you and get you thinking about extraordinary artisans you might partner with, from now through December, The Tasting Panel will see how each Glenfiddich Ambassador would bring this serve to life, starting with me.

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