Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/687399
june 2016 / the tasting panel / 63 sion screens, entertaining the judges and the audience of a couple hundred. Then the cameras would begin to roll in the darkened ballroom. Each competitor had seven minutes to make their drink and tell their tale, and the entire competition was being streamed live in real time around the world. Quiroz Jesus said that he'd met some of the most amazing people at the competition, people whom, he said, "I'll be able to cherish for the rest of my life." And when he finished, when he got the last bit of liquid strained into the glass, the crowd roared. Everyone was relieved and happy. Everyone seemed to be cheering for everyone else, and the optimism and enthusiasm were infectious. Family-owned BACARDÍ is the larg- est privately held spirits company in the world, and it likes to emphasize the hardships the company and brand has had to overcome since it was founded in 1862. There have been earthquakes, fires, and near-bankruptcies. There was the Spanish American War and then the GN CHAN, USA Gn Chan was born in Taiwan to a family that was alcohol-free. To this day, he has a very low tolerance and during his presentation to the judges, he said his family almost disowned him when he became a bartender. But that wasn't all—he had to live in a loft above the bar when he took that first job, because he had no money for rent. Chan started a design firm after graduating from art school in Taiwan, but it had only modest success. He turned to bartending as a way to pay the bills. But he found life behind the bar a good fit for his skills. He had performed magic tricks on the street since middle school, so he was familiar with the performance aspects of the job, and his product design background gave him an aesthetic sensibility. "My professors used to say that the best design is 70–80 percent something people are familiar with, and 20–30 percent something new. So when I created a cocktail, I wanted to do it the same way." He used a Piña Colada as the jumping-off point for his drink, and then gave it his own interpretation by adding notes of sesame and cucumber. There was no doubt about its success—the judges chose it unanimously. "It's still surreal for me, actually," Chan said the day after he was announced as the winner. "I haven't really realized how huge it is, how it's going to change my life." And the win will change his life. He'll be on promotional tours, and BACARDÍ will put its marketing muscle behind getting his drink on menus around the globe. And even though Chan is a newcomer to self-promo- tion, he seems okay with the challenge. Maximiliano Yamir Salomon of Argentina prepares his cocktail during the semifinals of the 2016 BACARDÍ Legacy Global Cocktail Competition in San Francisco. Fabio Di Giammarco, Global Vice President for BACARDÍ Rum. THE WINNER: In many ways, the story of Gn Chan's win in the BACARDÍ Legacy Global Cocktail Competition is a uniquely American story of personal reinvention.