Young Capetonian bartender Joshua Hendricks will be winging his way to Australia in September to represent South Africa in the global final of the Diageo World-Class competition. In the knock-out challenge, 50 different spirits had to be identified correctly by the contestants until just one person remained.
The 24-year-old, from Bergvliet, is the youngest person to claim top honours in the local leg of the competition, which has supported, trained and inspired over 400 000 bartenders, across 60 countries, for over 12 years. The national final was held in the Mother City over three days in June, where 10 contestants were put through their paces in front of a judging panel.
The competition kicked off with a Mastery challenge, where contestants had to identify 50 cocktail ingredients by smell and taste alone. In the speed round, contestants had to create 10 original cocktails in eight minutes. The Tuesday saw two challenges for the mixologists, a heritage challenge where they had to make a group serve using one of the Johnnie Walker expressions based on their culture. Saving the biggest task for last, the remaining six contestants had to create their own pop-up bar within 24 hours, using a concept of their own choice.
Hendricks was one of 100 up-and-coming barmen chosen from around the country to attend Diageo’s The Hand-Up Mentorship Programme last year. “It was a great experience and a useful refresher of knowledge I had forgotten, such as the history of cocktails. I definitely applied what I learnt at World Class, especially the speed round, which mentally prepares you about patterns you need to follow and helps you to fine-tune.”
Hendricks will attend the Diageo World Class global final in Sydney in September, where he will take on 49 of the world’s best bartenders in a quest for the title of best in the world. Those wanting to try Hendrick’s cocktails can visit him at Fable in Bree Street for one of his experiential cocktails.
The ‘by bartenders for bartenders’ programme upskilled young bartenders over nine months to become competitors in Diageo’s World-Class competition, providing them with stock, equipment as well as theoretical and practical training.
