World Class Bartending Competition Returns to Nigeria

Vanessa Obioha

Recently, Guinness Nigeria announced the commencement of its foremost bartender competition, World Class. This official flag off for the World Class journey which began in Lagos will stop in key cities across Nigeria before ending with a bang down in Sydney, Australia.

World Class is the world’s largest and most exclusive bartending competition, mixology education programme; curated to celebrate bartending creativity and innovative cocktail-making trends while inspiring people to drink better and create unforgettable experiences in the process. World Class has supported, trained, and inspired over 400,000 bartenders, across 60 countries, for over twelve years, while partnering them with the world’s finest spirits – the Diageo Reserve collection.

World Class 2022 will witness the unveiling of the ‘Big 30’ – top 30 mixologists/bartenders across Nigeria put through masterclasses on the perfect serve for participating Diageo premium spirits: Johnnie Walker and Ketel One.

Diageo through Guinness Nigeria is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion which will be brought to life in this year’s competition. Thus, an intentional approach towards ensuring active participation from women has been adopted with hopes that it will encourage interest in the years to come and recruit more women into the bartending community by leveraging the Diageo Bar Academy program.

The 30-strong list will be shortlisted at regional finals in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, where four bartenders will be selected. The final four will dazzle a select crowd at a three-day Cocktail Week showing off their winning recipes. The eventual winner will represent Nigeria at the global finals in Sydney, Australia later this year.

Head of Customer Marketing International Premium Spirits, Reserve Brands and Modern Trade, Sammy Okwandu remarked that: “World Class is a global platform that seeks to take consumers on a journey where fine drinking is seen the same way as fine dining. The bartender competition is also our way of giving back some of the value we derive from a sector of the value chain that is often overlooked; our on-trade partners. Ultimately, we look forward to an amazing six months with some of the best mixologists in the land and may the best bartender win.”