Ballito bartenders to face off against nine of SA’s best

Two Ballito bartenders at the cutting edge of South African mixology will compete this week for a chance to take on the world’s best.

Jason Andrews of Liquid Concepts and Richie Nahkala of Alchemy have both earned their place in the Johannesburg Diageo World Class competition, the South African championships for bartending.

They won the KwaZulu-Natal championships last year and this year, with Andrews getting a special dispensation to compete because he missed last year’s event for the birth of his son.

They will take on nine other bartenders from across the country in Gauteng for a ticket to the world champs in Brazil later this year.

This opportunity is given to the top two finishers, which will be decided after five intense skill challenges.

On day one, the bartenders will have six minutes to make eight unique recipe cocktails that are judged on taste, appearance and technical ability.

Day two brings a number of individual skill tests which include identifying over 50 spices and botanicals by smell alone, taste identifying different liqueurs and classic cocktails and being able to pick out all the different whiskeys in a blend.

The top six competitors go through to the final three challenges that test the wider aspect of bartending with a social media campaign, drinks pairing and pop-up bar where the competitors will have full creative control and have to serve a crowd of 250.

Nahkala is originally from Hemel Hempstead in England, but spent most of his adult life in Asia before moving to Ballito two years ago.

“I didn’t initially plan on following a career in the industry, but used bartending as a way to extend my travels which were mostly in Cambodia and India. I really started taking the mixology aspects seriously when I joined Alchemy,” he said.

He knows Andrews well and cites him as a mentor and huge influence on his career since moving to Ballito.

Andrews is from Zimbabwe, grew up in Eswatini and has lived in Ballito since 2010.

“I worked on the ships for a while and have been in and around the industry for a long time. I don’t actively bartend anymore, but work as a beverage innovator for Liquid Concepts, which creates syrups and premixes for bars,” he said.

The duo will have a friendly but competitive rivalry this week and will no doubt hope for the best possible result which could see both of them travel to Sao Paolo in September.

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