Canadian wins cocktail ‘World Cup’ held in São Paulo

Canadian Jacob Martin was the winner of the 14th edition of World Class 2023. The cocktail competition, which annually awards the best bartender in the world, took place between the 26th and 28th in São Paulo. Mixologist Vitória Kurihara, 24, from Paraná, represented Brazil in the competition by winning the national edition of World Class, in June this year, but did not qualify among the finalists.

Jacob beat 11 other competitors in the final: Renato Tonelli (United States), Julian Short (South Africa), Minhong Kim (South Korea), Fumiaki Nozato (Japan), Israel Barón (Mexico), Christos Klouvatos (Greece), Jakob Eggertsson (Iceland), Ashie Bhatnager (India), Josh Mellet (Israel), Jan Sebek (Czech Republic) and Matt Arnold (Great Britain).

The 12 finalists who competed for the best bartender in the world award. Photograph: Fabrizio Toniolo | Fabrizio Toniolo

After the victory, Jacob confirmed that, in addition to the champion title, what he takes away from the 14th edition of the World Class is the sense of community – both with the team itself and with the other competitors:
“My whole life I felt like a ‘fish out of water’, I always had a lot of difficulty finding my place. But just in the last year, everywhere I looked I had an ally and a friend. Team Canada makes you feel like you’re not alone. And these people are there every day to tell you that they love you and are with you through everything.”

The event took place for the first time in Brazil after 13 editions, and took place at the Tívoli Hotel, in Jardins, central region of the capital of São Paulo. World Class is a DIAGEO initiative to encourage the appreciation and consumption of cocktails and products from the brand, which is responsible for distributing names such as Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker and Tanqueray.

Manoela Mendes, director of Diageo Brasil’s Reserve portfolio, highlights the importance of an event like this taking place for the first time on Brazilian soil, “We have been working to raise the level of cocktails and, as a consequence, strengthen the image of bartenders in the public’s view. Holding World Class in Brazil is a source of great pride and positions Diageo as one of the main agents of growth in this sector in the country.”

The final challenge

The final featured a challenge that had three stages: the preparation of Ron Zacaipirinha (a caipirinha with Zacapa rum), followed by the preparation of a cocktail with surprise ingredients and, finally, the preparation of a Tanqueray Nº Ten Gin Martini. Jacob achieved the best average score in the three challenges and won the award for best bartender in the world.

After the World Class final, drinks from the best bartenders in the world will be available in selected bars in the cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba and Brasília until October 16th.

The next edition of the competition takes place in Shanghai, China.

A woman from Paraná in World Class 2023

Despite the excellent performance presented in the competition, Vitória did not qualify for the final. Even so, when Good Gourmetthe native of Curitiba proudly highlights that the opportunity was essential to show her new paths, and also reinforce the best attributes of Brazilian cocktail culture.

“I entered World Class this year to prove myself to myself, not to others, and to know how far I can go. I wanted to understand a little about my limits, and so far I haven’t found them!”, she jokes. “But believing in what you are doing is very important. It was never a question of ‘I have to win this’, but rather ‘I have to live the cocktail experience’”.

Even though she didn’t qualify for the final, Vitória believes in her own work, mainly because she had the chance to get to know the Brazilian bartending community which, according to her, is very hard-working and unified.

“I wanted to get out of the São Paulo and Rio axis a little and understand how things work across the country. And now I have access to all of this. We have a good bar community. We do have cool things here in São Paulo and Rio, but at the same time everyone is working to do the best they can throughout Brazil. So everyone fights for the same thing”, he adds.