Cocktails on the rise bring the ‘World Cup’ of bartenders to Brazil; find out how we got here

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The city of São Paulo hosts, for the first time, the world stage of World Class, the sector’s main competition. The spirits market is still tiny, but it is betting on training professionals to surprise and ‘bite’ part of the national beer consumption. Bartender Vitória Kurihara when she was announced as champion of the national stage of World Class Bruno Basila/Pridia At 24 years old, Vitória Kurihara attempts an unprecedented feat: being the first Brazilian to win the “World Cup” for bartenders. The competition starts this Tuesday (26), and takes place for the first time in São Paulo. In its 14th edition, World Class brings representatives from 54 countries to Brazil, in search of the title of best bartender in the world in 2023. There are four themed challenges on mixology and cocktail presentation, and a final stage that identifies the champion. Or champion. The dispute arrives in Brazil to crown a special moment for cocktails in the country. For years now, Brazilian consumers have been looking for new leisure options, boosting the market for bars specializing in cocktails and praising good bartenders. It’s a phenomenon similar to what happened years ago with gastronomy, which revealed “celebrity chefs” and gained a huge variety of competitive realities on TV and streaming. Cocktails follow the same path, despite having an obvious challenge here: beer. Of all alcoholic beverages consumed in the country, cold drinks represent more than 90% of the market, according to data from Euromonitor International. In 2022, more than 15 billion liters were consumed, compared to around 750 million liters of distilled beverages. The base of the cocktails, however, needs to be observed in detail. From the pre-pandemic period to now, the consumption of gin and whiskey has more than doubled. The growth of distilled spirits is not greater because cachaça, the Brazilian symbol of the sector, has stagnated at around 500 million liters per year. But gin, for example, has impressive numbers: in the five-year window, it went from 2.2 million to 17 million liters annually. Each year, he was also the protagonist of the “fevers” of the moment in bars: gin and tonic, negroni and fitzgerald. This is the bet of Diageo, organizer of World Class, when bringing the competition to Brazil: increasing the Brazilian consumer’s repertoire and training bartenders to surprise the customer. “The legacy of World Class is this exchange of experiences and learning between bartenders. The beer market being so large only shows us that we have room to grow”, says Manoela Mendes, director of the Reserve portfolio at Diageo Brasil. A bitter that goes well Interestingly, the origin of this recent wave of development in Brazilian cocktails lies in beer. According to Rodrigo Mattos, senior analyst at Euromonitor International, Heineken’s entry into the country’s beer portfolio helped, initially, to broaden the consumer’s horizons, with its more bitter flavor than competing brands. He began to train his palate to accept bitterness, and even value bitterness. This caused the rise of Campari, for example, and sparked investment interest from other companies. It was a wave of no return: the “fads” caught on and spirits companies started to bring their best labels to Brazil. Brands that weren’t even on Brazilian shelves started to arrive. And old-time bartenders realized that imported inputs, such as bitters and liqueurs, became easier to find. Both Mattos, on the consumption analysis side, and Manoela Mendes, with a company bias in the sector, cite a “level rise” in the market. At the beginning of the 2020s, Brazilians had consolidated a social movement of those who started to “drink better”. Then the pandemic arrived. With the doors of bars and restaurants closed, cocktail enthusiasts had to learn on their own how to handle their drinks for moments of relaxation at home, with little or no company. The summary is that, even with the catastrophe for businesspeople in the sector, the consumption of alcoholic beverages did not decline during the health crisis. A similar effect happened in the wine market in 2020. g1 showed how sales rose significantly in the first year of the pandemic and consumption increased by almost 20% compared to the previous year. Thus, the consumer’s return to the bar had two major effects: Brazilians now drink more in general terms and also understand better what they are drinking. “Today, our future growth rate is much higher for spirits than the American or European market. There, there is a tendency to look for zero-alcohol options, while here there is a tendency to increase consumption in the coming years”, says Mattos, from Euromonitor. And there is no point: within the World Class agenda in Brazil, there is a series of lectures and meetings between professionals in the sector, so that they can learn about the company’s techniques and products. The following week, a partnership program with bars will bring discounts to encourage the public to try new recipes. Bartender Vitória Kurihara during one of the challenges of the national stage of World Class Bruno Basila/Pridia Bartenders in vogue As happens with award-winning chefs, winning a competition like World Class puts the bartender on another shelf. Since winning the national stage of the competition, in June, Curitiba native Vitória Kurihara has become accustomed to customers who went to DUQ Gastronomia, in Curitiba, looking not only for a good cocktail, but also to watch her work. The coolest thing is that, once people start to understand cocktails, they also understand that it’s not just about alcohol. It’s an experience. Along with technical preparations for the world stage, Vitória was forced to reflect on career plans. The unique moment of exposure, however, will not make her rush to put them into practice. In an interview with g1, the bartender says that one of her priorities is to value and help develop cocktails in Paraná. She is categorical in saying that she does not intend to leave Curitiba, even if she becomes the best bartender in the world next Thursday (28). “Not because I don’t want to [sair do Paraná]. There are several opportunities and ‘families’ that I built, people that I met, but here is the place that embraced me and taught me everything I know. So, highlighting Paraná’s cocktail industry is something I owe it to myself,” she says. There have been a lot of people fighting for this for many years, and using this visibility is a dream for many people. Gabriel Santana, partner at Santana Bar, shows his World Class Brazil and Switzerland champion trophies (right) Fábio Tito/g1 Someone who is a few stages ahead of time is bartender Gabriel Santana. In the absence of a national World Class title, he has two. Santana spent 10 years in Switzerland, where he graduated in gastronomy. He went to the bar because he fell in love with the hospitality, and the kitchen is too far from the heat of the public. He discovered World Class and decided to compete in its first edition in Europe, months into his career. He felt solid about third place and decided to prepare for the following year. In 2017, he won the Swiss edition of the contest. When he decided to return to Brazil, he had a beautiful “seal of quality” on his resume. He was contacted by acquaintances and returned to the country as head of the bar at Benzina, which was located in the west zone of São Paulo. He decided to compete in World Class again in 2018, this time in Brazil. He thought he had the map to success, but he lost. “It was a great slap in the face,” he says. He came back — humble and motivated — to win in 2019. Benzina closed its doors during the Covid pandemic. When it was possible to return, the bartender understood that it was time to use the spotlight he had gained in competitions. He then created Santana Bar. It was certainly a fruit of achievements. It’s not called Santana Bar out of ego, but because it is precisely a ‘sponge’ of my entire journey. “The competition in my life is no longer generating grades, it is generating smiles. The more people come here and leave with a smile on their face, the more this becomes my daily trophy,” he says. He confides, however, that he does not rule out a new foray into World Class, in search of the world title — the same trophy that Vitória is trying to achieve this week.

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