Mix Fix

Pune’s Sudam Biswal will represent the Asia-Pacific region at a worldwide bartending competition.

Back in 2006,when Sudam Biswal was training in Goa as part of his hotel management degree course,he was fascinated by the smooth moves of the bartender,who poured and splashed spirits into tumblers. Little did Biswal know that this fascination would drive him to be one of the most popular bartenders in the Asia-Pacific region. “It is not just about mixing spirits into a glass and serving them to the guests over the bar; bartending is an art in which the bartender must innovate new styles to keep his audience fascinated. There must be a new performance with every drink that we concoct and a new story to tell while the guest waits at the bar,” says the 26-year-old,who has been selected from over 100 bartenders from New Zealand,Australia,China,Malaysia and other countries to represent the Asia-Pacific region at the Global Bacardi Legacy Cocktail Competition,a worldwide bartending competition to be held at Puerto Rico.

“I will be attending a training session in Miami on April 21 and will proceed to Puerto Rico from there. The dates of the final competition are not finalised yet,” says Biswal,who works as a bar trainer at Mi-a-Mi,JW Marriott Pune.

Excited to showcase his skills at the finale,he has invented a cocktail called Golden Era. The drink,he says,is inspired by the Prohibition Era of the ’20s,when the sale,manufacture and transportation of alcohol was banned in the US. “It was during this time that people used to travel to Cuba for alcohol and partying,and mocktails such as mojito and various martinis originated,” says Biswal.