If you’re a bartender with big ambitions and less than three years experience, stop everything! Trust us, this is one post you won’t want to skim through.
Get this: The World’s 50 Best Bars and The Blend by Beam Suntory are partnering up to offer one very lucky and extremely talented bartender an opportunity of a lifetime. And when we say opportunity of a lifetime, we ain’t kidding.
How does an internship with Agostino Perrone (pictured), Giorgio Bargiani, Maura Milia and the award-winning team at the Connaught Bar in London sound? Dreamy right? But wait, that’s not all. As well as gaining invaluable experience with the two-time winners of the World’s Best Bar title, the life-changing package includes another incredible internship, this one with Masahiro Urushido and co. at Katana Kitten in New York, currently riding high at number 10 on the list.
And it keeps on giving… The winner of the inaugural 50 Best Bars Scholarship in partnership with The Blend by Beam Suntory also gets to jet off to Madrid where they’ll be hosted by The Blend Global Team. Did we hear someone ask about expenses? Don’t worry, they’re covered – in addition to the quite frankly fabulous, money-can’t-buy-experiences in store, for the things that money can buy, there’s a rather generous £500 a week thrown in for good measure. Now, why wouldn’t you want a piece of that action?
What’s the story?
The theme of the Scholarship for 2022 is Future Positive, “which comes with the ambition to cultivate practices and attitudes that will have a positive impact for the planet, guests and the hospitality community,” the entry process reads. “It will reward bartenders who take a low-waste or local approach to ingredients and push for greater diversity, better representation and balance in the workplace. Applicants will need to show a readiness to contribute to this outlook in order to be selected by the judging panel as the inaugural 50 Best Scholar.”
It’s a helluva package and one that’s certain to attract plenty of applicants. With good reason. As Mark Sansom, Director of Content for The World’s 50 Best Bars, says: “This is an initiative we’ve been planning for several years and it’s truly excellent to be able to work with a brand such as Beam Suntory, which shares our vision to professionalise the craft of bartending and support bartenders with a future-gazing ideology. We look forward to receiving applications from all over the world as we give this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to someone that will undoubtedly set their career into overdrive.”
Want in? Check below for the deets…
The process
The 50 Best Scholar will be selected after a three-stage judging process, which will feature leading lights of the bar industry
- Round One:
Applicants will be asked to share their vision of Future Positive and what it tangibly means to them as a bartender as part of a video application and questionnaire format. A total of 25 applicants will be selected to go through to Round Two.
- Round Two:
The shortlisted candidates will be asked to design a drink inspired by the theme and that heroes one local ingredient as well as documenting the research, development and process that goes into making their chosen cocktail. For this second stage, 50 Best has recruited previous winners of its Sustainable Bar Award and other stalwarts of the bar industry. The guest judges include: Vijay Mudaliar (Native and Analogue, Singapore), Ashish Sharma (The Surf Club, Miami), Jean Trinh (Alquímico, Cartagena), Kelsey Ramage (The Trash Collective, USA), Claire Sprouse (Hunky Dory, Brooklyn) and Luke Whearty (Byrdi, Melbourne), to help select the top five applicants who will make it to the final round.
- Round Three:
For the five finalists, the third stage will comprise a rigorous interview process with 50 Best; The Blend by Beam Suntory; a representative from B-Corp; Director of Mixology for Connaught Bar, Agostino Perrone and Masahiro Urushido, Managing Partner of Katana Kitten.
The three finalists will be hosted at The World’s 50 Best Bars 2022 awards ceremony, where the winner will be announced. The internships will take place in 2023.
