MONIN India announced Akshay Kottary, the head trainer at Martiny Mixology from Mangalore, Karnataka as the National winner from India of the prestigious MONIN Cup 2022. Monin Cup is an international bartending competition conducted across 50+ countries to discover the most skilled mixologists. Kottary will now compete on a global level with finalists from different countries in the International Grand Finale for the coveted MONIN Cup in France at the end of 2022. The runner-ups in the competition were Hemali Bendre from Bombay Canteen and Akshay Waghmare from Pass Code Only. The finalists from all corners of the country selected via regional competitions conducted in Kolkata, Bangalore, Mumbai, and Delhi over the past few weeks competed for the coveted trophy in the national capital yesterday. The regional events commenced in Kolkata on the 12 July and concluded in New Delhi on the 1 August.

The Monin Cup competition was conducted with a strong hope to rekindle the passion for mixology. Speaking at the event, Germain Araud, managing director, Monin India, said, “MONIN Cup competitions were a great platform for the budding bartenders in the country to come forward and show their exceptional talent to the world. We aimed to provide a professional stage for them to thrive and learn new skills through this contest. There was an overwhelming response from all parts of the country and the participants outshined themselves with recipes that were performed with utmost artistry. The opportunity to represent their home country is a great feat to achieve and we saw a tough competition at the finals as well.”

The judging committee comprises the elite names in the food and beverage industry of the country ranging from professional bartenders to chefs. The final event was judged by the esteemed jury consisting of India’s most revered consultant beverage trainer and Co-owner of Sidecar bar, Yangdup Lama, co-founder of Greenhouse by Bacardi, Sahith Sethuraman, founder director of Gigglewater Beverage Concepts, Karina Aggarwal, and MONIN’s regional sales director from Dubai Andrea Fidora, managing director of MONIN Group (Global), Philippe Bergerault was also present at the event to cheer the country’s young bartenders. The veterans evaluated all aspects such as presentation, efficiency, skills, appearance, aroma, taste, and respect for the theme.

This year’s MONIN Cup edition was on the theme “Sharing Memorable Moments’’ where participants used their creativity, skill, passion, and inventiveness to develop a memorable cocktail moment. Participants who competed for the MONIN trophy were either professional bartenders or students from bar schools aged between 21-27 years.

Post his win, Akshay Kottary said, "It is a dream come true moment for me to win this prestigious title and to represent the country in the upcoming event in France. To meet the best mixologists from around the country and to be guided by the veterans in the industry was indeed a surreal experience. I am thankful to MONIN India for this opportunity and the past weeks have been the best days of my life."

The basic requirement for all participants was to use a minimum of 10ml of at least one product from MONIN’s wide flavour profiles across categories including Le Sirop de MONIN, Le Fruit de MONIN, Le Frappe de Monin or a combination of MONIN products in their recipes. The participants who emerged as winners from the final event were selected after two rounds. In the first round, the participants made mocktails with a minimum of six ingredients including the MONIN syrup. There was a surprise factor in the second round where the participants made a cocktail with a MONIN flavour that they picked from the draw of lots.

Along with the agenda to find the best mixologist in the country, MONIN India wanted to support the pandemic-hit hospitality industry by helping it to revive with the MONIN Cup competition. Keeping in line with the theme, the MONIN cup competition in India ended on a high note with many memorable moments.