Diageo has announced that its 2020 World Class Bartender of the Year Global Final, due to be hosted in Sydney in September will be postponed until 2021.
It was announced in September that Diageo World Class would hold its 2020 Bartender of the Year Final in Australia for the first time. Last year's final was held in Glasgow, with Singapore’s Bannie Kang (below) crowned the World’s best.
The 2020 World Class Bartender of the Year Australia will also be postponed until 2021. The Australian final of the competition is recognised as one of the best in the world, having produced two global winners – Tim Philips (2012) and Orlando Marzo (2018) – in the past decade.
The decision comes as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.
Andrew Oughton, Diageo Australia Marketing & Innovation Director, said: “It’s immensely disappointing for all of us at Diageo Australia to confirm the postponement of the Diageo 2020 World Class Global Final in Sydney this year but it’s absolutely the right call to make. This means that unfortunately the Australian 2020 World Class Bartender of the Year competition will also be postponed.
“To our friends in Australia’s bar industry, I want you to know that just because we can’t host the World Class Global Final this year, we won’t be walking away from supporting the on-premise in the challenging months we all face ahead. We’re already looking at other ways Diageo can celebrate and support the exceptional bars and talent in Australia in 2020 and we can’t wait for Sydney to host the World Class Global Final when it returns in 2021.”
Pictured main: Last year’s finalist Alex Boon with Marzo.
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