Mix Haus founders explain all-female bartending comp/fundraiser and why you should attend

On Monday, Australia’s liquor trade is invited to attend the national final of the #JustAddRHUBI bartender competition, an all-female bartending competition being run in partnership with Perth-based not-for-profit Mix Haus.

Free to enter, the Sydney event will function as both a finalist bartender competition and as a fundraising event, with all proceeds going towards Mix Haus’ funding of female-focused workshops, trainings, and events.

“Representation is such a huge thing and was the big focus for the RHUBI competition,” Shirley Yeung told Drinks Trade. In addition to her role as Bar Manager at Foxtrot Unicorn, Yeung Co-Founded Mix Haus alongside fellow Perth bartending talent Pippa Canavan.

“To give a bit of context, there are so many cocktail competitions every quarter/every year; and that makes them special,” continued Yeung.

“Some are big ones, some are small ones, some have a much bigger cash prize, some have no prize; but a big part of the problem with those competitions is that there is a huge lack of female representation in the lineups. Usually, you'll have a list of 10 to 12 or five to six people that make it to the finals, and, out of those numbers, it'll usually be one person that's female, or two in a lineup of 10 people. That's 20% of the lineup. And then, if you look at the actual amount of women that apply, it’s huge.”

The four finalists for the #JustAddRHUBI x Mix Haus Cocktail Competition are Charlie Hunter, from Brisbane’s Savile Row; Isobel Friel from Caterpillar Club, Sydney; Alexandra Percy of Sante Cocktail Bar, Toowomba; and Jac Landmark, who bartends at Pippa Canavan’s recently opened Perth Venue Bar Love.

Pippa Canavan says that female-led bartending competitions are invaluable for helping to increase support for females in Australian hospitality.

“As a young woman in the industry, when you see other women going and winning competitions and doing all this cool, fun stuff, it's inspiring; It gives you confidence,” she said.

“Women are chronic sufferers of impostor syndrome (and it can be a lot)... We've organised a few all-female competitions [and] bar takeovers and things like that, and the atmosphere behind the scenes is so different when it's all women: everyone's helping each other, everyone's just being lovely to each other, making friends, it's like the most calm, supportive, lovely environment, and it's worlds apart from going into comp where you're the only female and everyone's competing with each other and eyeing each other off.”

Shirley Yeung added that, “first and foremost, we wanted to create a much more comfortable and safer space for women to want to be part of… Like being the only female in the group, it's intimidating, especially when you're less experienced. You feel like you don't have support, especially when you enter into a bit more of a national environment where it's people from a different state and you might not know anyone and you're the only female in that room.”

To enter, female and non-binary bartenders were asked to create a drink championing RHUBI as the main ingredient, and then to share it on social media and offer it in-venue. First-round judging was be based on entry submissions, with the four chosen finalists then receiving a case of RHUBI, merch, flights to Sydney, and accommodation for one night.

“It's trying to get a bit more representation and just trying to give some women in the industry some benefits: we want there to be a cash prize, we want you to be flown to Sydney, we want it to actually give some benefits to women in the industry,” said Canavan.

The Sydney competition also forms part of Mix Haus’ goal of increasing its national coverage.

“We launched in 2021, and basically we are a non-for-profit organisation, and we run a series of events to support and highlight women in the industry. Sometimes it's things like big parties, where we'll have an all female bar takeover and sort of show off and highlight the female bartender skills and things like that. Other times there'll be panel talks about some difficult stuff, and just more of an opportunity to network and gain a little bit of knowledge in that respect. And sometimes we do more focused trainings on certain subjects, so if there's if there's something that we see being a common problem or misconception, or something that women aren’t confident about.

“We launched in Brisbane early this year, so we're now in Queensland as well… The goal is eventually to have a taking it nationally; and we've been taking steps towards that. We've been in talks with girls from South Australia and Melbourne, [which] are next on our list to get into.”

The #JustAddRHUBI x Mix Haus Cocktail Competition will take place Monday 25 November 7-10pm at Centro 86, Sydney. While the event is free to attend, donations to Mix Haus are strongly encouraged at the door.

On the night, guests will be able to sample cocktails from each of the four finalists, RHUBI & Sodas, and raffle prizes.

To reserve your spot, click here.

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Interview: Making hospitality inclusive, with Pippa Canavan and Shirley Yeung