Brown wins second Flair bartending title

The National Finals for the Skyy Vodka Global Flair Challenge was held on Wednesday at The Deck in St Andrew, in front of a packed audience.

That crowd had come out to see Jamaica's finest bartenders battle each other for a spot in regional finals to be held in St Lucia.

From St Lucia, some contenders will advance to the Skyy Vodka Global Flair Challenge finals to be held in Barcelona, Spain, in October.

Four finalists from Jamaica had participated in a two-day workshop courtesy of Skyy Vodka with London-trained Hans Crosby in preparation for Wednesday's national finals.

Based in Trinidad, Crosby is a specialist and leader in the field of performance bartending and the founder of the League of Extraordinary Bartenders.

He started off the competition showing the audience why he was a master in the field of performance bartending. His expertise and use of the bottles showed precision and clean execution.

He made way for Kevin Stewart from TGIF who, though skillful, encountered a few glitches while creating a cocktail called Crystal Style.

Hiccups

Next up was Kimalie Robinson from Cornwall Beach who, despite trying to hold his composure, had accident after accident. He still managed to create a green concoction called Skyy Scraper. Though there were hiccups, his presentation was attractive.

Samir Lovejoy from TGIF immediately followed. His cocktail was called Morning Skyy. He was pretty good but made a few errors. The crowd-favourite going into the first round was Albert Brown, another contestant from TGIF. With his drink called Skyy High, Brown fully engaged the judges and the patrons with his theatrics. He wheeled, juggled and flipped as he impressed the scores of patrons in attendance who screamed their excitement. Bottle-popping, cherry-throwing Brown showed why he was crowned last year's champion.

After the first and second rounds, the decision was up to the judging panel comprising entertainer Tifa, mixologist Patrice McHugh, and Lisa Bell from Lascelles wines and spirits.

Lovejoy was third while Robinson managed to finish behind Brown.