From the Rob Roy to the Morning Glory Fizz, there are Classic cocktails which have been enjoyed for over a century in the best bars around the world. Bartenders often like to recreate these timeless recipes, adding their signature twist.
In this year’s Chivas Masters Global Cocktail Competition, we challenged bartenders not only to revisit a Classic New York cocktail, but also to come up with their own local cocktail, using ingredients and techniques that best represent their country.
Alejandro Millán, who triumphed amongst 15 of the world’s most innovative bartenders to become this year’s Chivas Master, created a cocktail called “El Jornalero” as a tribute to the local craft and ingredients of his home country Mexico. His recipe includes cacao from the region of Tabasco, coffee from Chiapas, mezcal from Oaxaca, and a touch of citrus from Veracruz. The cocktail name is a tribute to the field workers, the jornaleros, who work long hours collecting the tasty local ingredients sourced for this cocktail.
El Jornalero
50ml Chivas Regal 12 Year Old
20 ml Amaro Averna liqueur
15 ml Vermouth Extra Dry
15 ml Homemade Cacao and Dry Chilli Syrup
2 sprays of Mezcal Infused with Coffee Beans and Orange Peel
Becoming the Chivas Master was not just about individual cocktail skills though – Alejandro had to demonstrate his ability to lead and inspire a team. And he did exactly that. After 3 days of individual challenges in front of a multi-awarded panel of judges, he was given 24 hours to form a team and create a pop-up bar experience in Shanghai.
The “Beach Brothers” – led by Alejandro and comprising of Ben Rojo from the United States, Santiago Ortiz from Spain, Stanisław Domin from Poland, and Tomáš Melzer from Czech Republic – came together as a team to create a tiki bar experience.
Their signature cocktail, “Cinco Hermanos” (The Five Brothers), skilfully combined ingredients nodding to each of the team members’ countries: Chivas 12 Years Old, with Becherovka (Czech Republic), Pineapple Juice, Maple Syrup (USA) infused with vanilla (Mexico) and Lime juice (Spain); Garnished with green apple (Poland).
