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Newcomer Ninon crowned Havana Club cocktail champ
A 22-year-old bartender from the French Alps who only got into mixology last year has beaten off competition from 40 finalists to win the Havana Club Grand Prix, writes Sophie McLean.
Winner Ninon Fauvarque celebrates with runners up Stepan Abrahamyan from Armenia and Johnson Wisdom Dogbey from Ghana
Ninon Fauvarque, from cocktail bar La Queue du Coq in Annecy, was crowned champion of the 12th Havana Club Grand Prix in the Cuban capital of Havana this week.
Over a four-day programme of masterclasses and Cuban cultural activities, 22-year-old Fauvarque, who “first touched a cocktail shaker last April”, impressed a panel of ten international judges including Alejandro Bolivar from Cuba’s famous Floridita.
Celebratory scenes at the Havana Club Grand Prix
Her winning ‘Curvas’ cocktail used a required base of Havana Club 7 year old rum, plus ingredients including a honey she infused with four spices “to enhance the rum’s spice” profile, coconut milk to bolster the rum’s sweetness, an orange and lime juice reduction, and a red kidney bean aquafaba – a viscous water that mimics the texture of egg whites – in homage to Cuban gastronomy.
The aquafaba also underlines a theme to this year’s competition – sustainability. “As bartenders we have to find a way to create the texture that we want in a drink without using animal products,” Fauvarque told db.
Competitors attended a number of seminars during their time in Cuba, including one given by veteran up-cycled cocktail founders Trash Tiki and Cuban fashion designers Clandestina on how to use perceived limitations creatively.
Trash Tiki also created a cocktail for the awards ceremony using ingredients collected from the competitors waste in the final round.
Ninon says she wanted to show that the young Cuban generation is adaptive “they are always using one thing to make another.”
Proud to be a female winner Nino noted that of the seven new Guild of Rum Masters apprentice distillers this year, “five of them are women”.
Two London bartenders were among the attending candidates – Jason Candid Knüsel representing Switzerland, who recently started working at The Savoy hotel’s American Bar, and Andrea Benvegna from The Mandrake.
Ninon Fauvarque preparing her winning cocktail
Ninon wins a golden Giraldilla – a symbol of Havana city, a bottle of Havana Club Maximo Extra Anejo and prize money to spend on a collaborative Havana Club project of her choice.
She was also awarded the “people’s choice” award, made up of members of the competition audience.
Stepan Abrahmyan from Armenia took second place with a cocktail that featured Tio Pepe Sherry, while Johnson Wisdow from Ghana came third, dazzling the judges with his singing as much as his shaking.
The final took place at Havana’s iconic Hotel Nacional hosted by Meimi Sanchez, Havana Club’s global brand ambassador for Europe, Asia Pacific and Africa, and Audrey Hands, global brand ambassador for the Americas, Spain and France.
The awards ceremony took place in the atmospheric Habana Café at the Meliá Cohiba Hotel, and were presented by Christian Barré, CEO of Havana Club International.