News: Patrón Perfectionists Cocktail Competition Winner Announced

China’s Li Tong was crowned the 2017 Global Patrón Perfectionists Cocktail Competition Winner last week…

Bartenders, listen up! Patrón Tequila recently held their global cocktail competition, with over 1,200 bartender contestants entering from all over the world. The task was simple – to create an amazing Patrón cocktail with passion, precision and care.

With 17 semi-finalists from 19 countries and 6 finalists, the competition was held in Hacienda Patrón in Jalisco, Mexico (home of Patrón Tequila) earlier this year. On 18 January it was announced that Li Tong from China was named as the 2017 Global Patrón Perfectionists Cocktail Competition Winner. Her winning cocktail was called ‘Dancing Bees’ – find the recipe below and try it out for yourself!

Once Li reached the top six, she competed against fellow finalist, the UK’s own Greg Almeida of world-famous Scarfes Bar at Rosewood Hotel in London. Other inspiring contestants included New Zealand’s Madeleine Tate of Caretaker Bar and France’s Natalie Durrieu of La Queue du Coq.

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The Global Patrón Perfectionists Cocktail Competition Winner

Li Tong

Li Tong said on the achievement, “Perfection comes from the heart, it’s passion and it’s doing what we love, winning the competition has given me so much confidence to keep going and do something special as a bartender.”

Coming from a very traditional background where women working in bars isn’t the norm, Li kept bartending hidden from her family, alluding that she was in Marketing. She now says she looks forward to telling her parents about this great achievement, which is also a big step for the bartending industry which has tended to be largely male-dominated throughout the world.

“The competition has been amazing – I have met a lot of new friends and learnt a lot during the journey. The Patrón Perfectionists Cocktail Competition has been so exciting, I’ve been dreaming about seeing real agave and my dream has come true. I’m so excited to have won, and can’t wait to go back to China and tell my family. Perfection comes from the heart, it’s passion and it’s doing what we love, winning the competition has given me so much confidence to keep going and do something special as a bartender.” – Li Tong

The Winning Cocktail

Dancing Bees

Ingredients

• 60ml Patrón Reposado tequila
• 10ml Yellow Chartreuse
• 20ml Chamomile yuzu shrub (several pinches of dried chamomile, 200ml yuzu puree, 200g sugar, 50ml, apple cider vinegar, 200ml water)
• 15ml Monin passionfruit syrup
• 30ml Lime juice Soda water

Method

Place in all ingredients bar soda water to a Boston shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a rocks glass. Top with soda water.

Looking for more cocktail recipes? Check out these!

For more cocktail recipes using Patrón, please visit the Cocktail Lab at patrontequila.com