Jenna Ba, Karina Sanchez and India's race to bartending glory

Sourish Bhattacharyya

New Delhi, June 5 (IANS) Aashi Bhatnagar, the Moradabad-born bartender at Pune's Cobbler & Crew, made history in Sao Paulo, Brazil, by being the sole woman among the 12 finalists at the Diageo World Class Global Bartender of the Year competition. She also brought home the People's Choice Award. 

The spunky bartender, who made people break into 1980s-style Bollywood disco dancing as she conjured up rum caipirinhas, not only impressed the who's who of the bartending world with her use of unusual ingredients as varied as beetroot, jasmine tea and vetiver, but also, as recalled by Jenna Ba, global brand ambassador of Tanqueray No. Ten, became India's ambassador in Sao Paulo.

A celebrity bartender who was raised in Senegal and now lives in Amsterdam, Jenna will be in Gurugram on June 15 for yet another 'Mahabharat of Mixology', with 16 bartenders from across India vying for the honour of representing the country at this year's edition of the prestigious competition being held in Shanghai, China, from September 9.

Karina Sanchez from Mexico, who's the global brand ambassador for Don Julio, the tequila, and lives, appropriately, in Jalisco, where the tipple is produced from agave nurtured locally, will give Jenna company on the panel of judges.

Jenna is quite a pro about India -- she loves chana masala with chapatis and kathi rolls, for instance, and talks longingly about adding a dash of jamun or rhododendron juice (she had the latter in Himachal Pradesh and loves the soothing colour palette and flavours) to lend a local twist to the Tiny Ten cocktail.

For Sanchez, it will be her second visit to India. On her first trip, she was pleasantly surprised to discover how Indians had "embraced the tequila culture" and the creative lengths to which the "amazing" bartenders are prepared to go "to personalise the spirit and yet respect its DNA".

She gives the example of the citrusy Paloma, which is traditionally served in a glass rimmed with squeezed grapefruit and salt spiked with chilli powder (that's how they do it in Mexico). Indian bartenders lend their own twist to the rim by adding spiced salt.

"Your community of bartenders is confident and proud of what they are doing," Sanchez said. "They are prepared to innovate with local ingredients, which is as important as skills and craftsmanship."

Her view was amplified by Jenna when she said it was heartening to see the growth of the community of bartenders in India and the passion that drives them.

"They view their work as not just another job, but as an opportunity," Jenna noted. "Their cocktails therefore become great stories told by people who are authentic to themselves."

Jenna said the philosophy guiding the world of cocktails today is "delivering wows" because people now believe in "drinking better, not more". And that is possible only if "each drink is unique and leaves a mark on the guest". Jenna calls this "cocktail artistry".

Products are redefining geographies. Tanqueray, for instance, has a variant named after Rangpur, which is a place in Bangladesh famous for the limes (an orange-peeled hybrid between a citron and a mandarin) that go into the gin.

Likewise, tequila is gaining a bigger and younger fan following worldwide who are graduating from shots to cocktails. According to Sanchez, it is happening because Mexican cuisine and culture are "so very trending".

As the world is being made to shrink by what Jenna describes as "communities of choices" that transcend borders and are united by shared interests, events such as Diageo World Class Global Bartender of the Year bring it even closer -- and give talented young people such as Aashi their moments of basking in the sunshine of global acclaim.

--IANS

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