Victoria regional finals

The third and final 42BELOW Cocktail World Cup Australian Regional Final was hosted in Melbourne on Monday in front of more than 200 of the States finest Bartenders. 

It was truly a who's who of the Australian bartending scene, with some amazing feedback received over the past few days from industry leaders, none more notable than that of Mick Formosa, the Suntory Brand Ambassador who was also voted 2009 Brand Ambassador of the Year by Bartender magazine. In an email he said;

"Congratulations for running what I thought was a very successful night. The warehouse vibe of the venue was perfect and the whole place had a great buzz. Everyone had a fantastic time and the party was never out of control. Very impressive numbers too for an event in the middle of December with so much else going on."

Also in attendance was Mike Chan, owner and operator of "Golden Monkey" which was voted 2009 Bar of the Year, who said the Melbourne regional final "had the best atmosphere of a cocktail comp event he had ever scene".

Vodka Professor Jacob Briars was in town once again to host the night along with Damian. 24 Bartenders made up of 17 from Melbourne, 2 from Hobart and 7 from Adelaide competed fiercely for the ticket to NZ and ultimately the winner was 2009 Bartender of the Year Chris Hysted from Black Pearl who managed to create a "42 Funka Flip", followed by Sean Hastings (one of Melbourne's most respected Bartenders) from Order of Melbourne.