June 12, 2014 · Team HG
Lennart Deddens, bartender and distiller at Mr. Mofongo in Groningen, finished in a tie for third place yesterday at Diageo World Class Netherlands, the world's most prestigious competition for bartenders. This makes Deddens the first bartender from the north of the Netherlands to make it this far. He had qualified for the final day, which took place at Club ABE in Amsterdam, during the preliminary rounds. Of the ten bartenders, he managed to make it to the final four.
During the afternoon session, which was not open to the public, the Groningen native was on fire in the Cocktails Against the Clock Challenge. The contestants had to give six classic cocktails their own twist within eight minutes and accompany it with a compelling story. Deddens managed to set the fastest time here with 7:18 minutes.
During the Theoretical Challenge, the jury was impressed by his version of the Dry Martini. Participants were required to put their own spin on this well-known cocktail. The use of the home-distilled malt wine, produced at Mofongo’s Distillery, was particularly appreciated. Malt wine forms the basis of every good jenever, and jenever, in turn, is the ‘father’ of the main ingredient of the Martini: London Dry Gin.
Thanks to this strong performance, the bartender reached the semi-finals alongside three colleagues from Amsterdam. However, a small mistake proved fatal, causing him to miss the decisive shake-off. Despite this, Deddens is very satisfied with his performance: “I am proud of how I performed during this competition. It is a confirmation for myself and Mr. Mofongo that we are on the right track. Honestly, this only gives me more motivation to come back even better next year.” The competition was ultimately won by Leroy Soumokil from Henry’s Bar in Amsterdam.
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