END OF SUMMER FLAIR FACE OFF!
Summer Flair Bartender Competition 3 Reviewed

 

By Mike McLean
Photos by Chris Miller & Anthony Ramirez

  

 

The third annual Summer Flair Bartender Competition was held once again in beautiful Palm Beach Gardens in Florida.  Hosted at Club Safari, home of Flairbar.com’s own Rob Husted.   This was a Level 3 competition on the 2008 FBA Pro Tour, as well as being part of the 2008 FBA Advanced Tour.

 
After a competition meeting and catered dinner by Gourmet Gals (with foods created / accented by sponsor products) on Sunday night, the party moved into Club Safari till the early hours of the morning.  In addition to Rob bartending for the competitors and staff, a FAST Tender Challenge was also set up to test the accuracy and speed of all the bartenders in the room.  I think most of the Advanced competitors reworked their system at some point during the night after watching some of the Pros and other experienced bartenders take a turn.

The Summer Flair Bartender Competition is unique in that it features different rounds for qualifying, all building up to a big Flair only finals.  Unfortunately there was some confusion as to how the points worked, despite everything being laid out on the FBA message board prior to the event.

For both the Advanced and the Pro competitors, qualifying day started off with the FAST Tender Round.  This consisted of a series of predetermined pours that were both measured for accuracy and timed.  Any penalties for wrong pours or spills were added on to the raw time, for an overall total time.  The round used the new FAST Tender system, consisting of a two handed timer and a series of shaker tins with Pour Check measuring devices inside.  The system was developed by Flairco.com and Barproducts, and should be of interest for any bartender, bar manager or bar owner looking to test free pouring skills. Coming out on top in the Advanced Division was Chad Tocco, with a perfect score.  In the Pro Division, it was Rodrigo Delpech and Dario Doimo tied for top spot.
Next up was the Head to Head Round, with bartenders going one on one in a contest similar to "HORSE", where one competitor described and landed a move, then the other competitor had two chances to duplicate it.  While more detail, description and flow is needed to make this type of contest work on a larger scale, it was certainly fun to watch.  With the help of referees Dean Serneels and Mark Schultz, the winners were finally decided.  In the Advanced Division, again it was Chad Tocco, beating out Cesar Romero.  The Pro Division finals for the Head to Head kicked off the finals night, with Rodrigo Delpech taking down Dario Doimo after a hard fought battle.
  

The Flair Round was pretty standard as far as competitions go, except that a mystery sponsor product was added in at the competition meeting.  While this obviously presented a serious challenge for the competitors to include it in their routines, most were able to seamlessly blend it in.

The Final Round was Flair only, with each competitor getting a bit more time to show off their stuff to the packed crowd in Club Safari.  In the Advanced Division, Chad Tocco made a clean sweep of it taking the title, ahead of Santiago Gomez in second, Jesse Roenback in third, Cesar Romero in fourth and Adrian Oriolo in fifth place.

The Pro Division had the sort of incredible shows that make FBA Pro Tour competitions the best on the planet.  Large sums of cash and bragging rights were on the line this night and it showed.  Coming out on top by less than four points was Dario Doimo, beating out Rodrigo Delpech in second place.  Rodrigo Cao was very strong in third, with Paul Trzcianko in fourth, Jon Tenorio in fifth and James "Make it Rain" Sordahl in sixth place.

Click on the picture below to see a video highlight of the event...

While there is definitely more work needed to further define the direction and definitions required to make all the elements of this competition work together, I think that Summer Flair Bartender Competition adds another type of event to the overall Flair scene.  After all, not every Flair bartender likes to compete in the same type of competition, and this is the basis for the FBA Pro Tour.  Hopefully this will continue to push the boundaries of Flair as we know it.

Many thanks to the competition sponsors, including SKYY Vodka, X-Rated Liqueur, Midori Liqueur, Finest Call, Budweiser, TY KU, Barproducts, Inkcorrect, Flairco.com, Spill-Stop, In-the-Biz, Marriot Palm Beach Gardens, Club Safari, Flairbar.com, BarWars LLC and the FBA (Flair Bartenders Association).  Also, a big shout out to all of the competition staff, including Mike McLean, Dean Serneels, John Buckley, Justin Ripp, Aj Gruening, Brian Loukmas, Lori Cambaroni, Mark Shultz, Deshon Allen, Janelle Smithers, Mark Hastings, Juan Hurtado, JD Spradlin, Wayne Ball, Jeff Gather, Charlie Brown, Tex, Allison Ferrel, Chris Miller, Anthony Ramirez, Maria Foreno, Jeff Smith, Stefanie Hummer, Steve Doherty, Gwen Roman, Randy Spragg, Chandra, Stefaney Lewis, Thomas Perugini, Bob Husted, Jennifer Husted, the Competitors and the amazing crowd... and the man that kept the color commentary and the event moving Mr. Ben Rose!

Thank you to all who participated and supported this event. Don't forget to pick up the "Summer Flair 3" DVD available soon. For a preview of the upcoming DVD click on the picture above. See you all at the next event.