TALES PERFECTIONISTS 2024 EDITION LAUNCHES THIS JULY WITH A MARGARITA EDUCATION PROGRAM AND ENTRY CHALLENGE FOR THE USA
Tales of the Cocktail Foundation’s Perfectionists sponsored by PATRÓN® is now open. Continuing to evolve and shape a best-in-class global tequila platform for the on-trade community, PATRÓN Tequila has teamed up with Tales of the Cocktail Foundation to sponsor the 2024 USA program and competition. Encouraging bartenders to strive for their own personal level of perfection, the bartending program will run its entry period between July 1st and September 30th, 2023, with a focus on the PATRÓN Silver Margarita cocktail in the USA. At Tales of the Cocktail 2023, a kick-off event will call the bar community to discover more about the program while enjoying cocktails served by previous global PATRÓN Perfectionists finalists at Selina Catahoula, New Orleans, on Monday July 24th, 11am to 5pm (event details and RSVP here).
The following educational modules, respectively running October-December and January-March, will be Mixologia de Mexico running alongside Paloma Perfecta, and World of Agave. After a local shortlist is pulled of the entry challenge creations, in four USA regions 10 bartenders will be blind-selected (without the judges’ knowledge of bartender name or bar) to undertake a regional final. The four emerging regional winners will fly to Hacienda PATRÓN in March 2024 for an experience-filled week with their fellow global finalists from around the world, a surprise panel of global mentors, judges, and the Familia PATRÓN in Atotonilco El Alto, Jalisco, Mexico.
Building on the long-standing commitment to inspiring and nurturing the hospitality industry, the Global PATRÓN Perfectionists program has further enriched its digital hub – Academia PATRÓN – and, with the support of Tales of the Cocktail Foundation, will provide an engaging educational ecosystem and access to mentoring sessions with the world’s leading on-trade personalities available all-year-long. Academia PATRÓN will run different blocks of educational modules from July 2023 through to March 2024 with Tales Margarita Masters being the first series in support of the entry stage. The entry challenge, Tales Margarita Masters, will ask bartenders in the USA to create a Margarita using PATRÓN Silver, worthy of their favorite global city and of PATRÓN Tequila’s unwavering commitment to the highest quality ingredients, to be submitted by September 30th.
Lauren Mote, Global Director of On-trade Excellence at PATRÓN Tequila and leader of the global PATRÓN Perfectionists program, said: “We’re incredibly proud of the shape the Perfectionists platform has been taking over the past year. There’s never been a more exciting time for tequila in the global bar industry, so we have been supercharging our program to respond to the needs and aspirations of a thriving and passionate bar community. With an engaging platform that encompasses applied learning on our liquid and category, recipe development, techniques and rituals, and Mexican culture, we encourage participants to learn and think outside the box. Thanks to the support of our amazing contributors from the Perfectionists community and global on-trade, we are putting premium, hand-crafted tequila and the authentic passion of Mexico at the heart of drinks culture, welcoming more bartenders to embrace this vision with us this year”.
Globally, 14 additional countries outside the USA will roll out the Perfectionists bartending program, including the education & cocktail competition, with additional countries focusing on local educational events alongside the Global PATRÓN Perfectionists platform calendar. Entries open between 12:00am Eastern Standard Time (EST) on July 01, 2023 and 23:59 Eastern Standard Time (EST), 2023 and are to be submitted via the entry portal https://talesperfectionists.com – to stay up to date with the wider global Perfectionists program, along with Academia PATRÓN programming follow https://www.academiapatron.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/academia_patron/
About PATRÓN Perfectionists Bartending Program
The inaugural global PATRÓN Perfectionists bartending program & cocktail competition launched in the UK in 2015 and proved so successful that it expanded internationally in 2016 with the 2022 / 2023 edition receiving over 2,500 entries. The bartending program & cocktail competition challenges bartenders to create a cocktail worthy of a PATRÓN Perfectionist with a “Simply Perfect” customer experience. In September 2022, the program evolved to include a dedicated education program, called “Academia PATRÓN Perfectionists”, and sits under the Academia PATRÓN program umbrella.
In the USA, PATRÓN has teamed up with Tales of the Cocktail Foundation to sponsor and support bartenders on the 2024 program edition: Tales of the Cocktail Foundation’s Perfectionists sponsored by PATRÓN.
About PATRÓN tequila
From hand-harvesting the highest-quality 100 percent Weber Blue Agave, to the traditional, time-honored distillation process and individual labelling, numbering, and inspection of each bottle, PATRÓN tequila is crafted with meticulous precision and care. Though PATRÓN has grown to become one of the most recognized and respected luxury spirits brands in the world, it is still exclusively produced in the Highlands of Jalisco, Mexico, in the same small batches and with the same commitment to quality and craftsmanship. For more information about PATRÓN tequilas and liqueurs, please visit www.patrontequila.com. The perfect way to enjoy PATRÓN is responsibly.
PATRÓN is part of the portfolio of Bacardi Limited, headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda. Bacardi Limited refers to the Bacardi group of companies, including Bacardi International Limited.
About Bacardi Limited
Bacardi Limited, the world’s largest privately held international spirits company, produces, markets, and distributes spirits and wines. The Bacardi Limited portfolio comprises more than 200 brands and labels, including BACARDÍ® rum, PATRÓN® tequila, GREY GOOSE® vodka, DEWAR’S® Blended Scotch whisky, BOMBAY SAPPHIRE® gin, MARTINI & ROSSI® vermouth and sparkling wines, CAZADORES® 100% blue agave tequila, and other leading and emerging brands including WILLIAM LAWSON’S® Scotch whisky, D’USSÉ® Cognac, ANGEL’S ENVY® American straight whiskey, and ST-GERMAIN® elderflower liqueur. Founded more than 161 years ago in Santiago de Cuba, family-owned Bacardi Limited currently employs approximately 9,000, operates production facilities in 11 countries and territories, and sells its brands in more than 160 markets. Bacardi Limited refers to the Bacardi group of companies, including Bacardi International Limited. Visit http://www.bacardilimited.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram or Twitter.
About Tales of the Cocktail Foundation:
Tales of the Cocktail Foundation is a non-profit organization that Educates, Advances, and Supports the global hospitality industry and creates a lasting impact in its host communities. TOTCF is the global leader in spirits education and a platform that tackles critical issues and topics facing the cocktail community. This year, TOTCF hosts its 21-year anniversary Tales of the Cocktail® (TOTC) conference in New Orleans from July 23-28, 2023, and celebrates the theme Vitalize.
