The 19th annual International RUDOLF JELÍNEK Cup European championship in fruit brandy cocktail mixing took place on 17 September 2019 and saw 37 contestants10 of whom were foreign participants – perform in front of 170 guests.

As is tradition, the event took place on the premises of the RUDOLF JELÍNEK distillery. This year’s theme was ‘The Place I Live’. Each contestant had to prepare a fancy cocktail containing at least 2 cl of 5-year-old Slivovitz Kosher.

The panel of judges was also composed of multiple nationalities – it included Jan Lindgren (Hotel Marski, Finland), Martina Peštová (Bar and Books, Czech Rep.), Michal Durňík (Black Angel’s, Czech Rep.), Lukáš Vrábel (Cafe, Cocktail & Champagne, Slovakia).

Bartenders from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Poland, Switzerland, and Estonia flocked to Vizovice to compete in two bars. Two bartenders from each bar advanced to the final round of four contestants. Those were Stefan Haneder, Tomáš Zvolánek, Marek Vybíral, Štefan Gašparík. Among the fierce competition, Stefan Haneder (Acanto Cocktail, Austria) emerged victorious and earned the title of the European champion in fruit brandy cocktail mixing with his drink Golden Forest, which, in addition to the 5-year-old kosher slivovitz, also included Mozart Chocolate Dry liqueur, Monin Black Forest syrup, currant juice, and home-made foam. Second place was taken by Marek Vybíral (The Black Stuff, Czech Rep.) with his drink Mora; Tomáši Zvolánko with Slivkopolitan finished third. The Best Foreign Bartender award was given to Štefan Gašparík from Slovakia (Spirit Bar, Trnava) for his cocktail Dušenka. The Talent prize was awarded to Kamila Šturmová (American Bar in the Municipal House, Czech Rep.) for her drink Prague Sunset. The most innovative was judged to be the Pošichtovní cocktail by Jan Zlámaný (Le Valmont, Czech Rep.). The winner of the Best Technique award was Jíří Pácalt (Tretter’s New York Bar, Czech Rep.) with his drink Tiger Milk. The panel found the Baynan cocktail by Robert Gloss (Black Angel’s, Czech Rep.) the most visually appealing.

During the day the contestants could take part in tastings of Gold Cock whiskey directly from the cask, or try some tea and cool drinks by Oxalis and Zázračná limonáda. In the Red Bull bar, all participants could try their hand at preparing the Rubycon cocktail as quickly as possible – in this discipline, Stefan Haneder triumphed with a time of 8.24 seconds. Workshops took place during the early evening, led by Tomáš Třeštík on the topic ‘Photography in the Bar’ and Petr Horák on ‘Bartenders on Social Networks’.

The day concluded with the Best Bar competition between Šnekoland (Rokytnice nad Jizerou), Hangár Bar (Prague), 7 hříchů (Brno) and Hemingway Bar (Nitra). Each bar offered its guests two drinks, and the Best Bar title went to Šnekoland.

The results of the World Slivovitz Cup were announced during the evening – the inaugural round of an annual online photography competition focused on cocktails made with the traditional R. JELÍNEK kosher slivovitz, also with the theme ‘The Place I Live’. In addition to the quality of the photograph itself, the recipe was also rated, as was social media presence and other marketing activities.

The winner was Jessie Ray Clasicas from the Philippines, who earned the most points for his social media presence and whose photograph was also rated as the best by the foremost Czech photographer Tomáš Třeštík. A total of 51 bartenders from 30 countries took part in the contest.

The event was sponsored with presentations and products by the companies Makro, Titan Tools, Zázračná limonáda, Red Bull, Starobrno, Crucial Detail, Kavovary.cz, Oxalis, Coca Cola, and Mattoni.