Diageo Reserve World Class announced Devi Singh from Firefly, Goa as the India winner of the World Class 2019 competition. Devi was also bestowed with the title of the Indian Bartender of the Year and he’s now gearing up for the world championship that will be held in Glasgow.
Judged by a panel of expert jury, which included the likes of Vir Sanghvi, Kelvin Cheung, Yangdup Lama and Ashish Kapur, Devi beat his competitors with the cocktail Memories . “My drink was inspired by my 5,000-kilometre travel across India and the people who made my journey unforgettable,” says an excited Devi.
Devi Singh with the award winning drink-Memories
He impressed the judges with his speed, meticulous execution and innovative blends at the India final. Runners-up Akhilesh Sheoran from Together at 12th in Gurugram and Deepak Koranga from The Bombay Canteen, Mumbai too impressed the judges with their creativity and craftsmanship. They were placed second and third respectively. “For Memories, I chose to keep the flavours earthy. It is to show my connect with my roots,” says Devi, who was born in Jodhpur.
Incidentally, Devi left home as a teenager and ended up doing odd jobs to make ends meet. However, his heart lay in the kitchen. “I wanted to be a chef. But after running away from home, I did odd jobs and finally took up a job as a security guard. This ended soon and I returned home much to my family’s delight and my relief. I taught myself bartending, and when I knew I had enough to be behind a bar, I went to Goa,” he says. Ever since, there’s been no looking back.
Talking about the competition, Devi says that the finale had three rounds. “It began with a mystery box challenge, where contenders were allotted five special ingredients and three hours to conceptualise a cocktail by using a minimum of two ingredients from the box. This was followed by a blind tasting round where contestants had to identify the spirits they were drinking. The final round was a speed round, where bartenders had to prepare six cocktails in five minutes,” says Devi, who enjoyed all of them.
For the mystery box challenge, he selected vetiver, lemongrass and rosemary. “I had carried smoked tea and Tepache soda (fermented pineapple soda) from my bar. When I am making a drink, I don’t look at it as the process of mixing standard flavours with alcohol. I like my drinks to narrate a story, which is exactly what I did with Memories. It was an ode to all the people I met on my 5,000-kilometre journey,” adds Devi.
And what classic cocktails did he make for the speed round? “I chose penicillin, vodka gimlet, martini, bramble, Tom Collins and negroni.”
Devi will now compete with the world’s finest bartenders at the 11th annual Global Diageo World Class Competition to be held at Glasgow in September.
