Past Winners
DIAGEO World Class epitomizes the cocktail movement and celebrates those dedicated to their craft. The following U.S. and Global winners personify the exacting standards, showmanship and professionalism that success in this career demands.
2012 U.S. Winner: Ricky Gomez
Like the cocktail, Ricky Gomez was born in the Southern city of New Orleans, Louisiana. He first got behind the bar as a hobby and means to make extra spending money. However during a stint in the city's iconic Garden District, Ricky became intrigued with New Orleans's cocktail culture and began learning basic bartending techniques. Following the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, Ricky's culinary passion for great cocktails strengthened with the reopening of New Orleans landmark restaurant, Commander's Palace. There, Ricky learned the importance of fresh ingredients and helped perfect recipes inspired by pre-prohibition era cocktails to pair with the restaurant's seasonal menu. More >
Like the cocktail, Ricky Gomez was born in the Southern city of New Orleans, Louisiana. He first got behind the bar as a hobby and means to make extra spending money. However during a stint in the city's iconic Garden District, Ricky became intrigued with New Orleans's cocktail culture and began learning basic bartending techniques. Following the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, Ricky's culinary passion for great cocktails strengthened with the reopening of New Orleans landmark restaurant, Commander's Palace. There, Ricky learned the importance of fresh ingredients and helped perfect recipes inspired by pre-prohibition era cocktails to pair with the restaurant's seasonal menu.
In the fall of 2008, Ricky set out to enrich his knowledge of cocktails by attending the Beverage Alcohol Resource (BAR) Educational Program in New York City as a work-study student. While enrolled, Ricky learned from industry leaders such as Dale DeGroff, Steve Olson, Andy Seymour, Paul Pacult, Doug Frost and David Wondrich to gain a comprehensive knowledge of the world of cocktails. Upon returning to New Orleans, Ricky got "behind the stick" at Cure, one of the most critically acclaimed cocktail destinations in the country. During his tenure, Ricky harnessed his creativity, style and palette to demonstrate the art of the crafted cocktail through both classic and innovative recipes.
In 2010, Ricky packed his bartools and moved across country to Portland, Oregon. Admiring the Pacific Northwest's passion for culinary excellence, Ricky made the city home and has worked at some of the city's top cocktail establishments including Teardrop Lounge and Riffle NW.
Living by his personal philosophy to "spread the gospel of cocktails," Gomez applied to the USBG and World Class U.S. educational program where he was selected as one of the program's finalists. On June 19, 2012, Ricky traveled to New York City to prove his skills against 20 of the nation's top cocktail talent. Through his success in the program's four challenges, Ricky was named the first ever Diageo World Class U.S. Ambassador and traveled to Rio De Janeiro Brazilwhere he placed fifth overall.
Winning Recipes
2012 Global Winner
Tim Philips
Newly crowned Diageo Reserve WORLD CLASS Bartender of the Year 2012, Tim Philips is already a seasoned bartender and winning this world title adds to his lists of accolades in his illustrious career. In 2011, he placed sixth overall during his first appearance in the DIAGEO World Class Global Final and, in the same year, was named Bartender Magazine's 'Australian Bartender of the Year'. He's mastered cocktails at Milk & Honey on both sides of the Atlantic and managed their member lodge in Chamonix. Philip's has also done time at some... More >
Tim Philips
Newly crowned Diageo Reserve WORLD CLASS Bartender of the Year 2012, Tim Philips is already a seasoned bartender and winning this world title adds to his lists of accolades in his illustrious career. In 2011, he placed sixth overall during his first appearance in the DIAGEO World Class Global Final and, in the same year, was named Bartender Magazine's 'Australian Bartender of the Year'. He's mastered cocktails at Milk & Honey on both sides of the Atlantic and managed their member lodge in Chamonix. Philips has also done time at some of New York's premier cocktail bars and was named UK's 'Bartender of the Year' in 2009.
This year, Tim is taking the plunge and opening his own venue Bulletin Place in Sydney, which is undoubtedly set to become an Australian institution and will feature some of Tim's finest creations. He has been consistently acknowledged as one of the most prodigious bartenders to ever come from the land down under.
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Winning Recipe
2011
Manabu Ohtake
Manabu has been bartending for 16 years, and is not the reserved Japanese bartender you might expect. He's altogether more relaxed, exhibiting the precision that Japanese bartenders have become renowned for, but not afraid to inject his own personality into the job. His performances behind the bar are just that, and it's a tactic that has secured him a place in the Japanese DIAGEO World Class final three years running. More >
Manabu Ohtake
Manabu has been bartending for 16 years, and is not the reserved Japanese bartender you might expect. He's altogether more relaxed, exhibiting the precision that Japanese bartenders have become renowned for, but not afraid to inject his own personality into the job. His performances behind the bar are just that, and it's a tactic that has secured him a place in the Japanese DIAGEO World Class final three years running.
Having started on the restaurant side of the business, he remembers being transfixed by the sight of a bartender across the room, shaking a cocktail and holding the attention of a group of customers.
He's got something of a western outlook on mixology too, saying vodka is his favourite category due to its smooth, clean character. Japanese alcohols such as sake and shochu, he says, are still traditionally drunk straight rather than mixed in cocktails.
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Winning Recipe
2010
Erik Lorincz
Originally from Slovakia, Erik has lived in London for eight years.
His interest in mixology stemmed from childhood experiences working with his grandmother who was a fantastic herbalist.
As a young adult, he began making his own tinctures and teas and it is this understanding of the complex... More >
Erik Lorincz
Originally from Slovakia, Erik has lived in London for eight years.
His interest in mixology stemmed from childhood experiences working with his grandmother who was a fantastic herbalist.
As a young adult, he began making his own tinctures and teas and it is this understanding of the complex interaction of herbal chemistry that laid the foundations for a great mixologist.
Stumbling across the art in Prague, Erik was captivated and has worked in the Czech Republic and Bratislava, expanding his skills before moving to London, working his way from the bottom to become senior mixologist at The American Bar at The Savoy.
Having visited Japan a few years ago, where everyone is treated as a five star guest, he understands the ceremony in bartending: it is a philosophy of etiquette, his guests 'aren't there just to remember the drink but to remember the night.'
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