United Kingdom bartender Richard Tring trumped eight of his global peers to take the title of Appleton’s 2012 International Bartender champ. Tring’s winning cocktail, which he dubbed the ‘Independence Punch’ — a mix of grapefruit sherbet, spiced pineapple, Appleton V/X, coconut water, and white rum — was adjudged the audience favourite by the hundreds who attended the cocktail event inside the Wyndham Kingston ballroom last Friday evening. For his deft skill at creating favoured alcoholic concoctions, Tring won himself an all-expense-paid vacation to Jamaica. “This win right now is the biggest of my bartending career,” an excited Tring told Thursday Food moments after claiming victory, his gleaming silver trophy planted firmly at his side. Tring’s competitors included bartenders from Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Peru, Mexico, Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.

Cecil Smith, marketing manager of owned brands at J Wray and Nephew Limited, said the international bartender challenge “represents a chance for the bartending profession to be showcased on the world stage, and to further promote the standing of the profession locally”. Enjoy highlights from Appleton’s 2012 Bartender Challenge. (Photos: Marlon Reid)