50 Best Bars

The 50 Best Bars The Blend Scholarship returns for 2023

17 April, 2023

The Blend by Beam Suntory and The World’s 50 Best Bars have announced the return of the 50 Best Bars The Blend Scholarship, offering its recipient the opportunity to train at two of The World's 50 Best Bars and attend the awards ceremony in Singapore this October.

Open to any aspiring bartenders over 21 with under five years' professional experience, from anywhere in the world, it follows the success of last year’s programme where Drew Fleming, a bartender from the Isle of Man, was named champion. 

Fleming said: “The whole experience for me was amazing and really helped me develop unique skills for the future of my career. From the competition itself to working with two of the best bars in the world, The Connaught Bar in London and Katana Kitten in New York. 

“I learnt so much about first-class hospitality and met some of the finest people in our industry. I highly recommend any fellow bartender to enter this competition. You can't win if you don't try, right?”

One bartender will be given the opportunity to expand their knowledge with stages at Sips in Barcelona, ranked number three in the 2022 list, and at Alquímico in Cartagena, ranked number 10.

The winner will also secure mentorship from industry professionals and will be hosted by The Blend by Beam Suntory global team for an internship. Flights, accommodation, and a weekly financial allowance are included in the prize. 

The theme of the 2023 Scholarship is Future Positive, a commitment to a more sustainable and equitable future in which hospitality has a positive impact. 

Through the application process, The Blend and The World’s 50 Best Bars will be looking for bartenders who embrace a Future Positive mindset, have creative solutions to issues faced by hospitality and can share ideas that drive change for the planet, community, colleagues and guests.

Applications are open from today via The World’s 50 Best Bars website and close on 15 May. 

The 50 Best Scholar will be selected after a three-stage judging process.

  • Round One: Applicants will be asked to share their vision of Future Positive and what it means to them as a bartender as part of a video application. A total of 25 applicants will be selected to go through to round two.
  • Round Two: The shortlisted candidates will be asked to design a drink inspired by the theme and that heroes one local ingredient as well as document the research, development, and process that goes into making their cocktail curation. For this second stage, the judging panel will include Kelsey Ramage (The Trash Collective), Jean Trinh (Alquimico), Simone Caporale (Sips), and Christina Rasmussen (Mallow) to help select the top five applicants who will make it to the final round. 
  • Round Three: For the five finalists, the third stage will comprise an interview process with 50 Best and The Blend teams, Simone Caporale, and Jean Trinh.

The three finalists will be hosted at The World’s 50 Best Bars 2023 ceremony in Singapore, where the winner will be announced. The internships will take place in 2024.





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