Minneapolis bartender will compete for U.S. Bartender of the Year
The U.S. Bartenders Guild has unveiled its Top 30 World Class U.S. Bartenders, a list of finalists slated to compete in a national bartending contest this spring.
Among the finalists is bartender Jarod Schiebout from Spoon and Stable in Minneapolis.
Schiebout, who joined Spoon and Stable in 2023, will head to Athens, Ga., for the National Finals in May, where just one bartender will earn the right to represent the U.S. in the global finals, where someone is crowned the bartender of the year.
He has been mentored by Soigné Hospitality's Beverage Director Jessi Pollak, who won the Diageo World Class National Finals and was named Bartender of the Year in 2022. She was the first Minnesota-based bartender to qualify for the national competition.
The competition's judging panel narrowed the field from 100 down to 30 for the national finals, selecting 10 bartenders each from three regions.
To get there, each mixologist had to breathe "new life into a retro classic cocktail" with a menu of three drinks that showcased the drink's past, present, and future. Judges then recreated one cocktail from each menu for a blind tasting.
At the finals in Athens, bartenders will be tested on their ability to highlight the flavor profile of a Bulleit variant in a cocktail paired with a southern dish, draw inspiration from "Mexican commerce and community life" for a cocktail with locally sourced ingredients, and create high-quality drinks quickly from a pop-up menu.
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