Cuba Sends in Cocktail Makers to Major World Event in Finland

Orestes Pajon (Hotel Caribbean) and Wilbert Lopez (Hotel Senador en Cayo Coco) will represent Cuba in the Fancy Cocktail and Fair categories at the 31st Bartenders´ World Championships to be held October 19-24 at the Finland Hall in Helsinki.

Pajon and Li are the first Cuban representatives at the IBA Worlds following their countryman Sergio Serrano´s winning cocktail Adam & Eve at the 2003 World Championships in Seville, the first title Cuba has grabbed in the history of the event.

Serrano used the Havana Club 7-year-old Rum to prepare the aperitif.

The International Bartenders Association (IBA) World Championships began in 1955 and thee other Latin American barmen have won the title: Argentina´s Enzo Antonetti (Mar del Plata) in Edinburgh ´64 and G.R. Echenique (Amba) in Buenos Aires ´65, and Venezuela´s Paolo Tomaso Monaco (Izcaragua) in Hamburg ´84.

Cuba is one of the full 50 IBA members. The Association, founded in 1951, will hold its 54th annual congress before the event.