With the first of the Roadhouse Flair heats fast approaching we catch up with WFA Director of Gradings, @thomasdyer-3, on what to expect, his top trick tips, and more:

The Roadhouse Flair Heats 2017

“Every month leading up to the Roadhouse Flair Grand Finals in November, London’s most famous cocktail bar The Roadhouse in Covent Garden will be hosting a series of flair heats.Each and every Roadhouse Flair heat is exciting as they have different entry restrictions to ensure we acquire a diverse selection of flair bartenders for the Grand Finals.”

“We kick off with the first of two UK heats on Sunday 29th of January on the one and only Roadhouse stage, followed by the Freestyle Competition in February. With the Americas Open in May and Chicks with Flicks all female flair bartender competition in September, we are guaranteed another fantastic selection of talent in the Roadhouse Grand Finals on November 25th & 26th”.

Competition details

“All of the heats will be regulated under the 2017 WFA scoring system apart from the Battle heat and the Freestyle heat. We expect these heats to be particularly interesting and we could see a host of new names introduced to the WFA competition scene, each competitor will receive one overall score from the judges and the scoring will be instant!”

“Every heat will have a grand total of £1000 up for grabs, with £700 and the highly sort after glass globe Roadhouse trophy going to the winner, £200 to second place, and £100 for third. The top 3 from every heat will automatically gain a place in the Roadhouse World Finals where a grand total of £15,000 prize money will be up for grabs”.

What do you love about the Roadhouse Flair Heats?

“For me the competition nights at the Roadhouse are great, it is like an industry night. It is a great opportunity to meet loads of like minded people as it attracts bartenders from all over London, the UK and sometimes even the world! The Roadhouse is the longest running flair bartending competition in the world and one of the hardest to win so it has attracted all the worlds best flair bartenders. You always know you are going to see something special on the Roadhouse stage, it really is the most difficult stage in the world to flair on – it scares a lot of bartenders! The Roadhouse crowd is often one of the most educated audiences you will come across in flair bartending so you can see why the competitors take it so seriously, it is a great platform to launch your professional flair bartending career”.

Tom’s top tips for high scoring tricks

• Always finish making your drinks. Make sure you put some effort into the cocktails you are making as part of your performance, it will go a long way with the judges.

• Don’t try and do too much, do what you can do and do it well – with confidence and showmanship. People are there to be entertained, failed tricks are not entertaining.

• Show us something original. What do you think is the next big thing in flair bartending? We want to see your style and your ideas, your flair. Taking this seriously and tweaking your style where necessary will stand you in good stead for placing in the top three in competitions and becoming a great flair bartender.

Expectation’s for this years Grand Final?

“It certainly is quite early to be making any solid predictions for the Roadhouse Grand Final 2017 but I do think we are going to have another great final this year, with a lot of new faces and some cleaner flair. We have some ideas with regards to stepping up production, as you know we try to continue to innovate at the WFA and The Roadhouse and are always looking at ways to improve the competition”.