Its’ been 10 years since Tom joined the WFA and 3 since he hung up his competition gloves to focus on passing his own knowledge and experience down to aspiring bartenders all around the world. Helping to establish and build the WFA Grading system whilst also setting up a number of his own EBS Schools where many new bartenders begin their journey into this exciting industry.

Perhaps you were lucky enough to be in the crowd back when Tom was competing, some of you may have even shared the stage with him or worked alongside him on the bar. More recently though you will have seen Tom on the judges’ table at numerous bartending competitions or caught him on live streams, on tv or in the current WFA Grading videos.

As a competitor, Tom was and remains a champion of bottle and tin routines. Pushing bartenders to find original moves and exciting routines whilst creating high-quality drinks. He has also created his own range of pour-spouts in collaboration with Beaumont that help bartenders improve accuracy in measuring ingredients.

Over the last 20+ years, we have seen the art of mixing drinks divide into those who focus on the ingredients (mixologists) and those who focus on the show (flair) and now we can see those different views meshing back together which is really exciting. Many things change in the world of hospitality, new places, new products, new trends, techniques, tricks, tools and of course the people. Our family is small but close and we often bump into old friends in new roles with different brands but with the same enthusiasm, passion and a big smile on their face. Indeed Tom will be heading off to explore new waters in 2019 and we wanted to wish him all the best for the future and say a big thank you from all of us here at the WFA. Thank you for getting into bartending in the first place, for taking up flair, for your passion, dedication and for your routines – some of which will be forever in our memories. For the energy and time you have contributed – not just to the WFA but to the wider bartending community.