The biggest flair bartending event of the year is only days away! Every competition, every practice session, every new move, all those blood, sweat and tears were all for this – the Roadhouse Grand Finals. Taking place at one of London’s longest serving and most prestigious cocktail bars, The Roadhouse in Covent Garden, the Roadhouse Grand Final 2019 is shaping up to be another good one!
Now in its 19th year at the Roadhouse, this competition has a lot of history and every year brings something different. As some of you may have already seen, there is a new format this year, which includes new rounds and new rules – if you missed the blog then you can check it out here.
The prizes this year are as follows. A prize pool of £10,000 will be shared between the top 6 places as well as coveted WFA Black and Purple Grades – which are only awarded for placing in the Top 6 of the most challenging bartending competitions. The WFA Grand Slams.
Keep an eye out for the Roadhouse Tandem World Final too, which will be taking place on Sunday 24th November, before the individual finals. Our current World Champions, Bar Story Show, will be battling it out with Nice Bar Show and Bar Levels for a tasty £1000 and the title of WFA Tandem World Champions.
The Competitors
For all you flair bartending fans out there, here is what you want to know. Who made the cut this year and what can you expect to see. Well, once again, we have a star-studded list of flair bartending heavyweights as well as a few new names that could cause quite an upset. We love a bit of drama…
Here is your full list of 31 confirmed competitors:
- Dennis Trifanovs (2018 WFA Grand Slam World Champion)
- Michael Moreni
- Flavius Lupu (WFA Purple Grade)
- Oliver Deak (WFA Black Grade)
- Bryan Levato
- Roman Zapata (WFA Black Grade)
- Vlad Toma
- Ivan Atanasov
- Sikky (WFA Purple Grade)
- Maxi Diole
- Riky Bin
- Jean-Marc Pothier
- Remy Brault
- Marek Posluszny (WFA Gold Grade)
- Tony Mallin
- Olya Sabanina (2018 WFA Tandem World Champion)
- Ivan Usov (WFA Black Grade & 2018 WFA Tandem World Champion)
- Nikolay Zhuravlev
- Sam Vyakhirev
- Ravi Camadoo (WFA Purple Grade)
- Mattia Giromel
- Robert Gilks
- Daniela Istrate
- Silvia Lena
- Adri De Lucia
- Paolo Chiari
- Paolo Borghesi
- Alexander Shtifanov (WFA Gold Grade)
- Yu Ping-Hsiang [Eric Yu]
- Szymon Hebel
- Miyuki Kamimura
The small and intimate stage of the Roadhouse, with the crowd mere centimetres away presents a challenge for the flair bartenders that they do not experience anywhere else. It is great for the audience who get that up close and personal feel with the flair bartenders, not missing a single flick or stall. On the other side of the coin, it can present a lot of pressure for the flair bartenders themselves, albeit that the top flair bartenders are able to deal with this sort of pressure.
The unique make up of this London venue introduces a level of adversity for the competitors that can only be superseded by their immense concentration and pure brilliance. As a result, The Roadhouse is seen to be the place where some of the most daring and complicated moves are attempted. Many of the competitors save these moves for the Roadhouse stage. So if you appreciate flair and you haven’t got your ticket yet, then what on earth are you doing!?
Where can I get tickets?
Our Early Bird tickets are sold out, however, there are still a few tickets remaining so get them while you can!
Here is the link: https://www.designmynight.com/london/bars/covent-garden/roadhouse-bar-and-restaurant/roadhouse-flair-grand-final-2019
See you at the Roadhouse.