The Bar Journal

GLO-CAL EDITION: ‘Think globally, Act locally’

The award-winning modern Italian Aperitivo ITALICUS – Rosolio di Bergamotto announced the ten global finalists of AOI 2020, Aperitivo Challenge GLO-CAL EDITION. 

The Art of Italicus (AOI), Aperitivo Challenge was born in 2018 as a bartenders’ competition to honour art’s liquid expressions: cocktails. The AOI 2020 GLO-CAL Edition initiative was launched to support both bars and bartenders in the bartending community at a time when the hospitality industry is deeply affected.

Inspired by the concept of thinking ‘global’, but with ‘local’ ingredients, the Aperitivo Challenge has run across 10 international cities and with 80 bars participating: each bartender was tasked to create an ITALICUS Aperitivo cocktail inspired by their city or region. After careful selection, the ten finalists were chosen based on the creativity and originality behind their drink, the taste of their cocktail, and how they chose to promote their drink.

Congratulations to all ten international winners who inspired us with their aperitivo creations and to all the participants who shared their creativity and experience with the international bartending community. Meet the Art of ITALICUS 2020 Best Bar Artists:

Gianluca Capilungo: “OLE’. London, AQUA SPIRITS

Antonello Iacca: “GIN-Zilla”. New York, ULIVO

Alejandro Sanchez: “THE SECRET GARDEN”. PORTOSOLE, Miami.

Adam Rains: “DIANA ROSS”. Las Vegas, THE GOLDEN TIKI

Riccardo Rossi: “GRAPE TIME”. Rome, FRENI E FRIZIONI

Giacomo Giannotti: “OLIMPO”. Barcelona, PARADISO

Angelica Baldan: “DE MERENDA ITALICA”. Milan, CA.RI.CO

Thomas Aurelien: “JACQUES’S SECRET GARDEN”. Paris, THE HOXTON– JACQUES BAR

Eleni Mpousouli: “BLANCO DE VERANO”. Athens, NOAH

Hannah Oscarsson : “LA BRIOSA”. Stockholm, CADIER BAR

The ten finalists have been given the opportunity to showcase their craft with an experiential video created in collaboration with ITALICUS: it will be published online globally, helping to build international recognition for the bartenders and their bars. ITALICUS has also teamed up with Difford’s Guide to create a series of exclusive ‘city guides’, which allow cocktail lovers to go on a self-guided Aperitivo tour of each city involved. Take a look at the guides here.

“Despite the time we are living in, it has been wonderful to see how our industry never stops and moreover, how many talented ‘bar artists’ there are out there, willing to fight back,” said Giuseppe Gallo, ITALICUS Founder. “A special shout-out also goes to the many young bartenders who only joined the industry recently, or in the last few years, and now during this difficult time, they have had to pivot and learn quickly how to innovate themselves to adapt to the circumstances. We feel proud to work with so many talents all around the world and want to thank all of the bartenders, bars, brand ambassadors, and people involved in this project for having inspired and connected with each other”.

Bravi & Salute!