The cocktail: Cuban Soil (Havana Cocktail Gran Prix 2016 winner)

Created by: Stefano Zerafa. Where to drink it: Haywharf Clubhouse, Floriana and Black Pearl Pub, Ta’Xbiex.

Crowned Maltese Bartender of the Year 2016, Stefano has been mixing cocktails since the age of 15. He has now clocked 23 years of experience behind the bar of numerous hotels and cocktail bars around the island. He created Cuban Soil for the Havana Cocktail Gran Prix, which took him to Cuba to represent Malta in the international competition. The cocktail consists of Havana 7Anos, homemade infused syrup made with anisette stars and citrus, coffee bitters and ginger beer. Stefano says he loves the aftertaste of herbs blended with spices in this cocktail, but admits his favourite drink is a Negroni. 

The cocktails: Antoberry (2017 National Cocktail Competition Classic category winner) & Oriental Times (2018 National Cocktail Competition Flair category winner)

Created by: Tisho Mihaylov. Where to drink them: Chalice Bar & Lounge, St Julian's. 

Tisho has created two award-winning cocktails, and has represented Malta at the World Cocktail Competition. Originally from Bulgaria, he has been crowned Bulgarian National Champion no fewer than nine times and placed third in the world championships in Warsaw in 2015. He has been living in Malta for the past three and a half years and is also an instructor at the Maltese Bartending Academy. He says the best part of his job is serving people something off the menu: “I’ve had people telling me I’ve read their minds with a special drink created just for them.” Antoberry cocktail was named after Tisho’s one-year old son, and consists of aged spiced rum, butterscotch syrup, wild strawberry liqueur, acai berry juice, lemon peels and mango lemonade. Oriental Times is an exotic mix of spiced rum, Chinese lychee liqueur, pandan leaves extract, bubble gum syrup, vanilla kombucha aroma and fresh lemon juice. 

The cocktail: The Back Alley (Campari National Cocktail Competition 2016 winner)

Created by: Zdravko Mitev. Where to drink it: Nori ,The Villa, Le Meridien St Julian's (opening in July).

Originally from Varna in Bulgaria, 30-year-old Zdravko has been “in love with bartending” for seven years, and since moving to Malta, he has also won the 2018 Drambuie Cocktail Competition. Zdravko says that the best thing about being on the other side of the bar is the chance to be creative “and to put a part of you inside the glass.” The Back Alley is a twist on the classic cocktail The Boulevardier, and consists of Glen Grant 10 y.o. single malt whiskey, Campari Bitter, Ruby Port, Tio Pepe dry sherry, homemade cinnamon and chilli honey syrup, chocolate bitters and grapefruit espuma. “What inspired me to create this drink is what inspires me to create any drink: the opportunity to create a liquid form of art,” reveals Zdravko. But for him, his personal favourite drink is, quite simply, “the well prepared and presented one!”

The cocktail: Kinko (National Hendricks Gin Cocktail Competition 2018 winner)

Created by: Daniele Orazio Russo. Where to drink it: made on request at The Villa, Le Meridien St Julian's.

Hailing from Italy, Daniele sees bartending as a “special form of art” that is forever being updated through research, personal imagination and the fantasy of the “artists” who create these cocktails. Kinko, which means equilibrium in Japanese, was inspired by Feng Shui, which to Daniele reflects the art of bartending “as we always try to find a sort of balance between the ingredients to come up with the perfect mixed drink.” Daniele’s cocktail is based on an equilibrium of the five elements blended together in perfect harmony “for peace of mind and soul”. It is made up of Hendricks Gin, ginger and basil infused sake mizuwari, simple syrup, fresh lemon juice and muddled lemon grass and is served with a golden beetroot amuse bouche filled with wasabi caviar.

The cocktail: What?? (National Drambuie Cocktail Competition 2017 winner)

Created by: Panos Foteiadis. Where to drink it: MedAsia Cocktail Bar, St Julian's.

Greece-born Panos has been a bartender for the past 14 years, and has been working in Malta for the last two years. He believes the best thing about his job is the interaction with people. Panos admits his winning cocktail was inspired by a joke as he imagined an odd conversation between a bartender and his guest. Bartender: “What are you having tonight?” Guest: “What??” Bartender: “I asked, what are you having tonight?” And so on… The cocktail is a mix of Drambuie, Monkey Shoulder whiskey, reduction of red wine, fresh thyme, fresh ginger and a touch of citrus. “My target was something elegant with a touch of classic, but easy to enjoy at any place and at any given point in time during the day.”

The cocktail: The Maltese Falcon (Malta National Cocktail winner)

Created by: James Aquilina. Where to drink it: local bars.

And last, but most definitely not least, don't leave the island without tasting our national cocktail. Yes, we have one! It was created by multi-award winner James Aquilina, who has been a bartender and mixologist for 30 years and crowned Maltese bartender of the year eight times. He created this cocktail in 2017 during a national competition. The cocktail features Malta’s favourite soft drink Kinnie, as well as a liqueur and syrup made from prickly pears which grow wild in the countryside. Other ingredients including vodka, fresh orange juice and ice, and it’s served garnished with caramelised orange and fresh mint leaves. “Crafting cocktails and the actual craft of cocktails have always been my world,” says James.