Altos Tequila challenges bartenders to share their sustainable ideas

World renowned bar tender and international brand ambassador Simon Kirstenfeger in his element behind the bar at The Living Room, Maboneng.

“It’s not just about winning money. It’s about the ‘collective’ – making better, more sustainable bar culture together,” says Chris Meissner, South African brand ambassador for Altos at Pernod Ricard.

Instead of coming up with a theme for yet another cocktail competition, The Tahona Society by Altos Tequila is inviting bartenders from around the world to come up with an idea that will benefit bar staff, customers, the community, and the environment. The challenge is to design and enact a project big or small for better sustainable bar practices, local community interaction, and bar staff wellbeing.

Altos will back the best of those ideas with $50,000 (R660,000) in funding, training, publicity, and marketing support, to take the beneficial activity of one bar and roll it out across the world. South Africa is one of several countries entering the competition, amongst others like Japan, Poland, Italy, the UK, and Mexico.

The winning concept needs to be based on five key pillars:

• Bartender welfare: improving the working life and health of bar staff.
• Social engagement: improving lives in the community, encouraging local creativity, supporting local producers.
• Upcycling and recycling: reusing anything that would normally be thrown away or abandoned.
• Resources and waste: reducing consumption of energy and resources, or cutting down on trash.
• Environment: protecting animals and the land through ethical farming.

Ten finalists from around the world will be selected before the final winner is announced later in the year. The global winner will get $50,000 to finalise and roll out their project and become a global Tahona Society and Altos brand ambassador for a year.

Bartenders have until 17 August 2018 to submit their entries.

For more information and to understand how to enter, click here.