Smooth Italian all mixed up

THE SECOND Campari Academy Final 2015 competition drew to a close last Thursday with Supharat Thongmeesuk walking away with the winner’s title, a fat cash prize and a year’s contract as Campari’s bartender.
Wine & Spirit (Thailand), importer and distributor of the Italian aperitif in Thailand, is determined to make the world a better place, one Campari at a time, through its Campari Academy, an annual campaign to educate bartenders in Thailand about the versatility of the tipple in mixology. Like last year, the final competition was preceded by a two-day training session at The Continent Hotel Bangkok for all interested bartenders.
The free class, titled “Classic Cocktails Excellence”, was supervised by veteran local mixologists as well as Oliver Stuart, Campari National Brand Ambassador and ST Gan, managing director of Independent Wine & Spirit (Thailand). Its objective was to disseminate and improve the professionalism in bartending, and to raise the degree of creativity and the value of the profession as a whole.
The highlight of the event was the Campari Academy Final Competition 2015 at The Metropolitan Bangkok’s Met Bar, where four of the 100 bartenders attending the training were selected to compete for the title of 2015 Campari Academy Best Bartender. In a casual party atmosphere, all four were required to make Campari classic cocktails to impress the judges, and at the end of the night, Supharat was crowned the winner for 2015. He received a Bt10,000 cash prize and will serve as Campari’s bartender for a whole year.
Simple yet historic classic Campari cocktails made during the final event included Americano, the famous Campari cocktail first served at a bar in the 1860s in Milan when it was still known Milano-Torino. The cocktail itself has ingredients representing two cities -- Campari from Milan and Cinzano Rosso vermouth from Turin. Take one part each and top up with soda, and you’ll get an Americano. Legend has it that the cocktail was named after the American tourists who developed a liking for the drink during Prohibition.
Another classic concoction is Campari Spritz, where Italian spirit is folded with two parts Campari and three parts Prosecco. Top with soda, garnish with a slice of orange and enjoy it with lots of ice in a wine glass.
And of course, there’s the Negroni. This origins of this simple cocktail made from equal parts of Campari, gin and Cinzano Rosso vermouth are somewhat blurry but the most popular story is that it is named after Count Camillo Negroni from Florence who, in 1919, asked a bartender at Caffe Casoni (now called Caffe Cavalli) to strengthen his Americano by adding gin rather than soda water. The bartender also added an orange garnish instead of the typical lemon garnish of the Americano to signify that it was a different drink. And so the drink became a Negroni.
Campari was the result of Gaspare Campari’s experiments 150 years ago in concocting new beverages and is still produced today with the same ingredients and following a recipe that remains a secret known only to the very few people in charge of the production process. Campari is the infusion of herbs, aromatic plants and fruit with alcohol and water and the last two are the recipe’s only known ingredients. Many have guessed at the number of ingredients. Some say there are 20 or 60, but others list the ingredients at 80. Over time, appreciation and respect has grown for this historic and unique brand, which is now recognised and appreciated worldwide.