The Best Cocktail of the World at the Mattoni Grand Drink in Prague Was Appreciated Even by the Celebrities

Prague hosted the Mattoni Grand Drink, the oldest and most prestigious world competition of professional bartenders in preparation of non-alcoholic cocktails, for the second time during the first weekend of October. The Czech capital is becoming a traditional scene for the competition of the best bartenders of the world. The competition organizers selected Prague over Budapest, Krakow, Riga or Berlin where the previous competitions took place.

The best non-alcoholic cocktail of the world for the coming year bears the name of Strawberry Mattoni Forever. The drink which has maintained a minimum content of calories in spite of its pronounced taste was indicated as the winner of this year’s competition Mattoni Grand Drink 2009 by the jury comprising of the presidents of the national bartenders associations. Miro Petrevcic from Slovenia therefore received a cheque for 10,000 USD, with his “home” bartenders’ association receiving another 5,000 USD. The last year’s winner, Vasil Kolev from Bulgaria, was second, and Mr. Nicolas Everrard from Belgium third.

The sweet taste of the winning strawberry cocktail, with a well-balanced content of minerals as a bonus, was appreciated by the stars as well during the gala announcement of the results at the Prague Castle. The cocktail was enjoyed by the singer Karel Gott, the model Simona Krainová, as well as Ester Janeèková, Ladislav Špaèek or one of the top Czech actresses, Tatiana Vilhelmová.

Thirty professional bartenders from the whole world took part in the world finals of the Mattoni Grand Drink, including the representatives of the European bartenders’ “powers” of Italy and Great Britain, as well as the “ambassadors” of the exotic Armenia or Brazil.

“The Mattoni mineral water is the water of choice of the world bartenders and the IBA-International Bartenders Association, thus increasing its global popularity. We are very proud of that. We also see that the latest trends in drink mixing match the philosophy of the Mattoni brand exactly, i.e. the healthy lifestyle. Besides, the popularity of non-alcoholic cocktails has been growing even in the time of economic crisis,” said Alessandro Pasquale, the managing director of the Karlovarské minerální vody company, during the gala announcement of the competition results.

The competition was preceded by a very successful cocktail night dedicated to all lovers of “fun with a clear head”. After the last year’s extremely successful first Mattoni Grand Night the event spread outside of Prague as well. 26 selected bars from the whole Czech Republic participated in it, preparing the premieres of their own original cocktails for this event. “The danger that “the Mattoni would run out” was quite real last year, but we made it all right in the end. The specialist jury said that the recipes were of the absolute top world quality this year so we witnessed a qualitative progress again,” smiled Alessandro Pasquale.

The representatives of the bars were sent to compete in the Prague club SaSaZu, creating a great atmosphere by their refreshing competition cocktails along with the American DJ Robbie Riviera, the author of dozens of remixes for Faithless, Madonna and Bob Sinclair. And the dancers really needed the refreshment. The most prominent Czech celebrities with Simona Krainová, Zuzana Belohorcová, Svìtlana Zárubová, Iva Frulingová, Gabriela Partyšová and the current Miss of the Czech Republic Zuzana Jandová in the lead were having a great time along with the bartenders and other participants.

The well-earned victory in the Mattoni Grand Bar went to the Pardubice bar Patapuf with their Sensation Patapuf drink made of pink grapefruit and Mattoni, according to the verdict of the careful jury members from the Czech Bartenders Association. The greatest number of the public votes went to the Mattoni Grand Bar drink Easy Mattoni Breeze from the Prague bar Postel.

The best drink of the world, the Mattoni Grand Drink 2009 winner

Ingredients of the Strawberry Mattoni Forever recipe:
10cl Mattoni mineral water
5cl strawberry purée
2cl chestnut syrup
5cl pineapple juice
2cl lime juice