Taiwan Today

In November 2007, the International Bartenders Association (IBA) Congress was held at the Ambassador Hotel in the southern port city of Kaohsiung, the second largest city in Taiwan. At the same time, the World Cocktail and Flairtending Competitions were held alongside the IBA's annual meeting at the Kaohsiung City Cultural Center. It was the first time that Taiwan has hosted such prestigious IBA world events. The association was established in 1951 at Torquay in the United Kingdom with founding members from Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Today, the world body has 52 member states, including Taiwan, and has arranged annual competitions for more than 30 years. Among other things, the IBA seeks to standardize cocktail recipes and promote education about cocktail culture and cocktail making.

The Bartenders Association of Taiwan (BAT) was formed in 1994 and joined the IBA the following year. In a country that consumes a lot of alcoholic drinks, but with a strong fondness for traditional Chinese liquors and international brands of brandy and whisky, BAT seeks to promote the somewhat alien culture of cocktail making and tasting. "Cocktail drinking has a strong, subtle tradition and draws on a wide, diverse background," says Hsieh Mei-mei, BAT president and chief organizer of the IBA events in Kaohsiung. She believes that developing local expertise in cocktail making could add significant vigor and creativity to the beverage sector of Taiwan's hospitality industry, which is seen as playing a major part in Taiwan's future development.

One of BAT's first goals was to foster bartender professionalism. It does this by recognizing both experienced bartenders and newcomers in an annual national event called the Golden Cup Cocktail Competition, which has grown to include international contestants and even child participants--mixing nonalcoholic drinks--in recent years. In 2002, a special division in the competition was created for drinks using only Taiwanese ingredients. In addition, Taiwan's representatives for the major international cocktail competitions are selected from among the Golden Cup prizewinners.

Cocktail King and Queen

BAT's efforts to win international recognition for Taiwan's relatively new mixed-drinks sector have paid off in world contests since the early 2000s. Among those showcasing their bartending skills at a media conference to commence the 2007 IBA events in Kaohsiung was 18-year-old Syu Bo-sheng. Sporting his usual red-and-blue Spiderman outfit, Syu made his appearance after having recently won the flairtending division of the 2007 Asia Pacific Bartender of the Year Cocktail Competition in Singapore, making it the fifth consecutive year the title has gone to a Taiwanese contestant. A few days later, Syu secured third place in the IBA's flairtending world title event.

Another performer appearing at the media conference was 21-year-old Kung Hui-chun, who was crowned the 2006 cocktail world champion at the IBA's competition held in Thessaloniki, Greece. Kung won the event with a concoction called the "Cool Sweetheart," since dubbed the "Taiwan Sweetheart" in local bars. The drink mixed Amade Chocolate Orange liqueur--assigned by drawing lots before the competition--with Bacardi rum, Monin Mojito mint syrup, orange juice and fresh lemon juice. It is garnished with a slice of lemon, a cocktail cherry and mint leaves. "Cutting and preparing fruits are also a part of cocktail making," Kung says. Her work has since entered the IBA's official repertoire of cocktail recipes.

The uniqueness of a local product can also play a crucial role in recipes. "An ordinary Taiwanese brand of bottled orange juice can produce a taste that is a pleasant surprise for foreigners," BAT's Hsieh says.

Kung was the first Asian to win the world title since a Japanese entrant won top honors more than 30 years ago. Bartenders from Europe and the United States--countries with lengthy, strong traditions of mixing cocktails--had previously dominated the events. "Taiwanese people have a taste for sweetness," Kung says. "Perhaps our concoctions have been too sweet until now."

At first, Taiwanese competitors started to garner fame through their flairtending performances, a relatively new field of recognized bartending skill. Whereas the time-honored cocktail tradition focuses on the taste, color and fragrance of a drink as well as how it goes with the glass, flairtending largely aims to produce a dramatic performance complete with music and costuming. Flairtenders fling bottles and glasses and catch them with their hands, on their foreheads, elbows or even in their mouths. "Some people regard flairtending as clown tricks," Hsieh says. "Actually it's a form of performance art that combines various entertainment elements." The 2007 Asia Pacific champion Syu says he designs and develops his own performances. Commonly known as "Spider," he is known to climb up high on the bottle shelves to reach for the various ingredients for his drinks as part of his show.

Kung's world title represents a major breakthrough for Taiwan in the traditional field of cocktail mixing, and one in which Taiwanese bartenders add a new dimension. "In past competitions, participants kept themselves busy with nothing but mixing the drinks," BAT president Hsieh says. "Our young contestants like Kung manage to mix the cocktails smoothly while looking graceful and confident and maintaining a sweet expression." Now bartenders from other countries also pay considerable attention to their general posture and stage presence in cocktail competitions. To some extent, this is also a result of the influence of flairtending.

Still, Kung says that the taste and quality of the cocktail are the core elements of this longstanding tradition.

Story in the Drink

Hsieh, who teaches at Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science in Tainan County, says that Taiwan's cocktail field has yet to exploit the full background of the drinks, which, if developed, could combine with the emerging technical expertise to build a sustainable tradition. For one thing, "we must learn to be storytellers for the cocktails we make, such as the world champion Taiwan Sweetheart," she says. A Manhattan, the king of cocktails, is not just a mixture of whisky, sweet vermouth and bitters, a Bloody Mary is not just vodka and tomato juice and a Martini not only a blend of gin and dry vermouth, she says. "They have their own contents, characteristics and historical connotations," Hsieh says. "Their intriguing stories are ready to be told and enjoyed."

Now, education about these traditional and other, newer cocktails has seen increasing circulation in related university departments and student clubs. Cocktail-making and flairtending are emerging to complement Chinese cuisine in the food and beverage management sector. Ongoing educational reform has produced a more liberal educational environment in Taiwan, and government policies to promote pluralistic learning are shifting toward the cultivation and recognition of a greater range of capabilities outside traditional academic fields. Cocktail making also provides a useful alternative for vocational training for those who are physically or mentally challenged. BAT is happy to have been involved in a number of educational and training programs--for people with eyesight or hearing problems, for example--either as part of a government-sponsored program or just for charity purposes.

Thirst for Knowledge

Against this more diverse and dynamic scene in schools, cocktail experts such as BAT president Hsieh and Tom Kuo, a former BAT president and current IBA vice president in the Far Eastern division, are in high demand. Hsieh and Kuo--who was also the chief creative mind behind Kung Hui-chun's Taiwan Sweetheart cocktail--owe their teaching positions in part to their roles in the promotion and refinement of the cocktail sector.

Kung, currently a student in the Department of Tourism Management at Chia Nan, says she plans to pursue graduate studies in leisure culture and business after graduation and then find a teaching position. Recognizing Kung's world title, her school has already offered to reserve a place for her. In the past, however, academic diplomas were first and foremost among the qualifications for a would-be teacher.

Kung's schoolmate from senior high school, "Spider" Syu Bo-sheng, has also set his sights on a teaching career. Syu is currently a student at Tajen University's Department of Restaurant and Hotel Management in Pingtung County, where Kuo is an associate professor.

For those who want to stay in the business sector, cocktails and other varieties of beverages also offer good prospects. "While food and beverages are always served together, beverages have a greater business potential," Hsieh says. "A bartender can begin by working in a tea shop, cafe or pub and then try to create his or her own business by opening a restaurant, or as a vendor of food or tableware on the basis of this accumulated experience of dealing with food and beverages."

For the time being, however, the pursuit of cocktail skills is not always considered a long-term or profitable career, especially by a learner's parents. "They might think that a bartender is almost equal to a juggler or fire blower," Hsieh says. "Actually, bartenders can be highly esteemed professionals in foreign countries." Therefore, one of BAT's missions is to promote bartending as a respected job through licensing efforts. The organization has worked with the Cabinet-level Council of Labor Affairs to create a bartender licensing system, which was launched in 2001. That system is now being considered for expansion to include the whole beverage field including coffee, tea and juice. While such a license is not always a job requirement, it represents a basic level of proficiency that many hospitality students are eager to attain.

Connecting to the World

Moreover, BAT is working to connect domestic and international licensing systems through the standardization of examinations so that a license obtained in Taiwan would be valid around the world. In the meantime, Kuo suggests that Taiwanese bartenders should improve their English language abilities to build a stronger presence in the international cocktail community.

Hsieh says that the government should allocate more resources to the development of the cocktail or beverage industry in general. She believes this investment would be money well spent because it would help boost the service and tourism industries. In the past decade, BAT and its training programs--as well as the events it has organized--have received considerable assistance from the Kaohsiung City Government. Among other things, the city's Bureau of Cultural Affairs allows BAT members to practice juggling bottles--not welcomed in most parks and other public spaces due to safety concerns--on a piece of land under the jurisdiction of the city cultural center. In a sense, the world cocktail meeting organized by BAT and held toward the end of last year was a toast of gratitude to the city government and a way to expand Taiwan's international presence.

Write to Pat Gao at pat@mail.gio.gov.tw