Pinoy bartending champ to compete against 5 others in regional tilt

MANILA, Philippines - Six champions from six countries will battle it out on Sept. 10 in TGIFriday's Asia-Pacific Bartender Championship in Bonifacio High Street.

Bartending champs Matt Ambler from Australia, Yogesh Adav from India, Daniel Lee from South Korea, Koki Yokoyama from Japan, Wang Zhai from China and the Philippines’ GenRev 'The Revolution' Bacasno will compete against each other in the regional tilt, whose winner will proceed to TGIFriday's World Bartender Championship.

“We are honored and happy that the Philippines was chosen by TGFriday’s International to host yet again this much-celebrated event. And we want to make sure that the competition will give everyone— bartenders, judges, guests and friends of Friday’s- an awesome experience,” Guia Abuel, TGIFriday’s vice president for operations said.

Bacasno, who will represent the Philippines, comes from TGIFriday's Tomas Morato and has been declared TGIFriday's Philippines's Best Bartender twice, winning the inter-branch competition for two straight years.

He also represented the Philippines in the Asian Bartending Competition in Melbourne, Australia, where he was second runner-up.

The restaurant chain's bartending competition has so far produced Filipino bartender greats such as Matthew Burgos and Eric Martines, who both represented the Philippines in the world championships in Las Vegas, United States. Burgos won first runner-up in 2007 while Martinez was declared champion in 2007. Ram Ong, meanwhile, represented the Philippines and Asia pacific in 2009 and won second place in the 2009 world championships in Carrollton, Texas. He was also second runner-up in last year's international competition in the US.