Giulia Cuccurullo (The Artesian, London)
How did you feel when you were announced as the winner?
Incredible – it took me a minute to realise that they had announced my name! I knew that I had done well, but so did the rest of the top seven. It’s been a long journey and when I won, so many feelings came up at once.
What was the toughest part of the global finals?
The toughest part for everybody is respect the timing – 8 minutes in this case. The emotions of the global final are different from the other heats. Everything is more intense and you want to make it right – for you and for everybody supporting you. You know your speech and your drink, but the emotions are so much more intense making it easy to forget something or go over time.
You want to be sure that you are happy with what you did but after that, it’s all up to the judges. You just don’t want to have any regrets.
Tell us about your winning drink The Bridge and the inspiration behind it.
I started with the name. The Bridge represents connections, and we make connections with people to understand one another. To make these connections you need to talk about yourself and share your story, so my drink is my story: the connection between the place I am from (Naples, Italy), the place where I live (London) and Mexico, where Patrón is made. I used classic ingredients from these three places – Patrón Silver, tomatoes and rhubarb – and they speak to each other inside the glass.
Recipe (Click to view)
The Bridge by Guilia Cuccurullo
What was one of your favourite moments in Mexico?
Everything we did was amazing, from visiting Guadalajara, to staying at La Casona, to visiting the Hacienda Patrón. The food, culture, colours and music of Mexico is just magic. I also loved that we got to plant our own agave and put name tags on them. I believe it made that field even more special for all of us.
What did you learn on your visit to Patrón’s distillery?
I learned that there is always more going on behind the scenes that you realise. Being there and seeing how they make the tequila and seeing all the people involved in the process made it more special – you don’t normally think about this when you pour a spirit in your bar on the other side of the world. You can read as much as you want about something, but you have to see it to truly understand it.
It was great to see how much Patrón does for the environment, such as recycling the water and the agave fibres, and the vegetable garden that they maintain using compost. It’s just so thoughtful and should be a model for everybody else.
What do you predict the year ahead holds for you?
I honestly have no idea but I think it’s going to be busy, and there will be lots of Patrón of course!
