The highly regarded PATRÓN Perfectionists Cocktail Competition has announced its top 30 Australian finalists.

For the first time ever, consumers can vote online.

Entries into the 2021 competition closed at midnight on the 31st May and received 138 entries from New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland.

PATRÓN Perfectionists called upon mixologists from 20 countries across five continents to submit a cocktail recipe that reflects their journey to find perfection behind the bar.

After careful assessment of each entry against the competition criteria of: flavour, appearance, inspiring and engaging, and originality, the Top 30 finalists have been given the green light to move onto the consumer voting stage of the competition, which will see the Top 10 announced on the 23rd July.

“This year’s competition entries have shown some of the strongest entries we’ve seen to-date. The tremulous year that has been has fueled creativity and innovation that is truly outstanding. It really re-affirms what an impressive hospitality scene we have here in Australia,” Bacardi-Martini Australia Brand Ambassador and 2017 PATRÓN Perfectionist finalist, Joseph Chisholm says.

People will be able to experience contender’s cocktails first-hand with creations available in the Australian Top 30 bars from the 24th June, and then have just under one month to cast their votes with consumer voting finishing up at 10am AEST Friday 23rd of July (11.59pm GMT 22nd July).

QR codes on menus in bars will make consumer voting easy, allowing cocktail enthusiasts to have their say.

For those unable to get out and trial the masterful creations across Australia, they can get creative at home with recipes from patronperfectionists.com.

“This is an incredibly exciting year for the PATRÓN Perfectionists competition and I’m glad that we’ve been able to adapt with this new format. Consumers have a great appreciation for cocktail making and this offers them a new way to get involved and show their appreciation and support for great cocktails. To give consumers a chance to vote for their local Top 30 is another first for us and we can’t wait to see which cocktails and bartenders have resonated at home,” Matt Sykes, Global Commercial Execution for PATRÓN and founder of the PATRÓN Perfectionists Cocktail Competition says.

The Top 10 mixologists per country will then take part in a national final, judged by a panel of four global experts.

The Australian winner will be flown to Jalisco, Mexico in January 2022 to compete against the other national finalists in the global final at Hacienda PATRÓN with one talented bartender being named PATRÓN Perfectionist 2021.