Guinness Perfect Pour Crowns the 2022 Champion Bartender

On October 20, 2022, the Guinness Perfect Pour grand finale was celebrated by Heineken Malaysia Berhad’s (HEINEKEN Malaysia) Star Academy at Makhan by Kitchen Mafia. The Guinness Perfect Pour programme successfully trained bartenders nationwide from August to October 2022 to uphold the standards of serving Guinness while looking for the top Guinness bartender. Following completion, the celebration event gathered Malaysia’s top bartenders for an awards presentation to name the 2022 winner. The top Guinness bartender in the country this year is Richard Jugie of The Sarawak Club, who also won an all-expenses-paid trip to Dublin, Ireland, the Home of Guinness.

The Guinness Perfect Pour programme, which was introduced in 2017, aims to raise service standards in the food and beverage industry by training bartenders across the country on how to maintain the Guinness serving standard. This year, the Guinness Perfect Pour training programme included 670 bartenders from 233 bar locations and was held in six states in Peninsular and East Malaysia. Participants who excelled during the training had the opportunity to be named the nation’s finest Guinness bartender. In addition to taking a written and practical exam, participants of the programme were rated on their product knowledge and bartending abilities. After the competition was over, the two Kuala Lumpur finalists and the finalist from each of the following: Sabah, Sarawak, Johor, Penang, and Ipoh joined the award ceremony at the grand finale celebration.

“We at HEINEKEN Malaysia take pride in the distinct taste of our premium brands. Our commitment to serving the best quality beer goes beyond the brewery, as we believe that bartenders too play an important role in ensuring that our consumers get to enjoy their favourite beers. Therefore, we introduced training programmes such as the Guinness Perfect Pour to ensure that consumers in Malaysia can enjoy the perfect taste of Guinness, just as it was intended. After bracing two years of a challenging pandemic, I am pleased to gather physically once again with the best Guinness bartenders across Malaysia and witness the emergence of this year’s champion bartender.”

Roland Bala, Managing Director of HEINEKEN Malaysia

Richard Jugie of The Sarawak Club was named the Malaysian Guinness Perfect Pour 2022 champion during the grand finale, and Denise Ang of Souliquid Puchong was named the first runner-up. Both victors have mastered the perfect pour and will soon depart on an expense-paid trip to the home of Guinness, where Irish brewer Arthur Guinness began producing the celebrated stout more than 250 years ago.

“I am extremely grateful to be part of this year’s Guinness Perfect Pour where I got the opportunity to hone my skills and master the perfect pour. It is indeed a unique experience as I’ve got to train alongside my fellow bartenders where we challenged ourselves in serving and delivering Guinness’ distinctive taste.”

Richard Jugie, bartender at The Sarawak Club and Guinness Perfect Pour 2022 champion

“We want to ensure that our premium brands are served at the highest quality. Hence, through our annual Guinness Perfect Pour training programme, we work alongside our partner outlets to serve and showcase our Guinness beer – as the work of art it is. We are very impressed with this year’s participants as 670 passionate bartenders strived to master the perfect Guinness pour and served only the very best to consumers. By maintaining excellence through proper bar training, it is a promise to all our fans, that across Malaysia, everyone can enjoy a perfectly poured glass of the World’s No. 1 stout.”

Vasily Baranov, Sales Director of HEINEKEN Malaysia

The Guinness Perfect Pour is a special six-step process that demonstrates how to produce the ideal Guinness flavour, aroma, and appearance. During the celebration event, attendees also had the opportunity to participate in their very own little perfect pour challenge. The contest was fierce as participants gave it their all to beat the high score and take home exclusive Guinness premiums. Ruby and I (who attended the Kuala Lumpur Perfect Pour training a couple of months back) remembered our training and managed to score 9/10 each and thus won ourselves some collectible Guinness glasses!

For more information on HEINEKEN Malaysia’s Star Academy programmes, head over to www.star-academy.heinekenmalaysia.com

Photo credits: Heineken Malaysia and author’s own

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