Tio Pepe Challenge Belgian Finals 2022

How much did we miss this? For over two years, due to the corona-pandemic, there were just a few online cocktail competitions, leaving not much excitement for the audience. Finally, this week we attended our first live competition, the Belgian Finals of the Tio Pepe Challenge. 

Bartenders could enter their cocktail recipe for a first selection. The finalists were invited to compete at the Belgian Finals, hosted by Cinoco Spirits Headquarters in Nivelles. 

The judges for this edition: Boris Ivan (Gonzalez Byass), Stephan De Bolle (Cinoco) and Matthias Soberon (Cocktail- and spiritsblogger, last year’s winner of the competition)

The Tio Pepe Challenge is not your ordinary cocktail competition, because it has three rounds of testing the finalists for different skills: 

Round 1 – Blind Tasting (20pts, 5 pts for each sherry which is correct)

The finalists need to identify 4 Gonzalez Byass sherry’s in a blind tasting. 

Round 2 – Venencia skills (10pts for flair,10 pts for the amount of liquid in the glass)

The finalists need to show their talent for handling the venencia, a traditional tool that is used to sample sherry from the casks. 

Round 3 – Create a sherry cocktail (60pts)

The finalist mixes a sherry cocktail and shares the story of this drink. 

All three rounds took place last Monday and these were the finalists that were selected to compete: 

1. Bjorn Dewulf (Rocktailz)
2. Alex De Backer (Belroy’s MAS, Antwerp)
3. Donald Simons (Black Smoke, Antwerp)
4. Lize Rombaut (Bar Ran, Bruges)
5. Jorijn Vandenweghe (Rocktailz)
6. Jules Verlinden (De Nieuwe Haan, Diest)
7. Clarisse Herbinaux (L’Antidote, Namur)
8. Mathias Schaffer (Bar Ran, Bruges)
9. Joeri Visser (Belroy’s Bijou, Antwerp)

We gathered around lunchtime at the brand new and very impressive bottle-shaped building of Cinoco Spirits in Nivelles. After a quick lunch, we went for a tour of the massive warehouse. Next, the finalists sat down in the meeting room for the first round of the competition. The four Gonzalez Byass sherry variations they had to (blind!) identify were: 

• Nectar (PX)
• Tio Pepe (Palomino fino)
• Cristina (Medium)
• Alfonso (Oloroso)

I think the fino and PX were pretty obvious as they are the far-left (most dry) and far-right (most sweet) of the Gonzalez Byass “standard” sherry range. The medium and oloroso are both in the middle of the range and have more or less the same colour. Sherry enthusiasts should however know that Cristina is a bit sweeter because it contains some PX. There was no amontillado, cream or Palo Cortado sherry in the blind line-up. 

While the judges were grading this first round, the finalists could have some practice with the venencia-tool. Next, under the burning sun on the patio, the finalists demonstrated their skills in round 2. For this round, two extra prices were up for a win. Clarisse Herbinaux won the “First Lady” bottle, Jules Verlinden won the “First Man” bottle. Both bottles were variations of Mom Gin.

Back to the “battle room” for the third and last round. Each finalist had the opportunity to present his or her sherry cocktail, spiced with a matching story, dazzling us with their bartending skills.

After tough deliberation, the judges returned with the ranking. I’ll share the ranking of the final podium, together with the recipe for their cocktails: 

Third: Donald Simons, head bartender at Black Smoke (Antwerp)

Cocktail: Pepelona

5 cl Tio Pepe Fino Muy Seco
3cl Pineapple cordial
12 cl clarified burned grapefruit soda
pinch of nutmeg

Second: Mathias Schaffer, bartender at Bar Ran (Bruges)

Cocktail: God Highball

35ml Noé Pedro Ximenez VORS
15ml Tio Pepe Palomino Fino
30ml Verjus
5ml Manzanilla Olive Brine
Top POMM. Appelchampagne

Winner: Joeri Visser, bartender at Belroy’s Cocktailbars (Antwerp)

Cocktail: Golden Cortès

50ml Amontillado González Byass
30ml gin infused with cacao
10ml Amaro Montenegro 
20ml basil cordial
15ml aquafaba

Joeri Visser is the winner of the Belgian Finals and will soon be representing our country at the Tio Pepe Challenge Global finals in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. He received a brand new suitcase to pack for the trip.

All finalists got Tio Pepe magnums and a goody bag, The podium finalists also received additional cases of top quality cava. 

Big “thank you” to all finalists, judges, supporters, Gonzalez Byass and the Cinoco team for hosting this competition. 

Disclaimer: All pictures and texts are copyrighted by Geert Conard and Esito Management & Communications unless stated otherwise in the article. While some items might have been gifted by the producer or distributor, these are in no way paid promotions or recommendations.