Heath prefers it shaken and stirred

Heath, who is the head trainer at Thirst Bar Services, will represent South Africa at the Bacardi Legacy global competition featuring 38 countries. Heath first tried his hand at bartending when he was working as a waiter at a restaurant in Port Elizabeth 15 years ago. While he was studying towards a BCom degree he began bartending part-time to pay his bills. He fell in love with the profession and before long an opportunity came up for him to bartend in New York. He lived and bartended in the Big Apple for two years before returning home to the Eastern Cape where he opened his first cocktail bar at the tender age of 21.

“It’s not like I decided as a child that I would grow up to be a bartender, but I have a passion for serving people and that’s the absolute core of bartending,” he said. “Going to a bar is an age-old tradition that’s all about hospitality.”

Prior to winning the Bacardi Legacy competition, Heath has represented the country five other times in international competitions, and prides himself on being South Africa’s most qualified bartender.

Heath was head-hunted by Thirst Bar Services to be their head trainer and to write a bar tending training programme from scratch. He said his favourite classic cocktail was an El Presidente, which is a mixture of Bacardi Gold, sweet vermouth and orange bitters, strained into a chilled martini glass.

Heath will soon be heading to a Bacardi boot camp in Cyprus and on his return will host three bar brawl events in mid-March, where he challenges Joburg’s bartenders to a sell off. The events will take place at The Landmark Bar in Bryanston, the Fire and Ice bar in Melrose Arch and The March Hare in Maboneng.

Learn how to make The Lennox in our follow-up story, The Lennox – A legacy in a glass.

Details: www.facebook.com/denzel.heath; www.facebook.com/ThirstBarServices; www.memydrinksandi.blogspot.com; @MeMyDrinksandI