Julian Short from Sin+Tax is gearing up to fly the SA flag high on the international stage

Mixologist Julian Short will soon jet off to Brazil where he’s set to represent South Africa at the Diageo World Class Global competition after being crowned the winner of the Diageo World Class South African finals last week.

It was no easy feat: 10 of South Africa’s best bartenders competed in a series of challenges that tested their skills and cocktail knowledge over four days, including making eight signature serves in six minutes, working within a budget to create bougie brunch drinks and creating a pop-up bar from which they had to serve the judges and more than 250 consumers.

To clinch the number one spot, Short whipped up a variety of innovative cocktails such as his Johnnie Walker chamomile soda cocktail which he made with a cordial of burnt butter, pineapple and mushroom, and his tropical Bloody Mary with Ketel One vodka, a clarified tomato, fresh granadilla and gooseberry punch with coconut milk which was topped off with a beetroot and balsamic reduction.

Richie Nahlaka, bar manager at Alchemy Bar in Ballito, came second and Maynard Boozen, bar manager at Ethos in Johannesburg, claimed third spot.

“What I enjoyed was there was a lot more youth, a lot more young faces [this year],” says Short. “They say: ‘Jules, you’re a veteran, you’ve been doing this for years’. It makes me feel so old because I remember not too long ago I was the youngest one doing it and now, only a few years later, being the oldest.”

Short, 31, who is co-owner of multiple award winning bar Sin+Tax in Rosebank, is no stranger to the mixology scene. His first time representing South Africa internationally was at a tequila bartending competition in Mexico in 2015. He’s participated in the Diageo World Class competition six times and this is his second time winning, the first being in 2017 which saw him nipping off to Mexico City to represent South Africa.

“It was a bit of a disaster,” the cocktail master concedes. “I was a young bartender. I was also quite inexperienced and South Africa, as a bartending community, wasn’t as far along in teamwork. I came back with my tail between my legs, but it was my opportunity to make all those mistakes and learn everything. I don’t regret it.”

This year, the global competition is being held in Sao Paulo in September and Short says he’s feeling a lot more prepared and will be doing what he does best: being hospitable and bartending.

If you want a taste of what Short’s been mixing, you can head to Sin+Tax where he’ll soon be adding a new Ketel One cocktail to the menu he created for one of this year’s challenges.

“The proceeds of that drink will go towards a programme we’re working on. I’m still putting it together and once [it’s ready] I will put it on the menu and that is the drink I recommend people have because it will be drinking for a cause.”