{"id":1969,"date":"2010-08-24T18:48:42","date_gmt":"2010-08-24T17:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatsonni.com\/blog\/?p=1969"},"modified":"2010-08-24T18:48:42","modified_gmt":"2010-08-24T17:48:42","slug":"global-finalists-in-make-it-at-bushmills-competition-prepare-to-do-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/2010\/08\/global-finalists-in-make-it-at-bushmills-competition-prepare-to-do-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"GLOBAL FINALISTS IN MAKE IT AT BUSHMILLS COMPETITION PREPARE TO DO BATTLE"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>Contestants gather on eve of finals<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.whatsonni.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/bushmills1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1970\" title=\"bushmills\" src=\"http:\/\/www.whatsonni.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/bushmills1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"331\" height=\"220\" \/><\/a>A head sommelier from a French three-star Michelin restaurant, a former Wall Street broker and a drumming world record holder are among the contestants battling over the next two days to win a 30-day stay in Bushmills and the chance to produce their own blend of one of the world\u2019s best-loved Irish whiskeys.<\/p>\n<p>The trio are among nine finalists in the Make it at Bushmills competition that also offers the winner a month\u2019s luxury penthouse accommodation in Ireland and \u00a35,000 spending money.<\/p>\n<p>Representing countries in Europe, North America and Africa, the contenders won their national heats on the strength of a public vote. Now, starting tomorrow morning, they face one final test &#8211; the Master\u2019s Challenge \u2013 a series of mental, physical and skills-based challenges set by Bushmills Master Distiller to find a worthy winner.<\/p>\n<p>The finalists are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Koen Cassiers (Belgium) \u2013 an enthusiast of all things Irish, Koen is a trained guitar maker who enjoys walking and cycling.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ivan Ivanov (Bulgaria) \u2013 a trained lifeguard and bartender, Ivan recently graduated with a degree in marketing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Lo\u00efk Tavernier (France) \u2013 the head sommelier at the 3-star Michelin Restaurant Michel Trama in southwest France.<\/li>\n<li>\nSietse Offringa (Netherlands) \u2013 a native of Utrecht currently studying Event Management.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Allister Brown (Northern Ireland) \u2013 an engineer who holds the world record for being the first person to play the drums for over 100 hours. <strong> <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Kevin O\u2019Sullivan (Republic of Ireland) \u2013a former barman who has worked in Bulgaria and America\u2019s west coast.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Lance Ralph (South Africa) \u2013 an ardent Bushmills\u00ae Irish Whiskey fan who wants to show Ireland what his country has to offer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Nick Ord (United Kingdom) &#8211; a bar development consultant to resorts and hotels worldwide and a previous winner of Bartender of the Year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Joshua Wortman (USA) &#8211; a film school graduate who now works in the whiskey business following a Wall Street career.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Speaking on the eve of the finals, Bushmills Master Distiller, Colum Egan, promised the competitors an \u2018amazing experience\u2019 as they tackle a variety of challenges designed to ensure that only the very best succeeds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOver the next couple of days I and my fellow judges will be working hard to select our ultimate winner who must have the skills, the aptitude and above all, the mischievous spirit and unique approach to life that is embodied in Bushmills Irish Whiskey,\u201d adds Colum.<\/p>\n<p>The finalists\u2019 progress will be charted on-line from 25-26 August at the Bushmills Facebook page &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bushmills1608\">facebook.com\/bushmills1608.<\/a><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contestants gather on eve of finals A head sommelier from a French three-star Michelin restaurant, a former Wall Street broker and a drumming world record holder are among the contestants battling over the next two days to win a 30-day stay in Bushmills and the chance to produce their own blend of one of the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/2010\/08\/global-finalists-in-make-it-at-bushmills-competition-prepare-to-do-battle\/\">Continued<\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[787,846,788,847],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1969"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1973,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969\/revisions\/1973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}