Jameson names global bartender champions
Jameson, the world’s most awarded* and best-selling** Irish whiskey, has recently named Eray Hakan Evcil, Lewis Kay and PJ Renaud as the three Global Champions of the 2026 Jameson Black Barrel Bartender Series, announced at Midleton Distillery in Cork as the international bar community gathered in Ireland for the Jameson Hosts Global Summit.
The Jameson Black Barrel Bartender Series is built to be a career accelerator, pairing three global champions with some of the most respected names working in bars today
Jameson Hosts is the brand’s global advocacy platform for investing in the people behind the bar.
While most competitions end with a trophy, the Jameson Black Barrel Bartender Series is built to be a career accelerator, pairing three global champions with some of the most respected names working in bars today, through continued mentorship across three key areas of development: designing cohesive brand identity (Remy Savage), creative menu and drink conception (Gina Barbachano) & social media strategy & content creation (Danil Nevsky).
The prize is not the finish line – it is the start of the programme.
Speaking about Jameson Hosts, Tony O’Brien, Senior Brand manager, Bartenders & Advocacy said: “Bartenders are the reason many people fall in love with whiskey.
“They are the people who take what we make in Midleton, and turn it into something special for a guest, in a bar, on an ordinary Tuesday night in Lagos or Lima or Limerick.
“Investing in their development isn’t a gesture – it is a commitment to nurturing the people who will shape the future of our category.
“What Jameson Hosts allows us to do is back that belief properly: not just a single moment, but a year of mentorship, education and real access, and a community that keeps giving back to itself long after the last serve is poured.
“Seeing this year’s champions stand up in Cork in front of their peers from every corner of the world is exactly why we do it.”
The Summit brought 26 Regional Winners to Ireland alongside more than 100 guests from the global bar community – bar owners, operators, educators and bartenders from Mexico to Indonesia, and South Africa to Galway.
In Cork, they took part in talks, tastings and seminars led by industry leaders, went behind the scenes at Midleton Distillery where Jameson Irish Whiskey is made, and spent the hours in between doing what this community does best: connecting in person, discussing trends, challenges, techniques, and building the kind of cross-border friendships that outlast any competition.
The Summit is built around shared learning, shared standards and a network that participants carry back into their own bars and their own local communities long after they fly home.
The Global Champions
The ten finalists reached Cork from a field of hundreds of entries across 60 countries.
This year’s brief asked them to celebrate their own communities, and the serves that arrived on the bar drew on flavours inspired by local produce, nature and cultural traditions – each one built around Jameson Black Barrel’s signature notes of vanilla, caramel sweetness, toasted wood, fruit and warming spice.
Serves were judged blind by two independent panels of judges and mentors, chaired by returning judge and mentor Danil Nevsky of Indie Bartender (Spain), alongside Bannie Kang of Sidecar (Singapore) and Jean Trinh of Alquímico (Colombia).
The mentorship year
Each Global Champion receives €5,000, a private dinner with industry thought leaders, and a place on the Jameson Black Barrel Bartender Series mentorship programme – a year of in-person and virtual sessions with mentors Danil Nevsky, Gina Barbachano and Remy Savage, covering creative ideation, concept development, global marketing and social media branding.
The sessions are built around the champions’ own ideas and ambitions, not a fixed curriculum, and extend into broader conversations about professional growth and career direction.
For the first time this year, Jameson has also partnered with BarSmarts to add a digital mentorship strand, giving winners year-round access to further education across bartending tools and techniques and the future of sustainable bartending.
Returning mentor and judge Danil Nevsky said: “One of the most rewarding parts of the mentorship programme is seeing bartenders develop their confidence and refine their craft throughout the journey.
“The programme gives finalists the opportunity to learn from different perspectives, build valuable industry connections and challenge themselves creatively.
“This year is especially exciting as the partnership with BarSmarts will provide winners with access to even more educational and professional development opportunities.”
For more information and updates, bartenders can visit www.jamesonwhiskey.com or follow @JamesonHOSTS
*Based on the tasting results of eight global blind tasting competitions in 2025, including The Irish Whiskey Masters, International Wine & Spirit Competition, International Spirits Competition, San Francisco World Spirits Competition, World Whiskies Awards, Beverage Testing Institute, New York World Spirits Competition and Asia World Spirits Competition
**IWSR Data
