Angostura Global Cocktail Challenge

Kat Hood, from College Cocktail Bar in Barcelona, representing Southern Europe, is the 2025 Angostura Global Cocktail Challenge champion, winning $10,000 and a two-year contract as a Global Brand Ambassador for the House of Angostura.

Held at Brix Hotel Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, the Runner-up in this 11th edition of the competition was Australia's Jay Cozma of Old Love's Place, Sydney. This has earned Jay the role of Angostura Brand Ambassador for Oceania, the region he represented in the competition. It is the sixth time a finalist from Oceania has made the top three in the competition.

Alex Fahrenheim who was placing third, has been awarded the title of Angostura Brand Ambassador for South Africa.

This year, the Angostura Global Cocktail Challenge, focused on Trinidad's homegrown classic cocktail, the Queen's Park Swizzle. All fifteen global finalists and each of the entrants into the 63 local and regional heats were asked to create an Angostura swizzle cocktail with their twist on the Queen's Park Swizzle and showcase the Caribbean technique of swizzling.

I'm absolutely buzzing and I couldn't be happier to be the first woman to have won this competition and to represent not only Spain but also all the women bartenders out there. I'm looking forward to spreading the word, 'Angostura rum rum rum, let's have fun!

Kat Hood, Angostura Global Cocktail Challenge Champion 2025

The 15 global competition finalists from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Dubai, Lithuania, Malaysia, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, the USA, and across the Caribbean were also given 24 hours to develop a cocktail that celebrates the local flavours of Trinidad using ingredients sourced from a local market and featuring Angostura Bitters.

Winning cocktails

Kat's Swizzle: Galleon Sunset Swizzle

Glass: Collins
Garnish: Turmeric potato sunset* and recycled apple peel butterfly*
Method: Add first 3 ingredients to glass filled with crushed ice and swizzle. Crown with dashes of hibiscus-infused bitters.

Ingredients:
45 ml Angostura 7 Year Old rum
20 ml Fino sherry infused with miso*
40 ml Crisp and spice cordial*
7 dashes of Angostura Orange Bitters infused with hibiscus*

Inspiration:
Kat's swizzle cocktail the Galleon Sunset Swizzle was inspired by Trinidad's Queen's Park Swizzle and Spain's Rebujito. Kat connected with the judges and took them on a journey with the ingredients as she told the story of the historic maritime voyages that connected east and west.

Homemade ingredients:
*Fino sherry infused with miso
Infuse 350ml fino sherry with 100g miso in a sous vide at 52 degrees for 2 hours. Then filter through a coffee filter.
*Crisp and spice cordial
Combine: 300ml apple juice, 20g ginger juice, 10g pectinase, 40 drops of pepper tincture, 9.2g Citric acid, 6.2g malic acid, and 200g sugar.
*Turmeric, potato sunset, and recycled apple peel butterfly garnish
Add 200 ml of Angostura Reserva white rum inside the sous vide with 50g of peppercorns for 2 hours at 52 degrees. Filter out the peppercorns to produce the tincture. Cold press the peeled apples and ginger to create the juice and add 1g of malic acid. Add the drops of pepper tincture and the pectinase with a hand blender. Leave for 2 hours then freeze and filter through a coffee filter. Add the rest of the acids and sugar.
*Orange and hibiscus bitters
Mix 200ml of Angostura Orange Bitters with 5g of hibiscus and leave to infuse for two hours. Filter to remove hibiscus.

The Butterfly's Kiss

Glass: Coupe
Garnish: Garnish with origami butterfly or paper plane.
Method: Shake all ingredients with ice and fine strain into chilled glass.

Ingredients:
20 ml homemade bitter melon and pineapple juice*
20 ml fresh lime juice
15 ml Amaro di Angostura
15 ml Angostura 1824 rum
25 ml Angostura 1919 rum
12.5 ml banana pineapple skin syrup*
3 dashes Angostura Orange Bitters

Inspiration:
Kat's market challenge cocktail was called The Butterfly's Kiss and is a fresh contemporary rum twist on a Paper Plane made using a homemade bitter melon and pineapple juice along with banana pineapple skin syrup combined with Amaro di Angostura, Angostura 1824 and 1919 rums, fresh lime juice, and was given a zesty lift with three dashes of Angostura Orange Bitters.

Homemade ingredients:
*Butterfly garnish
Use leftover apple from the cold press juice and add 5% (of total weight) of malic acid and 5% of water. Blend with 5% Starcrëm (potato starch thickener). Spread paper-thin on a non-stick mat and dehydrate. Use a butterfly stencil to cut out the garnish.
*Sunset garnish
Boil a potato until soft without breaking. Peel off the skin and blend with 10g pectinase, 50g sugar, and 100ml turmeric juice. Spread the paste thin on a non-stick mat and dehydrate. Use a circular biscuit cutter to cut out the sun.
*Homemade bitter melon and pineapple juice
Juice fresh pineapple and strain through a Superbag. Soak bitter melon (caraille) in salted water for 15 minutes. Remove the melon and blitz with a portion of pineapple juice, then pass the blend through a Superbag. Mix in 10ml bitter melon juice to every 20ml pineapple juice and add a pinch of salt.
*Banana pineapple skin syrup
Add pineapple skins to a pan of simmering water (initially brought to a boil then lowered). Simmer for 25 minutes. Strain and filter the liquid. Add sugar and a pinch of salt to taste.

Judges

A judging panel of industry leaders was headed up by Jack Sotti, co-founder of Archive & Myth, supported by the co-founder of Bijou Drinkery Room in Mexico City and the man behind Rubí Bar and Less is More, Daniel Ortega, Angostura Chief Brand Educator Raymond Edwards, and the winner of the 2020 Angostura Global Cocktail Challenge, Marv Cunningham.