por 
Cuba hosts the Grand Finale of the 69th World Cocktail Championship, the most significant event of the International Bartenders Association (IBA), on Tuesday.
During this fifth day of the event, the finalists in the traditional and flair (freestyle) modalities will face each other, and then other titles, such as the Bartender of the Year, will be awarded.
The IBA championship has been taking place at the Meliá Internacional Hotel in Varadero since November 4, in which more than 500 persons from some 60 nations are participating.
As a part of the event’s program,on Saturday, the IBA board of directors and national presidents of the organization visited San José´s distillery, home of Havana Club rum.
There, they tasted Havana Club Don Navarro, the brand’s most recent launch, as a tribute to the First Cuban Rum Master Jose Pablo Navarro, who passed away two years ago.
During the inauguration of the Championship, José Rafa Malém, president of the Association of Cuban Bartenders (ACC), stressed that the event would also dignify the island’s bartenders as part of the nation’s cultural heritage.
Meanwhile, IBA President Giorgio Fadda thanked Cuba for allowing the members of his organization to meet again after a two-year pause due to COVID-19 pandemic.
It is the first time that Cuba has hosted such a prestigious event.
