From Cape Town to Hacienda Patrón – The Path to Perfection!

“Patrón Perfectionists” is an international bartending tournament that is effectively encapsulated in just those two words – mixologists create luxurious Patrón cocktails that exhibit the qualities of a Perfectionist. In 2019, we were given the rare opportunity to create content promoting this brilliant & challenging competition for Bacardi’s most newly acquired brand: Tequila Patrón.

Our focus for the content was the winner of the regional finals in South Africa, bartender David Van Zyl, who had just taken his place as a representative for his country in the finals at Hacienda Patrón. Before his final campaign in Mexico, however, he had over 3 months to prepare himself, sharpening his skills and fine-tuning his style & presentation.

This became the basis of our video series, the aptly named “Path to Perfection”, a 4-part series that centred around the key tenets of the competition – Originality, Flavour, Style and Service.

Our aim is to inspire bartenders from South Africa to take part in future editions of Patrón Perfections by broadcasting, to the mixology community, the honor, privilege, and lifestyle of a true Perfectionist.

Our video series took the audience through David’s interests, inspirations, skill and showmanship, directly mirroring the 4 key tenets of the Perfectionist ideal.

We also explored David’s love for sustainable foraging and his skills in carpentry, both direct inspiration for the local ingredients and smoked wood to create his cocktail.

To further hone David’s skills, we partnered him with mentors – veteran mixologist and father-figure, Kurt Schlechter and style-guru Menzi Mcunu. Kurt contributed to the series by sharing his insight and knowledge with David, while Menzi helped to style him and even created a custom 3-piece suit for the final round in Mexico.

The series culminated with a detailed description of how David prepares his award-winning cocktail and served as the perfect platform not only to share his story but also to receive appreciation from his peers and loved ones.

"I'm an environmentally conscious person and I believe in creating recipes in sustainable ways. Besides that, foraging for your ingredients is the only way to really understand the ingredients in your cocktail" - David Van Zyl