Discover the Just Flair League for new bartenders in Poland
Adam Branczyk has been a flair bartender for almost 8 years and a bartender for almost 10. The founder of Poland’s Just Flair League, Adam was first introduced to flair bartending by a colleague at the bar he worked at and developed his love for it further when he undertook a course at a bartender […]
WFA Grand Slam at the Cambridge Cocktail Weekend
It is almost time for the 5th WFA Grand Slam of the year and the first WFA Grand Slam to be happening the UK, aside from the Roadhouse Finals, since 2010. The 4th and next Grand Slam will be Skilled Flair Bartender in Cancun, Mexico – happening the week before this event. We are thrilled […]
Flair Legend Interview: Alan Mays
We are sure there will be many of you out there that will know of, or will at least heard of, USA flair bartending legend Alan Mays. A flair bartender who certainly falls into the ‘Flair Legend’ category, Alan stands among the first wave of flair bartenders in the USA and around the world that […]
Flair moves and their creators with Tom Dyer
Flair bartending has been around for many years, the earliest record of anything that would come close to a flair bartender is the mention of a man called Jerry ‘The Professor’ Thomas who poured firey streams of boiling water and flaming whisky, mixing an original called the Blue Blazer in the 19th century. Other than […]
Have you discovered the flair bartending concept that is Bottle Tin is King?
On the 25th June the 2nd edition of Bottle Tin is King (#BTiK) took place at the one and only Roadhouse in Covent Garden London. #BTiK is a new concept in regards of flair bartending competition as it does not follow the normal format of other flair competitions. By taking it back to a competition […]
Bringing the world of flair and mixology together with Chris Cardone
We spoke to the winner of perhaps the world’s most well known cocktail competition, Chris Cardone, who recently won the Diageo World Class in the USA. Chris who started off as a flair bartender has started a discussion on the bartending scene as he represents one of the few bartenders who are not only a […]
The WFA in West Africa
We spoke to our resident Head of Gradings here at the World Flair Association, @thomasdyer-3, who recently travelled out to Nigeria in Africa to judge Barman TV and train some of the competitors in WFA Yellow Grading: “I and the WFA were invited out to Nigeria for this reality TV show centred around bartenders and […]
The WFA Grand Slam Championship – The mid season review
You may be thinking what is the difference between a WFA bartending competition and a WFA Grand Slam competition. Well the first and biggest difference is that the Grand Slam competitions earn competitors points towards being crowned the WFA Grand Slam World Champion. At the end of each year, one bartender will achieve this title […]
An interview with the Grandfather of Flair, John Bandy
Recently we had the pleasure of talking with the Grandfather of Flair himself, the man behind everything you see in the movie Cocktail, and thought to be original creator of flair bartending – John Bandy: How did you start flair bartending? And how did it lead to your role in the film Cocktail? “The funny […]
WFA Grand Slam: The Gaeta Passion Flair Bartender Competition
The Passion Flair Bartender began in 2006 in Gaeta, Italy through the ambition of a man who has had many, many years experience in the world of bartending – Francesco Santillo. Francesco started the Passion Flair Bartender as he saw it as a good opportunity to transfer the vast knowledge and prestige he had developed over […]
Discovering the WFA Grading System around the world: Romania with Ionut Ivanov
We spoke to one of the organisers and senior figures at Exquisite Bar Solutions, Ionut Ivanov, to discover how they use the WFA grading system at their bar school and how it benefits them and their students: What do you think abut the WFA grading system and how it works? “I think it works really […]
The WFA Top Flair Barware
One thing is clear, not all bar tools are made equal. We all have our favourites and here at the WFA we thought it would be worth sharing our own! When it comes to flair bartending any good bartender will tell you, actually you can flair with anything – it doesn’t even need to be […]
What is the WFA World Series Bartender Competition?
The WFA World Series is an exciting new bartender competition format, introduced last year by the WFA and held in Manchester in the UK. Aiming to challenge bartenders across four key disciplines the World Series brings the whole experience around the product (the drink), back to the heart of where flair bartending started more than […]
Deniss Trifanovs: How I train, what’s in store for 2017 & more…
Deniss Trifanovs has kicked his 2017 off strongly with a win in both the Roadhouse Freestyle Competition and WFA Grand Slam Flairmania in Latvia. We spoke to Deniss to get a bit of background on how he came into flair bartending, what has changed for him over the years, and more: “My story is a […]
The WFA’s Got Talent
Did you know that Miika Mehtio and Rane Tiainen as part of flair bartending team VIP Bartenders won Finland’s Got Talent in 2011? We caught up with Miika recently to see how things had moved on since that big win in Finland in 2011, what that whole experience was like and what it did for flair bartending in […]
Discovering the WFA Grading System around the world: Italy with Giovanni Peligra
The WFA grading system supports bars schools around the world setting out a structured, levelled system that will allow anyone with a love of flair bartending, to work there way up from a beginner to an expert. Once you are enrolled with the WFA you immediately receive your White Grade, from here you can then […]
An interview with Dennis Gray ahead of the Roadhouse Asian Open
The next Roadhouse Flair Heat is nearly upon us and it is time for the return of the Asian Open on March 26th. A very popular Roadhouse heat in London, the Asian Open draws large crowds of people from across the cosmopolitan capital and well as around the world. Many of the competitors taking part […]
An interview with Yusuke Ono ahead of the Roadhouse Asian Open
The next Roadhouse Flair Heat is nearly upon us and it is time for the return of the Asian Open on March 26th. A very popular Roadhouse heat in London, the Asian Open draws large crowds of people from across the cosmopolitan capital and well as around the world. Many of the competitors taking part […]
Can Flair Bartender’s Make Good Cocktails?
Cocktails in flair competitions have, for a long time, been a point of contention for some industry professionals. You don’t have to look very far to come across a bartender who thinks that flair bartenders can’t make very good cocktails and especially not in competitions – although we think this is partly because they can’t believe […]
Discover The History of Flair Bartending
Flair Bartending, we all know it well but do you know where it came from? Inspired by our adoration of all things bartending we have used various articles and news stories from across the world wide web to put together the history of this glorious thing we call flair bartending. Sometimes referred to as ‘extreme […]
The Roadhouse Flair Freestyle Competition
You may have already heard that there are a few new flair bartending events taking their place in the calendar for 2017, one of which is the Roadhouse Flair Freestyle competition! This will be the second of ten Roadhouse Flair heats happening throughout 2017 and culminating in the Roadhouse World Finals in November. The Roadhouse Flair […]
Manuel Wieser: Why I wanted to become a World Flair Association Judge
To become a World Flair Association judge you need that special something, many years of experience, a good set of eyes and of course you have to be pretty good at flair bartending too! Where do these super-humans come from? Who are they? And how do they get to sit in the best seats in the […]
WFA Grand Slam: Flairmania 2017 The Results, Memorable Moments & More
The second WFA Grand Slam is over, can you believe how fast 2017 is going already!? This particular Grand Slam has been a main stay on the WFA competition calendar for 7 years and is always a great event to look forward to. Over the years Flairmania has seen 4 different winners, you never know how […]
The Roadhouse Flair Heats 2017: The details…
With the first of the Roadhouse Flair heats fast approaching we catch up with WFA Director of Gradings, @thomasdyer-3, on what to expect, his top trick tips, and more: The Roadhouse Flair Heats 2017 “Every month leading up to the Roadhouse Flair Grand Finals in November, London’s most famous cocktail bar The Roadhouse in Covent […]
What’s new on the World Flair website?
You may have noticed the World Flair website has changed a lot over recent months, aside from the visual updates we have incorporated an online store and updated the entire membership area and there is much much more to come. We caught up with Bjorn from the WFA Tech Team to talk about the of the new site […]
Grand Slam 2017: The Hard Flair Finals, Helsinki
So the first WFA Grand Slam for 2017 The Hard Flair Finals, Helsinki, is over. The results are in and we have our winner… This Year’s Winner… This year’s winner of the WFA Grand Slam Hard Flair Finals in Helsinki, Finals was: Luca Valentin! With another Grand Slam victory for Luca, it looks like he is […]
Craft Flair 101 with Tomek Malek
What is Craft Flair & how is it different? Craft Flair is a discipline of working flair and it is dedicated to the creative use all the objects that are involved in making a cocktail. Traditionally flair bartending, especially performance flair, would focus on the bottle and the tin, Craft Flair brings in strainers, muddlers, bar […]
The WFA Grand Slam Champion 2016 & Loolapaloosa Grand Finals
Another year, another Loolapaloosa World Finals has come to an end and another Grand Slam World Champion has been crowned. Now into its 4th year Loolapaloosa, held in Milan, Italy, the Loolapaloosa Grand Finals is the largest flair bartending competition in Italy. As the WFA Grand Slam leaderboard runs from Jan-Dec each year, Loolapaloosa is always […]
Christmas Gift Ideas from the World Flair Association
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re either a bartender, a flair bartending enthusiast, or the proud friend or family member of one. Either way, you may be wondering what to give (or request) for the upcoming holidays. With many Christmas gift ideas abound this time of year, we decided to skip the method of arbitrarily […]
The Loolapaloosa World Finals: The last Grand slam of 2016
Loolapaloosa was born 3 years ago deep in the sartorial and fashion capital of Italy, Milan. Milan has long been recognised for its successful football teams, contributions to the world of fashion and now, flair bartending. Taking place at the Loolapaloosa club, where the competition took its name, Loolapaloosa is the largest bartender competition in […]
The World’s Greatest Flair Bartender competition is over for another year…
So the world’s greatest flair bartender competition, the Roadhouse World Finals, has come to an end for another year and what a year it was! From a crowd perspective we think it may even be the best World Finals to date – considering it has been running for 16 years that is quite an achievement, […]
Roadhouse World Finals: A Judge’s Perspective
The Roadhouse World Finals, the longest running and most prestigious international flair competition in the world, is into its 16th year. For 10 of those years the Roadhouse has had the pleasure of having flair enthusiast and judge Tony Adams on the panel. Not to be confused with the widely successful Arsenal and England footballer, […]
The Roadhouse World Finals: Luca Valentin
Behind the bartender… Emanating from a small town in the Transylvanian region of Romania, he may not be related to Dracula, but he is mighty good at flair – and has his eyes firmly planted on this year’s Roadhouse World Finals trophy. We are talking about Luca Valentin of course. One of our 9 previous […]
The Roadhouse World Finals: Alexander Shtifanov
The Roadhouse World Finals on the 27th of November are looking like the biggest and the best yet, with over 30 competitors taking part to win what is widely recognised as the hardest Flair competition in the world, and £10,000. This week we focus on another potential favourite who will be looking to step forward […]
The Roadhouse World Finals 2016: Marek Posluszny
The Roadhouse World Finals is the biggest flair bartending competition of the calendar, each and every year. We are sure most flair bartenders would agree it is the one competition that every flair bartender wants to win at least once, in their career. A tough format and with some of the best judges in the […]
Roadhouse and the WFA combine forces.
As most of you may have heard the WFA and Roadhouse joining forces and we (the WFA) will be organising the Roadhouse World Flair competition from 2016. We are extremely excited about this and can’t wait for the first qualifier on January 31st. With a new organiser comes new ideas for the competition and some […]
It’s a strange thing flair is…..
Last weekend saw the finals of the Roadhouse flair competition down in Covent Garden, London. It was the 17th one and that in itself is a testament to not only the venue and the people behind it, but also to the crowd who pay for their tickets year in year out, the bartenders who compete, […]
Score more points, without learning a New move.
More and more flair competitions are springing up all the time, each with their own styles, specific rules and requirements. While you could take a single routine and enter any you want, lets see what can be done to maximise your score with the minimum amount of effort. 1: Know the Score With the Event. […]
METRO FLAIR 2015 DONE!
The second WFA Grand Slam competition of the year has now been completed and first place went to Bruno Vanzan! The competition took place at Club Baza in Grodno, Belarus in front of a packed crowd. A total of 48 bartenders took part battling it out for a 5000 euro prize fund and coveted points […]
GRAND SLAM 2014 DONE!
As currently drones are blowing CO2’s at everybody in Clapham Grand we all are celebrating the end of WFA Grand Slam 2015. Boy what a year it was – 8 amazing Grand Slam competitions, 8 countries, all this to find out who is the ONE. And this year all our applauses goes to Mr. Tomek […]
SUPPORT THE WFA GRAND SLAM FINAL!
We are only a month away from the WFA Grand Slam Final to be held at the Clapham Grand in London! We need you guys to support us by joining up to the Thunderclap so that we can get a huge social media push and tell the world about flair bar tending! Just follow the […]
GOOD TIMES IN “BARSTYLEZ” SINGAPORE
A review by Gianluigi Bosco Hello flair peeps! The Asian flair tour has come to an end, with the last of three comps in two weeks, Barstylez the big match. Amazing organization and great response, with 46 competitors representing 20 countries. After an afternoon of qualifying, the judges added up the scores and announced the […]
POLAND DOMINATING THE PODIUM IN BALI
Rewiev by Gianluigi Bosco What’s up flair fans! The WFA Grand Slam Asian tour continued with an another great comp. This time we were in beautiful Bali, one of the most known islands in Indonesia. Mr Agung Yoga outdid himself once again this year organising yet an another edition of Stars War Flair Championship. 45 […]
ULTIMATE WORLD FLAIR 2014 DONE
Review by Gianluigi Bosco. Great vibes from Tokyo. 32 competitors from 8 countries battled out in the afternoon of August 31st for ten spots in the final. The crowd was one of the best ever as the venue was packed from the very beginning of the qualifying round to the results announcement. By 7.30pm the […]
WFA GRAND SLAM HITS ASIA
Flair world! Get ready for the tour of the year – three Grand Slam competitions in two weeks period. Could it get more intense? With “Ultimate” kicking it off in Tokyo on August 31st, following “Star Wars Bali Flair championsip” in Bali on September 6th and the tour finishes in Singapore at “Barstylez” on September […]
REGISTRATION FOR STAR WARS 2014 IS OPEN!!!
Hey bartenders of the World – the registration for the Grand Slam competition “Star Wars Bali World Flair Championship 2014” has officially began. All the info you need is available here – Star Wars Bali Grand Slam. This annual competition with all the great package deals from Agung is going to be a time well […]
WFA GRAND SLAM IN KAZAKHSTAN
An article by Alibek Jaibergenov World Flair Championship Almaty Flair Open 2014 took place in Almaty (Kazakhstan) on April, 9. 22 bartenders from all over the world (Latvia, Ukraine, Great Britain, Poland, Uzbekistan, Russia, Armenia and Kazakhstan) participated in the competition. Andy Collinson, Vyacheslav Titov and Sergey Sidorenko were invited as the judges of the […]
FLAIRMANIA DONE FOR 2014
From when bartenders land – The competitors are taken care of. They get picked up at the airport, given a great practice area, free food, cheap drinks, cheap hotel rooms. The routines are streamed live online just like a real sports TV show. Scores are made public almost instantly so competitors can track their progress […]
FLAIRMANIA RUNNING ORDER
Tomek Malek Alexey Balashov Tarmo Piir Andrea Messina Mikko Hissa Andrea A. L. Alexandar Shtifanov Matteo Melara Max Bradarsky Toru Ariyoshi Vaclav Abraham Goerkem HRP Filip Ciszkowski Eugen Sorokin Danilo Levato Alex Gostilovsky Evgenjy Oleynikov Marco Sdrubolini Jumble St PIerre Vladimir Surikov Marian Sikky C Daniel Arval Alexander Voz Waiting List Spot Rapolas Vareika Naty […]
NEW WFA SCORING SYSTEM
One change is the scoring system for All Grand Slam competitions. By slightly simplifying the scoring system and making it more clear for all WFA members, the plan is to educate not just new bartenders, but more established ones too, along with the judges, to ensure everyone is following the same guidelines when it comes […]