A Home Victory, First-Runner-Up Win and Pro Competition in Cuba Call for a Drink from Placencia's Star Bartender Nancy Aguilar

By JOLIE POLLARD Editor in Chief The Placencia Breeze pollard.jolie@gmail.com

Tipsy Tuna bartender, Nancy Aguilar, placed 12th of 25 participants representing 12 countries and one U.S. territory in the 22nd Pan American Cocktail Competition held in Havana, Cuba in September.

The Placencia Peninsula just keeps on churning out rock stars in Belize! Now you can find one of the country’s best bonafide bartenders right here at the Tipsy Tuna Seaside and Sports Bar! In our September/October double issue, we told you that Tipsy’s Nancy Aguilar was representing Belize in the 22 nd Pan American Cocktail Competition in Havana, Cuba alongside Stacy Avila of the Lazy Lizard in Caye Caulker, and there was plenty for the Belizean women to boast about upon their return home in September.

Competing among 25 participants representing 12 countries (and one territory) including the Dominican Republic (DR), Ecuador, Uruguay, Cuba, Argentina, Chile, the United States of America, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Nicaragua, Spain and Panama, Nancy’s concoctions won her 12 th place tying with the DR, while Stacy captured the 16 th place spot tying with Ecuador. Belize was the second Central

American country to send two bartenders to the competition and the first country to send an all-women team to compete in a male-dominated field, something Nancy said made her especially proud. The young women were also able to participate along with representatives of other western hemisphere bartending associations in making the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest Cuba Libre in the world. “We put Belize on the map!”

Nancy Aguilar and Stacy Avila, Belize National Bartenders Cup Champion from the Lazy Lizard in Caye Caulker, mingle with veterans in their field while in Cuba.

Nancy hails from nearby Bella Vista Village and has spent the past four years living in Placencia. She says she discovered her passion for bartending at the Tipsy Tuna when her bosses, Gillian and Salva Zabaneh offered their staff enrolment in professional courses. The Zabanehs also fully sponsored her trip to Cuba after she placed second in the first National Bartenders Cup held by the Belize Bartenders Association in Belize City in August. (She also won the annual Old Master Rum Punch Competition at the 2018 Placencia Lobsterfest.)

In Cuba, both Nancy and Stacy competed in the “Sparkling Cup” category where they were challenged to create five sparkling cocktails, demonstrating different techniques, in just seven minutes. “We were competing against the best cocktailers of the Western Hemisphere in that category,” said Nancy who said she found plenty of inspiration at the event meeting with bar stars, world champions and representatives of the world’s leading spirits and mixer companies.

Nancy and Stacy competed in the "Sparkling Cocktail" category where they were judged on their techniques preparing a semi-sweet drink using Cuban rum and Freixenet Brut Cordon Negro sparkling wine.

So what is this bartender’s favourite drink? “It’s an after-dinner cocktail with Travellers’ white and anise rums, coffee, milk and vanilla, and garnished with a strawberry and nutmeg.” It’s also the cocktail that won her second place in Belize. Her least favourite? She says doesn’t have one. “If I find something I don’t really like, I’ll find a way to fix it and add some love to it.” While she’s more than happy to serve you her creations at Tipsy, just don’t whistle or snap your fingers for her attention. “It’s annoying,” she said. (We’d just call that plain rude.)

Nancy thanks Elvis Patt, Josue Ku, Buddy Magana, Jr. and Jose Acevedo and Adrian Suarez and International Bartending Association Vice President Jose Acevedo for assisting her during her time in Cuba, which she greatly cherishes. “Cuba offers great hospitality and people who have a lot of experience. I learned a lot. When I think of Cuba, I think of humble, helpful, secure and hardworking people,” she said. ▪