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Our Bartender of the Year (sponsored by Savoia Americano) finalists are four of the best drinks-makers in the UK. Mia Kumari - at the American Bar at the Savoy of time of voting - and now Satan's Whiskers took the most votes of any across the country.
Possibly the outside bet to win Bartender of the Year, Mia Kumari triumphed – but actually in just four years she has packed a lot in.
A priority has been education – she’s completed her WSET Level 2 in Spirits, graduated from the Rookie programme with Edrington Beam Suntory and joined the William Grant & Sons 1887 Collective and the Moët Hennessy Assemblage community. With these foundations, Mia has excelled.
The last couple of years have seen her record multiple wins on the cocktail competition circuit, including on debut. Last year was her breakthrough, landing a job at the American Bar and winning the IWSC 2023 Emerging Talent in Bartending.
Just after the Class Bar Awards voting – in which she took more votes than any bartender up and down the country – Mia crossed the capital to take up a position at our Best Bar in London and the South East, Satan’s Whiskers in Bethnal Green.
Finalists: Rachel Orange, Schofield’s Bar, Manchester; Filippos Filippopoulos, Tabula Rasa, Leeds; Tommy Matthews, Passing Fancies, Birmingham