CLASS speaks to Emanuele "Lele" Mensah about winning World Class GB 2025 and offers his top tips for this year's competition.

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Honestly… I didn’t enter because I thought I would win, for me World Class was always that thing you respect from far away.

I’ve been lucky in my career, competitions, books, guests from all over the world… but World Class was different. I wanted to understand if the bartender I am today, caring about flavour, hospitality and consistency could also be on a stage. So I entered more to answer a question than to chase a medal.

 

2/ Walk us through the process of entering, your drinks and their inspiration?

My starting point was very simple: I didn’t want to create “competition drinks”. I wanted drinks that could still belong to a real bar. My whole idea became nothing is wasted, everything tells a story. In a bar we open bottles, we cut fruits, we throw things away every day without thinking. I wanted the technique itself to become the narrative. So I worked with two opposite movements: fermentation and fat wash.

One cocktail used fermented beetroot. Normally beetroot is heavy, earthy, almost intimidating… fermentation made it lighter, brighter, almost lifted. The other drink used melon and the seeds. I turned the seeds into a butter and fat-washed the spirit. A fruit you expect to be light suddenly became round and deep. Old techniques, but used to change how we emotionally perceive an ingredient.

 

3/ Tell us about reaching the Top 50 and the Roadshow?

Top 50 was actually the scariest moment for me. Because suddenly it stops being an idea in your head and becomes real. You meet other bartenders and you realise how good they are. Everyone sacrificed time, sleep, services. The Roadshow was beautiful and difficult at the same time. You learn that timing, presentation and how you talk to people are as important as the cocktail flavours.

 

4/ You made the Top 10, the final. At what point did you think you had a chance?

Very late. Honestly almost never. You compete against bartenders who are already excellent. I think the moment I realised it was when I started presenting, thinking I was at the bar during service rather than presenting a cocktail in the most important competition ever.

5/ You won the World Class GB title. What made the difference?

I think consistency. Not only technical consistency, but conceptual consistency. Every round, every drink, every story was part of the same philosophy.

 

6/ What has winning meant to you and your career?

Winning didn’t feel like an arrival, it felt like a responsibility. Suddenly people listen to you more. Young bartenders ask advice, brands ask ideas and guests come with expectations. You understand the title is not about being the best bartender. It’s about representing what bartending can be. For me personally it was also emotional. It was a three year long journey and part of me was doing it for my daughter too. I wanted to show her that you can achieve your dreams if you keep working hard.

 

7/ What advice would you give aspiring World Class bartenders?

Start from the reason. Ask yourself why this drink should exist and if it's only for a competition, then it won't work. Also: train service, not only recipes. Time yourself. Speak your presentation aloud. Try to explain your drink to a non-bartender friend. If they understand and care, you are close.