The Charlottesville 29

Photo by Sarah Cramer Shields.

A very happy birthday to Steve Yang, of Tavola Cicchetti Bar.

Just a day after his 26th birthday, the United States Bartenders’ Guild today named Yang one of twelve Regional Finalists in the annual World Class bartending competition. The competition “attracts the country’s best bartenders who represent the craft and elevation of the art of cocktail creation,” says the USBG, “with the ultimate goal of representing the U.S. at the global competition.”

“Qualifying is both humbling and terrifying,” Yang says.

To choose finalists, an expert panel reviewed a large pool of applicants’ essays and replicated their cocktail recipes. Yang’s was the Inquisitions, with Bulleit Rye Whiskey, Cynar, Cocchi di Torino, Benedictine, Angostura Orange Bitters, and a rinse of Caol Ila 12 Scotch Whisky. On the strength of his cocktail and essays, Yang is one of just twelve finalists to qualify for our area’s Regional Final, May 7 in Washington, D.C., where he’ll compete against the “best of the best,” he says, from major markets like New York, Boston, and Washington D.C. From there, three national finalists will be chosen to compete against twelve others for the title of U.S. Bartender of the Year, and the chance to compete in the Global Finals in Berlin, Germany.

Congratulations to Charlottesville’s own Steve Yang.

Photo by Tom McGovern.