Tradition has it that the competition is hosted in the country of the previous year’s winner, and therefore Greek cocktail ‘mixologist’ Aristotelis Papadopoulos handed the prize to this year’s winner, is UK champion Erik Lorincz of Slovak origin. [Photo: winner standing in the middle]

The competition is international and some 9,000 candidates participate every year, but only 24 are selected for the finals. The event assembles bartending and mixology experts and is organized by the distribution company Diageo. The award ceremony was held at Zappeion and all participants savoured of Athens’s night life.