Top five for Halifax bartender

HALIFAX—Mosaic Social Dining Lounge bartender Cooper Tardivel has scored a top five finish in an international drink competition.

Tardivel was the only North American barkeep in the Bols Around the World cocktail competition held in Amsterdam in late March.

His True North martini landed him in the top half among 10 competitors using a truly Canadian ingredient: maple wine from Nova Scotia’s Jost Vineyards.

Tardivel said there was only one winner, so he doesn't know for certain where he placed, but he was told by one of the judges that he finished third.

"After the first day of seeing the skills and the talent, I figured if I could be around the middle of the pack that it would be a good finish," Tardivel said. "Every drink was so good and so well-crafted that anyone could have won."

Tardivel said judges the the audience were looking forward to tasting his drink as maple is an unknown flavour in Europe.

“It’s wonderful to see Cooper move this far up in a world competition using a Nova Scotia grown maple wine,” said Jost winemaker Hans Christian Jost. “We know many people use our maple wine in many different ways.”

The Bols Around the World competition assembled 10 of the globe’s best bartenders to shake and stir their way to victory.

Tardivel is a veteran bartender, having served up drinks for 11 years in Australia, Fiji, Mexico and Vancouver.

“Cooper is a dedicated and passionate guy when it comes to his job,” said Mosaic’s co-owner Costa Elles. “He is a master of cocktails—one of the top five in the world and he is utilizing some of our world-renowned wine products.”

Along with Maple Wine, the True North martini is mixed with candied apples, blueberries, honey crisp apples, Bols Cacao White and Disaronno.

Other finalists came from the Netherlands, South Africa, Argentina, Germany, Taiwan, Estonia, Italy, Russia and Australia for the contest.