And the Winner of the 2019 U.S. Sherry Cocktail Competition is...

NEW YORK, September 30, 2019 – the 13th Annual Sherry Cocktail Competition finals took place at Clover Club in Brooklyn, NY, and Leishla Maldonado, of Courtland Club in Providence, RI won the top prize of Best Sherry Cocktail with her cocktail, Forraje. 

Maldonado competed against some of the top bartenders in America across the country during a live demonstration and presentation in front of a distinguished panel of judges, which included Jacques Bezuidenhout, Lynnette Marrero, Don Lee and the Director of the Consejo Regulador of the DO Jerez-Xérès-Sherry y Manzanilla de Sanlúcar de Barrameda, César Saldaña.

All contestants made it through a grueling and highly competitive preliminary judging round that preceded the final competition and each deserve recognition by virtue of being selected as finalists in this competition.