​Slamet Haryadi from Hong Kong is the winner of Hernö Gin Cocktail Awards 2018.

This years international finals of Hernö Gin Cocktail Awards gathered international bartender elite from eight different countries around the mission to create the best gin cocktail using Hernö High Coast Terroir Gin 2018, launched for the occation. The competition is an outdoor experience challenging the participants by letting them pick the ingredients for their cocktails during the day, foraging in Skuleskogen in the world heritage The High Coast of Sweden. Slamet Haryadi from M Bar, Mandarin Oriental, in Hong Kong, won the competition.

– Slamet Haryadi has in an exemplary way taken advantage of what Skuleberget has to offer, sparked our interest with his presentation and worked smart with the equipment and ingredients he had available. Above all he impressed by using a technique we have never seen before, motivates the jury consisting of Caroline Childerlay, the Gin Queen from Australia, Michael Sperling, gin expert from Denmark, and Emil Åreng and Jon Hillgren from Hernö Gin, Sweden.

Slamet created his cocktail, named ”Black Forest”, by enhancing the flavours of Hernö High Coast Terroir Gin: Juniper and spruce. This together with the sweetness from blueberries and the blackness from charcoal made him the winner of the competition.

– I found a fallen tree and took a piece of wood from the trunk, I dug deeply into the wood to reach the core. Then I put the piece of wood into a fire and let it burn to coal and finally I used the charcoal to color my cocktail, tells Slamet.

Slamet dedicates ”Black Forest” to his wife that loves the cake with the same name and blueberries.

International destination for gin experiences.
Hernö Gin Cocktail Awards is together with the launch of Hernö High Coast Terroir Gin a link in the companys longterm goal to strengthen the position of The High Coast of Sweden as an international destination for gin experiences and thereby attract visitors to the region.

– The cocktail competition grows as our export and our brand awareness increase in the world. This year we have long-distance guests and competitors from Australia, Hong Kong och Macau among other countries, tells Jon Hillgren, Founder and Master Distiller, Hernö Gin.

Unique nature experience for competitors and guests.

The international finals of Hernö Gin Cocktail Awards is an open-air event from beginning to end. Participant bartenders spend the day in the woods in Skule, experience the unique nature in the world heritage The High Coast of Sweden and pick the ingredients to their cocktails by themselves. The guests in the audience have dinner outdoors, witness the competition under bare sky and mingle in the outdoor bar.

– We want to offer our guests an unique nature experience. Last year we had participants from Hong Kong that had never been into the woods before and to us, taking the freedom in our Swedish nature for granted, it was truly magical to witness when they saw rasperries grow in the wild for the first time in their lives. Unforgettable memories, that’s what we want our guests to bring back home, ends Jon.