Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo Main Bar “Brillant” Bartender and Japan Champion Yosuke Nakane Clinches Third Place in La Maison Cointreau 2018 International Finals

TOKYO -Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo(KPH), one of Japan’s most prestigious international hotels located in Shinjuku, Tokyo, is proud to announce that Yosuke Nakane, 33, bartender at our Main Bar “Brillant” located on the second floor of the South Tower, has clinched third place at the La Maison Cointreau 2018 International Finals.

La Maison Cointreau 2018 International Finals was a bartending competition held in Malaysia between October 22 to 25, 2018. Highly skilled bartenders from 12 different countries competed in the global competition held over three days and were judged for their improvisation, technical skills and creativity in three varied challenges. Nakane advanced to the international finals as Japan’s representative after winning La Maison Cointreau 2018 Japan Finals, held on September 13, 2018.

Bartenders were judged on the first day for their ability to create the perfect chocolate pairing for a classic Cointreau cocktail in a round entitled “Le Chocolatier Cointreau”. Nakane created a ‘chocolate cigar’ based upon the traditional after-meal pairing of cognac, cigar and chocolate known as the ‘Three Cs’, which he renamed ‘Four Cs’ by adding Cointreau in his cocktail.

On the second day, participants had to create an original cocktail using various foraged herbs with The Botanist gin as its base. Entitled ‘The Botanist Challenge’, The Botanist gin is made using 22 different botanicals native to the Isle of Islay in Scotland - the challenge was thus to showcase the gin’s philosophy using local herbs. Nakane was inspired by the theme of Alice in Wonderland and created a whimsical cocktail named ‘Sweet Dreams’. Adding liqueurs, Malaysian herbs and spices, he created a beautiful blue cocktail inspired by the classic cocktail White Lady – a feminine and irresistible cocktail to capture Alice’s own heart.

In the final day of the competition, bartenders were asked to not only create cocktails based of the theme of Night Markets, a staple of Malaysian life, but also to design their own bar counters and serve the cocktails in large batches, Night Market style. Nakane created a cocktail named ‘Uni-Tea’ which fused together elements of the popular Malaysian milk tea drink called Teh Tarik and Japanese tea. His bar counter was inspired by the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, sadō, combining colors of red and gold, and he dressed himself in a traditional Japanese kimono to create an authentic Japanese atmosphere.

To commemorate his success at the La Maison Cointreau 2018 International Finals, his ‘Sweet Dreams’ cocktail (JPY2,100 including service charge and taxes) is served from December 1, 2018 at the Main Bar “Brillant”.

Nakane looks forward to serving his unique and delectable cocktails to the numerous guests from all around the world, only at Keio Plaza Hotel.