Björn Olsson
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After winning a couple of years in a row, he unexpectedly lost the title last year. This year Danilo came back with a vengeance.
The 2007 world cup final in flair bartending was recently held in Kaohsiung Taiwan.
The final was very tough as usual but when both technical and taste jury had marked all scores it was obvious that one competitor stood out in a class of his own: Danilo Oribe from Uruguay.
The 24 year old bartender from Uruguay won his first world cup final in Las Vegas 2004 and repeated the success in Helsinki 2005 last year at the Porto Carras final he was beaten by Mr Levent Yilmaz of Turkey and went home with a silver medal.
This year he was not supposed to compete in the final, only attend the IBA (International Bartender Association) congress but when the original competitor from Uruguay got problems and had to cancel his trip Danilo was asked to replace him with very short notice, but a nice cocktail and an outstanding routine gave him the title back quicker than expected.
Two questions about the latest trends in flairing:
What do you think of the current trends in flair, to me it seemed to be much more "elbow flipping” this year?
Yes, I agree. Fortunately there are many new guys practicing a lot and getting better, that’s great for Flair. As well as in my opinion there is a long way to go, the level could be much better in the next years. And for the development of Flair in general, it would be great to have more presence on the TV.
Some years ago three bottles in the air could be enough to win, this year you did five, where is the limit you think?
Is a nice question, nowadays may be you have a great routine till four bottles and other competitor has a 6 bottles routine but you win. Is not just about how many bottles you flip, is also about the whole routine
I think there is no limit, always new tricks to improve, but 6 or 7 bottles would be the limit talking about objects I think, more than that would not be interesting in my opinion.
Today Danilo works at Kahunaville bar, Treasure Island Hotel in Las Vegas a bar where a team of flair bartenders performs flairshow every night in the specially designed bar.
Being a top flair bartender of course needs a lot of practice very day. Danilo started in 2002 and after only 45 days of training he won his first rookie contest. Today he practice at least three hours / day and go to more than 20 competitions a year all over the world always carrying a lot of equipment, bar tools and at least one bag full of empty bottles for his routine.
The ABSOLUT bottle is maybe not the easiest to spin in the air but according to Danilo it is
perfect for a stall on the head, maybe with a rotating tray spinning on the pourer.
If you are a beginner here are three golden rules from a three-time world champion:
First step, no secret, practice, practice and more practice.
Try to practice step by step, getting better little by little, for example, forget about trying with 3 bottles at the beginning. That’s very important, if you are not smart about that point, you won´t get any better, even if you have great conditions.
Secondly, try to perform as much as you can, in Competitions, in Shows, etc, that will help a lot.
And thirdly, don’t worry about doing hard tricks at the beginning, if you are motivated you will have plenty of time for that, just try to prepare nice and clean routines, to have fun and enjoy your time at the stage, that is my best advice.
Wise advice from the man who won 3 World Cup finals in 4 years.
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