Daven Tamayo

Why champion bartender Felice Capasso thinks like a chef

Article (news)

Ralph Revelar Sarza

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1784948089026x IMG_0073 copy.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Diageo World Class 2025 champion Felice Capasso. Handout </div>MAKATI — Ask Felice Capasso about cocktails and he&#x27;ll probably start talking about fermentation.Or maturation. Or aroma. Or texture. At one point, the 2025 Diageo World Class Bartender of the Year even borrowed a chef&#x27;s vocabulary — not what most people expect from the world&#x27;s top bartender.Capasso was in Manila for a two-day Diageo World Class program that opened with a guest shift at The Spirits Library in Poblacion, Makati. Inspired by the flavors and culture of Norway, he introduced a five-cocktail menu featuring The Singleton, Don Julio Blanco, and Tanqueray No. TEN, demonstrating how each spirit&#x27;s aroma, texture, flavor, and heritage could shape an entirely different drink. &quot;The approaches are almost unlimited,&quot; Capasso said. &quot;The first step is to understand what guides each spirit, then identify one or two of its defining characteristics — whether that&#x27;s texture, aroma, or flavor — and build your concept around them.&quot; He sees cocktails less as recipes than as an extension of the spirit itself.<div> </div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1784948127485x IMG_0042 copy.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Diageo World Class 2025 champion Felice Capasso. Handout</div>&quot;It&#x27;s not about what you do, but how you do it,&quot; he said. &quot;Besides the technical aspect — which of course requires years of learning — it&#x27;s ultimately about the way the drink is delivered and the experience you create for your guest.&quot; The guest shift was followed by an exclusive masterclass for local bartenders, where Capasso shifted the discussion from mixing drinks to understanding them.Drawing comparisons to great chefs, he argued that bartenders should know their ingredients with the same level of precision.&quot;Have you ever met a great chef who doesn&#x27;t know the DNA of the raw materials they&#x27;re working with?&quot; he asked. &quot;Every great chef understands them in detail.&quot; For Capasso, that means looking beyond tasting notes and understanding how raw ingredients, fermentation, distillation, and maturation shape every spirit before deciding how to build a cocktail around it.&quot;It&#x27;s science,&quot; he said. &quot;Your job as a professional is to understand those factors and then decide how to highlight them in the cocktail.&quot; <div> </div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1784948163467x IMG_0192 copy.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Diageo World Class 2025 champion Felice Capasso. Handout</div>The masterclass also offered a closer look at Diageo World Class, one of the industry&#x27;s leading bartender development programs, which combines education, mentorship, training, global networking, and international competition.Winning the 2025 Diageo World Class Bartender of the Year title, Capasso said, was &quot;the best moment&quot; of his life.It also changed what came next.&quot;Winning World Class is not the end,&quot; he said. &quot;It&#x27;s the beginning.&quot; The title, he explained, gave him a platform to mentor other bartenders, exchange ideas across cultures, and continue learning himself. &quot;Knowledge is power. World Class pushes you to perform under pressure, to research, to study, and to work against deadlines. When you sign up for World Class, you learn more in a few months than you probably did in years.&quot; Great bartenders are often admired for making difficult things look easy. Over two days in Manila, Capasso made it clear that the hard part happens long before anyone reaches for a shaker.<div> </div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1784948185165x IMG_0081 copy.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Diageo World Class 2025 champion Felice Capasso. Handout</div>

Diageo World Class 2025 champion Felice Capasso brings cocktail masterclass to Poblacion.

Diageo World Class 2025 champion Felice Capasso brings cocktail masterclass to Poblacion.