BVLGARI GINZA BAR: 'WORLD CLASS 2024 JAPAN FINAL' The future as envisioned by the winning bartender! - Part 2 -

Masato Ishioka became a hot bartender after winning the WORLD CLASS 2024 JAPAN FINAL held in early July 2024.In the second part, we asked him about his future prospects!

writer：Drink Planet　撮影：Daisuke Akita

'Drink Kong', Patrick Pistolesi (centre).

Influence from Italian bartenders.

As mentioned in the previous part, Masato Ishioka, senior bartender at BVLGARI GINZA BAR, honed his skills exclusively at the shop.

'Since our shop is an Italian brand, we have guest events on an irregular basis, inviting famous bartenders from Italy and other parts of the world.My career is only at 'BVLGARI GINZA BAR', but I was greatly influenced by the world-class bartenders who came as guests," says Ishioka.

For example, Patrick Pistolesi, owner and co-founder of 「Drink Kong」 in Rome, Italy.

He was ranked 21st in The World's Best Bar 2023!(Patrick also appeared at the Tokyo International Bar Show 2023!)

Or Alex Frezza, co-owner bartender of 「L'Antiquario」, also in Naples, Italy.

Ranked 44th in The World's Best Bar 2023!

It was a great experience for me to watch the top bartenders prepare the cocktails up close, help them and learn directly from them, rather than simply reading a cocktail book or watching a video.It was also a great learning experience to watch the smart Italian way of serving customers from the same counter."