Lithuanian Bartender Wins Graham’s Global Cocktail Competition Final in Porto

The fifth edition of the Blend Series Cocktail Competition, hosted by Graham’s, concluded with a winner who surprised many but convinced everyone: Lithuanian bartender Greta Skamaročiūtė. The global final took place at the Matriarca venue in Porto, bringing together the finest mixologists from several countries in a creative challenge centred on Graham’s Blend Nº5 White and Blend Nº12 Ruby Port wines.

Skamaročiūtė took first place with her cocktail ‘Not a Sisyphus Hill’, receiving a prize of two thousand euros, stock of both brand blends, and an invitation to represent Graham’s at an international guest shift. Second place went to Lithuanian Laurynas Lazdauskas, representing the Netherlands, and third to Briton Damian Murgatroyd of the United Kingdom.

Charlotte Symington, marketing director of Graham’s and a fifth-generation member of the Symington family — the brand’s owners — praised the standard of the competition, highlighting the way in which participants had succeeded in reinterpreting Port wine through a contemporary lens without losing its identity. The judging panel also included Gary George Sharpen, editor of The Cocktail Lovers Magazine, journalist Richard Godwin, and Paulo Gomes, founder of Red Frog Bar in Porto.

The Blend Series annually challenges international bartenders and mixologists to create original cocktails using Graham’s Blend Nº5 and Blend Nº12, positioning Port wine as a benchmark ingredient in contemporary mixology.