E125 Katalin Bene
Swiss Tornado
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This weeks guest is Katalin Bene, who currently resides in Geneva Switzerland. Originally hailing from Hungary, Katalin grew up in a tiny village, in the picturesque Transylvania, where she could often be found outdoors, exploring the countryside, or helping her parents with agricultural work.
After finishing school, Katalin’s curiosity pushed her to move to the city of Cluj and study “Tourism Geography”, and it was during that time that she started working in the hospitality industry.
Katalin often speaks about starting from the disadvantage of not knowing any other alcoholic beverage except wine, beer, fruit distillates, never tried many basic food items, and had absolutely no idea about cocktails, but she was immediately mesmerized by this whole new world and quickly decided to become a bartender.
In the present, Katalin is a well-traveled hospitality professional, with 16 years of bartending experience, and an extensive knowledge about exotic herbs, spirits, cocktails and homemade ingredients; but more importantly, she has dedicated her professional life to ensuring guests have amazing experiences in the bars in which she works.
First, Katalin made a name for herself in London, as the Bar Manager of The Gibson Bar (at that time ranking 6th on the World’s 50 Best Bars list), then as Bar Manager & multi award-winning bartender in Switzerland. She is currently working as Bar Manager of the newly opened Live Bar, M3 Groupe in Geneva.
Katalin is a creative dynamo, or the “Swiss Tornado” - nicknamed by her industry peers. Katalin has consulted/advised for several artisanal spirit brands, she has judged international bartending competitions, and led presentations and trainings for bartenders across Europe.
In the past few years, Katalin was also one of the International Judges of Tales Of the Cocktails Spirited Awards.
Katalin’s accomplishments include the following:
- Falstaff Magazine "Bar Woman of the Year" Award, 2019.
- ”Mixology Bar Awards” – Shortlisted in the Top 4 Bartenders of 2019.
- BRIFT Bar Convent "Best Mixologist Award", 2018.
- ”World Class Bartender of the Year” and Global finalist, 2018, Switzerland.
- Winner of International Team Competition “De Kuyper Bar Fights”, 2015.
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Podcast Artwork by Zak Hannah