When Amber Harrison-Jones won the
local finals of the Stella Artois Draughtmaster competition earlier this year,
the challenge that lay before her was immense – represent Cayman at the world finals
in London.
She went into the competition with
no expectations at all.
“I just wanted to go there, do my
best and enjoy the whole experience,” she said.
However, once there, the enormity
of the event really set in.
“It was pretty much the X factor of
beer! There was a pre-elimination event the day before the final at a bar in
trendy Shoreditch. After a few hours of training all 25 of us had to compete
against each other for the first time and it was pretty nerve-wracking,”
recalled Harrison-Jones.
The next day the contenders held
rehearsals before the finals that evening.
“All 25 of us were lined up on
stage in front of over 1,000 people and on giant screens behind us were our
pictures and names as we waited for the host to name the five people not going
through. I made it through to the next round where the remaining 20 of us
showed off our pouring talents,” she said.
Harrison-Jones finished ninth in
the elimination round, falling just short of the top eight who continued on to
the final, but was still very happy with her result.
“I’m pretty darn happy – I’m ninth
in the world! There was some really tough competition so I’m very pleased I
made it that far,” said Harrison-Jones.
In spite of the stress of the
competition, she said the atmosphere was great.
“It truly was an amazing experience
and I met some really lovely and fantastic people. If I could, I would
definitely do it again.”
Related Videos
