For the past month, five of Bangkok’s leading bartenders have been vying to win Bacardi’s Legacy Cocktail Competition 2016 tasked with creating a new white rum-based cocktail with the potential to become an all-time classic. 

On Tuesday night, the winner was announced as Hawaii-native Mitchell Kai Lum of Banyan Tree’s Vertigo Too bar. Kai Lum's winning cocktail, The Haole (a word used mainly in Hawaii to describe a foreigner), mixes white rum, white vermouth, lemon juice and pineapple syrup topped with ginger ale. It’s a refreshing, tropical long drink that has you longing for the beach.

Seeking the next Mojito or Daiquiri, the competition called for a drink that's not only creative and tasty, but also easy to replicate all around the world.

The winner was selected by an international panel of experts including Managing Director of Bacardi Thailand and Philippines David Cordoba (owner of 28 Hong Kong bar and Proof & Co, in Singapore), Chanon Purananda (co-owner of Hyde & Seek, Smith and Scruffy Apron), winner of Bacardi Legacy Cocktail Competition 2012 Suwan Seelee and Thai wine expert Tawatchai Tappitak.        

Kai Lum will next represent Thailand at the the Bacardi Legacy Global Cocktails Competition in San Francisco on Apr 20-26.  

If you ask us, all of the finalist cocktails are worth trying. See more in our recent story Silom and Sathorn's best bartenders attempt to create future rum-based classics. 

The finalists (from left): Hideyuki Saito, Sarawut Pinpech, Mitchell Kai Lum, Sebastian De La Cruz and Wareewan Yodkamol