“I don’t drink,” he told a small audience who gathered around to watch. “I think I’m the only bartender on Tortola who doesn’t drink.”

Asked how he learned to make the drinks he mixes at the BanaKeet Cafe, he grinned widely.

“YouTube,” the 19-year-old said, as he carefully floated dark rum in two glasses. “I picked it up in, like, a few months.”

Mr. Stoutt was one of three bartenders competing for a chance to represent the territory at the annual Taste of the Caribbean competition in Puerto Rico in June. The other two, Wycliffe Gumbs and Prince Joseph, stood at nearby tables making their own concoctions.

The Friday event, hosted by the BVI Chamber of Commerce and Hotel Association with the help of the Tourist Board, was the first in the selection process for the territory’s 2010 Culinary Team.

A second competition will be held on Virgin Gorda to accommodate bartenders who were unable to attend on Friday. Organisers said there are about four or five others who will take part in the next competition.

The winning bartender will compete against about 13 other teams in the Taste of the Caribbean competition in Puerto Rico in June.

Besides a bartender, the final team will include three chefs, a pastry chef and two alternates. The chefs also will have to compete for spots on the team, but, instead of getting only 10 minutes to prepare a drink, they will get three hours to prepare meals. The dinners are scheduled to start on Nov. 21.

“The goal is to select the best talents the BVI has to represent them at an international competition,” said BVICCHA Executive Director Joanne Allen.

The full story appears in the Nov. 5, 2009 issue.