Our passion for our work often leads us to confuse what we love to do with what we have to: following step by step the journey of the bartenders at the World Class has been a real pleasure, and after Claudio Perinelli was proclaimed the best in Italy, we waited for him to enjoy his well-deserved victory before we exchanged a chat and understood who this young man is who has won not only a title but also many compliments.
Claudio has been working for some time now at the Bartenders Academy in Bussolengo, where I catch up with him. At least one thing is immediately clear to me: the World Class judges must have been impressed by his spontaneous and easy-going manner , because that is exactly how he welcomes me, proudly showing me the school's premises, between the warehouse and the course room, one of which ended just an hour before my arrival.
As a good bartender he immediately offers me a drink, and since we are in aperitif time we inevitably end up on an Americano. As an editor, I think that at any moment I will have to start asking him the questions included in my rundown but I immediately find it practically impossible since Claudio is a volcano of enthusiasm and chats and tells me exactly what I would like to know. To begin with how this passion for mixing was born and grew: during the summer of his fifteen years he experiences his first experience in a restaurant kitchen, which is only the beginning of a series of experiences related to the world of food&beverage. Another important milestone was working for Pasqualini, a company in Calmasino di Bardolino, Claudio's hometown, for which he delivered liquor. But the real turning point came one evening after work, when Claudio was at a friend's place, Kiosko in Peschiera del Garda, and almost as a joke, he was asked to help out at the tables: and so he began to frequent the place more and more assiduously, not as a patron but rather behind the counter. As time went by, what began as a passion turned into a real job, which Claudio increasingly preferred to the IT environment, on which he had focused his studies up to university. This year he had to leave Kiosko, due to his ever-increasing commitments at Bartenders Academy, where he teaches during bartending courses, from basic to advanced.
The thing that most amazes me about this guy is seeing him so passionate in talking about his work and especially amazed that he has come so far: if it is normal that someone who works so seriously, studying whole nights and reading books, preparing for months for international events, reconciling attention to detail with ease behind the counter is esteemed, it is also true that all this is not enough but it takes even more. Claudio's winning weapon is the joy of simply being alongside colleagues and friends in competing, the idea of enjoying the opportunity of being able to be judged by bartending holy monsters such as Dario Comini, Giorgio Fadda, and Gary Regan, participate in masterclasses by professionals such as David Rios, receive compliments from Dennis Zoppi, and fly to London for the World Class finals with the chance to serve a drink to Alex Kratena.
As for the World Class, Claudio admits that he feels overjoyed to have taken first place but dreads the last step in the British capital. There is a lot of excitement, but mostly excitement, but on the platform he has already shown that he does not give it away. What worries him the most, he admits, is the part where the judges get to ask questions about the making of the drink, reasoning that he always anticipates in his explanations every detail, trying to pre-empt their interventions, and he seems to be doing that even during our meeting, telling me much more than I would have imagined.
To better prepare himself for what awaits him, Mr. Perinelli is studying day and night, nonstop. He admits that if he does not make it to the second stage he would still feel satisfied already, although the real regret would be not being able to present all ten of the required and so intensively prepared cocktails. Of course, it is very difficult, the American colleagues are really fearsome, according to him, but Claudio has assimilated the best advice from the masters of bartending and above all, one keeps echoing in his head: 'take care of the details,' something he never stops doing.
Perhaps details, perhaps imagination, perhaps ease or knowing how to reconcile visual appearance, improvisation and oral transmission, perhaps all of these together, but Claudio is no stranger to competitions: before the World Class he participated in the Campari Competition, another competition in which he had not gone unnoticed.
From the competitions we then find ourselves reflecting on responsible drinking and the difficulty of doing the job of bartender in a time when everyone is improvising as such. At this point I have to remove my curiosity to understand his taste in mixing, discovering that Claudio's favorite distillate is Gin while as soon as possible he tries to avoid Vodka, although he loves Bloody Mary. Bitters he uses but without particular passion, being a fad, and if he could recognize himself in one category it would undoubtedly be aperitifs.
In short, from this pleasant chat we confirmed the idea we had had of Mr. Perinelli: competent, passionate, with character... both behind the bar and in life.
