Bartender Ken Kodys left Colorado on September 3 for the 42Below Cocktail World Cup in New Zealand with one mission... to bring a third title back home. The bartending competition is our craft's version of the Olympics, in which 21 of the world's best bartenders representing six countries (and one all-star team comprised of past competitors) come together to compete in a weeklong challenge, with national pride at stake.
Team USA (aka Kodys, Steve Schneider and Beckaly Franks) dominated the competition from the beginning, winning the first two challenges and leading in points all week long. And after six days of competitions, seminars, parties, adventures and a whole lot of drinking, Team USA beat out second-place New Zealand and third-place Great Britain to emerge victorious and claim the 2012 42Below Cocktail World Cup.

Last week I finally caught up with Kodys to talk about the experience.