Masters of the perfect pint

Jim Griffiths and Selena Gildea from Pog Mahone’s in Queenstown won the 2010 Guinness PintMaster title last night.
 
Five teams from across the country went head-to-head in the national Guinness PintMaster final held at The Classic comedy club in Auckland.
 
Runners up were last year’s winners Dermot Murphy and Finnbar Clabby from the D4 Irish Bar in Wellington.     
 
This is the second time Griffiths has won the national title – the first being the inaugural Guinness PintMaster in 2008.
 
The national final consisted of two rounds – the Perfect Pint round and a cocktail round where they had to impress the panel of judges with a unique Guinness cocktail of their own creation.  
 
The other finalists were John Doran and Tom Power from Fox & Hound’s in Hamilton; Mike Kane and Nik Dodge from The Irishman in Christchurch and Gail Beker and Sandy Ditchburn from Waxy O’Sheas in Invercargill.    
 
Judges for the evening were Guinness Quality Director for Australasia Rik Chambers, Go Girls actress Anna Hutchison, artist Otis Frizzell and The Edge radio personality Dom Harvey. MC was Guinness fan and 7 Days panelist Paul Ego.
 
“We were absolutely stoked to win. We tweaked our cocktail a few times to make sure it was perfect,” says Gildea.     
 
Rik Chambers says the creativity and skill was evident across all teams. “The winners also displayed a real sense of presence and personality behind the bar, which is so intrinsic to Guinness.”
 
In addition to the illustrious Pint Master 2010 title, the winners each receive a cash prize of $1759 each, which is the year Guinness was founded.