A graduate of drinks giant Bacardi Limited’s Shake Your Future professional bartending programme has won the top prize in the City of Hamilton’s Taste of Bermuda: Set The Bar Cocktail Competition, which was sponsored by Bacardi.

Bacardi said Kierra Lee is the first woman winner in the city competition’s ten years.

She developed a winning cocktail, Papa’s Dream, that was inspired by her grandfather. It helped to propel her to the top spot in the recent competition.

Ms Lee benefited from Bacardi’s pioneering ten-week Shake Your Future programme, which provides free professional bartender training, including four intensive weeks of training at the European Bartending School in London, where the participants earned their international bartender certification.

She was among the seven who returned from the school, refined their skills and focused on personal branding and marketing.

They also embarked on a four-week work placement with some of Bermuda's top bars and restaurants, courtesy of Bacardi.

Shake Your Future is a programme created by Bacardi in 2018 in collaboration with the Bermuda Government's Department of Workforce Development.

It has since been expanded worldwide, reaching countries that include Italy, France, India and South Africa.

Bacardi wants to extend the free bar training course to 10,000 unemployed young adults across the world by 2030.

The company said: “Bacardi Bermuda is thrilled to announce the forthcoming launch of cohort 2 of Shake Your Future this November, offering more aspiring talents, like Kierra, the opportunity to excel in the art of mixology.

“Kierra Lee's journey serves as a powerful testament to the transformative influence of mentorship and support that the Shake Your Future programme provides.”