2026 Mar 4
Luxury Brands (Private) Limited continues to raise the bar for Sri Lanka’s hospitality sector by introducing Diageo World Class, the world’s most prestigious bartending competition, to the island for the very first time. Celebrated in more than 180 countries as the benchmark in hospitality excellence and cocktail culture, the landmark debut by Luxury Brands elevated the company’s leadership in bringing global standards and experiences to local audiences.
Diageo World Class is a multi-stage global bartending challenge designed to strengthen practices in cocktail culture through education, mentorship and competitive benchmarking. It builds an ecosystem to help talent thrive and gain global recognition, with focus areas in craft, flavour mastery, creativity, hospitality and storytelling, inspiring consumers to appreciate cocktails as an art form.
As DIAGEO’s partner in Sri Lanka, Luxury Brands launched the international competition as an opportunity to uplift service guidelines in line with Sri Lanka’s Tourism and Service Destination agenda. The initiative supports stronger destination competitiveness through skills development, training and responsible service promotion, directly enhancing the customer offering throughout the hospitality sector. Significantly, DIAGEO’s management team attended the Sri Lanka event, adding international prestige and elevating the brand’s commitment to bartending excellence.
The World Class Sri Lanka programme blends mentorship, education and competitive bartending. Sri Lankan bartenders had the opportunity to train, compete nationally and potentially represent the island at the global finals, a first for Sri Lankan talent on the world cocktail stage. Over 100 bartenders representing leading bars and lounges around the country took part in the Master Class competition, from which the top 10 advanced to the national finals.
Akash Rajapaksha of Colombar, Cinnamon Lakeside, was adjudged the national winner and has now earned a spot to compete in the regional finals in India, against champions from India and Nepal. Success at this stage secures a coveted place on the global stage, where he will represent Sri Lanka among the world’s best at the prestigious World Class Global Finals.
He stated, “It is an incredible honour to be named the national winner at the very first Diageo World Class Sri Lanka competition. To me, the journey has been more than mixology but about creativity, hospitality and storytelling. Representing Sri Lanka on the regional stage is a dream come true and I am proud to showcase the skills, talent and passion of our bartending community to the world.”
The other finalists included Tharindu Dinashan of Cinnamon Citadel Lounge Bar, Chamindu Abeygunawardana of Amari Colombo: The Prego, Muthukumarsingam Thushan of ITC Ratnadeepa, Jude Fernando of Capital Tavern, Jayden Jayawardena of Kane Ella, Yasith Chathuranga of Capital Tavern, Hashan Nuwan of Honey Beach Club, Nilakshi Wijesinghe of Tiki Bar, and Thavisha Wijesinghe of Bommu Bar & Lounge, Kandy.
