Evan Stroeve is a bartender, the Australian Diageo World Class Bartender of the Year for 2021, a brand owner in Rhubi Mistelle, and a bar consultant, and he’s not yet 30 years old.

I first interviewed Evan in 2017 when he was at Shady Pines Saloon in Sydney, and he since went onto a trio of Australia’s best bars: The Baxter Inn, Bulletin Place, where he was the general manager, and now Re, Matt Whiley’s innovative zero waste bar in Sydney.

We talk about how he has used cocktail competitions like World Class to further his career, whether these comps are indeed necessary to build a career; we dive into how Evan and his business partner Tim Philips Johansson took a house-made ingredient for Bulletin Place and commercialised it for a wider audience Rhubi Mistelle — and a lot more.