More than triumph, a challenge

The young Bartender Miguel Zayas González, the only one from Sancti Spíritus who practices the acrobatic cocktail bar, was the protagonist of one of the two alauros that this central province deserved in the 43 edition of the International Tourism Fair (Fitcuba 2025)

When 21 years ago his parents Geunys Zayas and Yalema González baptized him with the name of Miguel, surely they did not even imagine the pseudonym relationship with the religious belief associated with a superior power or a divine being.

Perhaps from there comes its affinity for the art of serving cocktails in a creative and fun way, as if it were a juggling show. Only someone with special skills is able to move a pull, turn and throw with balance the capture of bottles, drinks and various work tools just behind the bar.

It is not simply about achieving the efficiency of movements with a little enhancement, but implies techniques that guarantee accuracy and how to avoid spills while several tricks and movements are performed.

The fusion of the service with the show imposed by Flair style has become its main challenge, as it demands skills and unlimited training time. The Cantinero is an artist, his canvas is the bar and his art are the cocktails. Faithful to that maxim, the young trinitarian whose figure and charism is perfectly agreed with this style of the cocktail bar.

More than a recognition is prestige at their young age and two of them concern international competitions: the cocktail prize within its style in the fourteenth edition of the Varadero Gourmet International Festival and, recently, third place in the International Tourism Fair of this year.

You are a cantinero at the Sky Bar of the Meliá Trinidad Peninsula hotel where you work at dawn and also practice this peculiar style of the cocktail bar that demands study and constant practice. How could you have both facets?

I work in a bar that does disco. It is a great effort, because they are important hours of the day that I dedicate them to it. Even so, I have to train, it is something difficult, I hope at some point dispose of a little more time to incorporate techniques that I aspire to improve. I try to take them a little inside the work, the rest day or when I return from school