“My dream is to become a mixologist”, said Wei-ching Wang, a champion of two recent international competitions in creative cocktails. Everybody deserves a drink of his/her own and she works hard to come up with a unique mix for every individual. Wei-ching Wang emphasized that she moved to the south to study under Assistant Professor Chih-ling Kuo in the Department of Food and Beverage, Cheng Shiu University, and she attributed her award to the university’s great teachers and facilities.

Early in 2021, freshman Wei-ching Wang from the Department of Food and Beverage, Cheng Shiu University, represented the university in the 2^nd Daegu Global Beverage Conference and Traditional Liquor Creative Cocktail Competition, as well as the international creative cocktail event of the 3^rd Handpicked Cup Australia Wine International Wine Sommelier and Blind Tasting and Bartending Competition. The former was based on OMAR, which is a Taiwanese whisky brand, and the latter was created with Cheng Shiu University’s baked morrow coffee beans, which were combined with the licorice liqueur designated by the organizer. Wang won championships in these two competitions with these drinks.

Assistant Professor Chih-ling Kuo, a world champion in cocktail mixing from the Department of Food and Beverage, led Chiung-wen Liao and Hsi-ying Hsieh from the Department of Tourism and Recreation to participate in the competitions. Wei-ching Wang left the north and came to Cheng Shiu University in the south to learn from Kuo. Under Kuo’s guidance, Wei-ching Wang and other winners presented the awards to President Jui-Chang Kung of the university today, followed by Wei-ching Wang’s performance of mixing creative cocktails.

President Jui-Chang Kung indicated that the contests are always fierce at international competitions and the judges are the national champions of the host countries. It was a remarkable achievement for the students from the Department of Food and Beverage and Department of Tourism and Recreation to win awards, in particular, the double championship awards of Wei-ching Wang. President Jui-Chang Kung believes the honor of these awards and the efforts during the training process will stay with these students for life, and help in the development of their careers.

The 2^nd Daegu Global Beverage Conference and Traditional Liquor Creative Cocktail Competition (2021) attracted participants from Taiwan, Korea, France, Singapore, Japan, the Philippines, and Thailand. Chun-yu Lin, Yu-shan Chang, and Shi-peng Wang from Cheng Shiu University received awards for outstanding technical skills.

The participants in the international creative cocktail event of the 3^rd Handpicked Cup Australia Wine International Wine Sommelier and Blind Tasting and Bartending Competition came from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and China. Shi-peng Wang and Chun-yu Lin from Cheng Shiu University both won honorable mentions.

Assistant Professor Chih-ling Kuo said that the international competition of blind tasting wines is seldom seen in Taiwan. As many competitions this year were held online due to the pandemic, in order to ensure fairness, the questions were drawn on the day of the blind tasting content, and all the contestants had to be onsite and adhere to the anti-COVID measures stipulated by the central government. 

The participants drew six questions in the blind tasting competition at a venue designated by the organizer and answered these questions after blind tasting. The winners included Ju-yin Yuan (the runner-up) from the Department of Food and Beverage, and Ling Hung and I-chen Lo (third place) from the Department of Tourism and Recreation. Meanwhile, Shao-shan Lin and Wen-wei Lin won the Golden Mouth Award, and Yu-chieh Huang and Chi-ku Ti Pu Ssu won the Silver Mouth Award.