Julio Cabrera
Julio Cabrera is a world-renowned bartender whose career has spanned
over 33 years. His tenures have included Italy, Mexico, his native Cuba, and
currently Miami. He graduated with high honors at the Hotel and Tourism
University at trainer capacity in Nicosia, Cypress in 1991.
He joined the ranks of Cantineros in Cuba; a storied, professional, elegant Cuban
way of tending bar. He was later honored by being chosen as a professor for the
Cantineros.
After winning many national competitions, he was selected to represent a
legendary Cuban rum in Italy.
Julio joined the International Bartenders Association and participated in the I.B.A.
World Cocktail Competition in Bled, Slovenia in 2002.
In Cancun, Mexico he created and managed bar programs at the Grand Aqua Hotel
followed by the Condesa Hotel and most recently the luxurious Nizuc Resort and Spa.
After moving to the United States, he successfully completed the most outstanding bar course on earth, “Beverage Alcohol Resource” in New York City to round out his international bar and spirits studies.
In December 2012 he joined other great bartenders to
open The Regent Cocktail Club in Miami that was nominated as one of the Best Hotel Bars in the World.
Julio Cabrera was announced by GQ Magazine as 2013 America’s “Most Imaginative Bartender”. He has also won and placed in countless competitions worldwide including: MixItUp “The Ultimate Mixology Challenge” U.S. winner in New York 2011, The Mixing Star
U.S. winner in Las Vegas 2012, and Diageo World Class USA Finale first runner up in 2013 and 2014 in New York.
Cabrera was named American Bartender of the Year in 2019 at Tales of the cocktails, the most prestigious Bar Congress in the world, and he’s been voted for several years as one of the 100 Most Influential Person in the global bar industry by Drinks International. His work has been featured in many publications like Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, USA Today, Esquire Magazine, Imbibe, Punch and many others.
He is currently in his own bar Café La Trova, named one of the World’s 50 best bars in 2021 and 2022, best American Restaurant Bar by Liquor.com and best bar in south US. Julio is also making his dream come true: to be a professor for future generations of Bartenders, teaching the Cantinero’s Legacy.
