Meet the Three African Bartenders Competing at the Hennessy MyWay Global Finals

This article is sponsored by Hennessy.

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Hennessy’s commitment to fostering and supporting creative expression is a hallmark for the cognac brand. For Africans, this is evident in endeavours like the Hennessy Cypher series, last year’s ‘Made for More’ campaign, amongst others. And now, three Africans will be representing their countries in the global finals of the annual cocktail competition, Hennessy MyWay.

Taking place in Cognac, France later this month, Roxanne Read, Happiness Cletus and Brian Adam Ohadha will represent South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya respectively in the finals, after emerging as regional champions. Hennessy MyWay challenges bartenders across the world to redefine cocktail artistry by blending sustainable, eco-conscious practices with ritual serves that incorporate personal expression and cultural inspiration. Read, Cletus and Ohadha created cocktail recipes inspired by communal practices and experiences from their immediate surroundings.

“My coastal African identity is the foundation of everything I create,” Mombasa-raised Ohadha shares with OkayAfrica, adding that his approach is defined by Swahili culture. Coming into adulthood in a city “where life revolves around vibrant spices, communal eating, and shared memories,” Ohadha still has vivid connections to the flavours of Swahili street food like the ‘Viazi Karai’ that he bought and ate from school break-time vendors, as well as the taste of fresh wild fruits like ‘Kunazi’ and ‘Mapera’ picked from nearby bushes.

For Cletus, a Lagos-based bartender who’s been honing her craft for over four years now, competing in the 2026 Hennessy MyWay helped her reach even deeper into her Idoma heritage. Her winning cocktail recipe, ‘Grains of the Earth,’ drew inspiration from Idoma Kunu, a traditional beverage that’s beloved for its natural sweetness and is known as a cultural symbol of hospitality. Cletus says that crafting her recipe challenged her “to look beyond making a great drink and think more deeply about the story, culture, and intention behind every ingredient.” “It has taught me that my background is not something I need to separate from my craft; it is one of my greatest creative strengths.”

Read, who’s been making drinks and fiddling with her own recipes for about two decades, has a clear approach to her craft: “Cocktail creation has never just been about making something delicious for me. It’s craft, it’s art, it’s performance, it’s storytelling. It’s a way of saying, ‘This is how I see the world.’” With that, she has embraced the rigour demanded by this experience, admitting that she put a lot of thought into creating her recipes for Hennessy MyWay, to ensure that her cocktails and their accompanying rituals aptly captured what she was trying to say.

“I stopped asking, ‘How do I make an impressive drink?’ and started asking, ‘What do I have to say, and how can this spirit help me say it?’ Because if the story doesn’t mean something, the cocktail is just a cocktail,” she says. “But when the two have a reason to exist together? That’s when the craft becomes something much bigger than what’s in the glass. Similar to the cultural touchstones that mark Cletus’ and Ohadha’s competition recipes, Read said that she pulled inspiration from the Braai, a common South African social tradition akin to a barbecue.

All three bartenders will be looking to make history as podium-place finishers, either as Global Champion or for the Best Ritual or Most Sustainable titles. None of them is feeling any undue pressure, each emphasising the importance of being authentic and true to their environment as they present their final custom cocktails. In fact, Cletus expresses excitement, seeing her selection for the global final as a deserved recognition that isn’t just “a personal achievement. It is an opportunity to contribute to a bigger conversation about African bartending, our creativity, and the stories we have to share with the world.”

In the same vein, Ohadha sees competing in the global final as an opportunity to show the wide range of acculturation possibilities in cocktail culture, when Africans are given the chance to be as creative as they want to be. “The Hennessy MyWay platform provides the perfect stage to showcase 'originality' and raw cultural pride. Traditional bartending often confines you to standard international recipes. This platform allows me to confidently step forward and say: this is who I am, this is Mombasa, and these are the flavours that shaped my life.”

Meanwhile, Read admits that she underestimated the level of talent and creativity before entering the challenge, and she’s confident in how African bartenders and mixologists can turn their inspirations into great cocktails that deserve to be experienced. “I’m not entirely sure what the world expects from African cocktail culture, and I don’t want to pretend I do,” she says. “But I can tell you exactly what we bring to the table: soul, passion, colour, energy and a whole lot of personality.”

On a platform as momentous as the global final of Hennessy MyWay, Read, Cletus and Ohadha will be looking to set new standards for how the world interacts with African-inspired cocktail recipes. It will also be the latest show of how Hennessy continues to distinguish itself as a reliable cultural partner, one that engages with and celebrates African creativity in its diverse forms across the continent.