The final round for Secret Cocktail Club for 2018 is here and it’s a cracker event.

Because this time, we’re pitting bartender vs sommelier to find out who can pair a libation best with cheese. Take 3 cheeses and on the bartender side, we’ll be presenting a flight of 3 matching cocktails. On the sommelier side, expert somm Vincenzo Cuomo has chosen 3 wines to pair with the cheese. You score as we go along to find out whether the Italians really do it better and more importantly, will Bartender or Sommelier triumph?

Our theme for the night is Italiano so you can expect to taste some fantastic cheese and liquor that run to that theme. You can expect the wines to be the harder to find variety, and not anything you can get in your run of the mill bottle shop. Vincenzo has an envious list of qualifications, Originating from the Amalfi Coast in Italy where he ran the wine section of a longstanding deli and wine shop in Positano, Vincenzo holds a sommelier diploma from the Association of Italian Sommeliers. He's also a cheese nerd and a member of the Slow Food Movement. Since arriving in Australia, he has worked at a number of establishments and nowadays you can find him working the floor on selected nights at Capriccio, an Italian restaurant in Leichhardt that is helmed by ex-Tetsuya chef Nicole Bamford.

Our cocktails will be equally expertly curated and designed to be easily replicable at home. Just in time for Christmas party season!