Jacob Pepin Wins the 2026 Bols Cocktail Battle Canada with Elder Lady

Inspired by this year’s vibrant Neon Nights theme, bartenders from across North America showcased their creativity, technical skill, and storytelling through original cocktails featuring the Bols portfolio.

Representing Canada, Jacob Pepin emerged as one of three North American winners of the 2026 Bols Cocktail Battle with his cocktail, Elder Lady. The win earns Pepin an expenses-paid trip to Amsterdam for the Bols Cocktail Fever experience, where he’ll train at the Bols Cocktail Academy, visit the Lucas Bols Distillery, participate in exclusive masterclasses, and connect with winning bartenders from around the world.

We caught up with Pepin to learn more about the story behind Elder Lady, the technique that helped shape the cocktail, and what this win means for the 23-year-old bartender.

Congratulations on winning the Bols Cocktail Challenge! What inspired your winning cocktail, and what story were you hoping to tell through it?

The Elder Lady cocktail is actually quite special to me, as I spent roughly my first year in bartending just developing skills and learning the bar. I was new to the bar scene after being in kitchens most of my life.

Along the way, I learned how cool bartending can get with all sorts of infusions and clarifications. The first kind of technique I got into was acid-adjusting juices! This cocktail is the first recipe I ever wrote down as my own and was hugely inspired by my coworker, who stayed around during all the testing, helping me decide if it was ready to present.

Only then did I truly learn just how awesome it is to work with all kinds of ingredients, or even change how an ingredient presents itself, trying to find a way to add less but more flavor. Using the acid-adjusted pineapple juice for the cocktail, I was also trying to skip adding any citrus juice to keep dilution of the alcohol low.

Every competition has its challenges. What was the biggest obstacle you faced during the process, and how did you overcome it?

The biggest obstacle I would say I faced stems from when I was originally developing the cocktail, as this recipe dates back roughly a year and a half.

I was trying to balance the recipe and eliminate the need for citrus juice while also not making it overly tangy or sour. I was micro-adjusting and tasting the same juice a multitude of times over a long period, trying to find the perfect sweet spot along the thin line between too little and too much. I would say it also tested my patience through constant trial and error.

What does winning the Bols Cocktail Challenge mean for you at this stage of your career, and how do you hope it influences what’s next?

At this stage of my career, I am honestly shocked that I have gotten this far. I have been in the bar scene around three years now. I am only 23, so there is lots of room still to grow!

I think that this will be a great way to connect with new people who are at a higher level, giving me opportunities to learn even more creative ideas for flavor pairings or ways to utilize some of the spent products after infusions, or the like, and repurpose them into something else for use.

I hope that this can give me those opportunities to really grow the skills I have or find new skills along the way!

How did working with the Bols portfolio inspire your creativity, and did you discover a spirit or liqueur that surprised you?

Working with Bols products has been wonderful! I switched out a few things on our menu to utilize their products more even before the competition had started.

I found that the elderflower has one of the best-balanced sweet-to-floral notes, while the melon flavor smells fresh and fruity but is not overwhelming, so they mix incredibly well with just about anything!

If you could give one piece of advice to a bartender thinking about entering their first cocktail competition, what would it be?

My biggest piece of advice for entering a competition? Honestly, just enter! You have nothing to lose by taking that chance, so you may as well try.

I had entered thinking this was a great opportunity to start working toward building more with bartending. I was super happy hearing the results, and if I had never taken this chance and entered, I wouldn’t have gotten to this point. I am super grateful to be among the chosen winners!

The post Jacob Pepin Wins the 2026 Bols Cocktail Battle Canada with Elder Lady appeared first on Chilled Magazine.