Jesse Estes
Jesse Estes is a London-based spirits educator, author, and former award-winning bartender. He has worked behind the bar at a number of award-winning venues across London, as well as performing guest bartending shifts around the world. During that time, he won several of cocktail competitions and since then has acted as a judge and chairman for various cocktail competitions and spirits awards, including Drinks International's International Spirit Challenge and the Tequila Masters.
In 2013, Jesse developed the bar program for London's first 'agavería' – a bar specializing in Agave Spirits – El Nivel. That same year, Jesse was named one of London's Best Bartenders by the Huffington Post. He is often consulted as an expert on agave spirits, and has been interviewed or featured in publications such as: Imbibe, Esquire, Shortlist, Spirits Business, Forbes and Drinks International, among others. In 2019, Jesse was one of the first people in the world to sit the WSET Level 3 in Spirits, and was a proud contributor to the WSET agave spirits curriculum.
Jesse is currently the Global Brand Ambassador for Tequila Ocho. Having helped expand the brand in more than 50 countries, he can now be found leading seminars, tastings, and masterclasses on tequila and other agave spirits across the world. He is also the author of two cocktail books, Tequila Beyond Sunrise and From Dram to Manhattan, and regularly contributes articles to trade publications. Jesse is also a Founding Contributor for The Drinks Trust’s Drinks Community, as well as the Agave Spirits Curator for Spirits Kiosk, a craft online spirits retailer directed at discerning drinkers.
