Canada, raise a glass: Montreal bartender wins ultimate bartender championship
Posted February 3, 2026 7:27 pm.
Last Updated February 3, 2026 9:40 pm.
Raise your glass: Canada has a new champion behind the bar.
Marie-Louise Roy-Bilodeau, a Montreal bartender with just four years of experience, has claimed the Ultimate Bartender Championship (UBC) Americas title. Known for her precision, speed, and creativity, Roy-Bilodeau proved that skill knows no borders.
“I was so surprised. I didn’t really expect it at all. I went in there with no expectations at all; I was just happy to be a part of it,” she said.
From local gigs to global glory
Roy-Bilodeau began bartending nearly four years ago.
“I felt like it was great, and I was really happy to be doing it, but I never felt like I was up to the task,” she said. Her rapid start meant learning the classics and jumping behind the bar almost immediately.
Before bartending, she worked as an animal health technician.
“I actually switched careers. I finished school pretty much when the pandemic hit.
“I worked in a veterinary clinic for about four years, and then about four-and-a-half, five years ago, I switched and started working in the bar industry,” she said.
Since starting, Roy-Bilodeau has competed in numerous contests. Her boss at her previous job pushed her to apply to many of them. She took a brief break before returning to competition over the summer. “It was a good decision, apparently,” she said.
Currently, she hones her craft at La Cantina Concha in Montreal’s Old Port. Her persistence paid off when she won the Canadian qualifier, earning a spot among 26 of the Americas’ top bartenders at the finals in Colombia.
Winning isn’t just about speed
The UBC finals tested every facet of a bartender’s skill. Competitors advanced through six high-pressure stages — The Quiz, Pouring, Nosing, Table Service, The Perfect Serve, and the highly demanding Round Building final. Roy-Bilodeau not only excelled but emerged as the only woman in the top four.
“When they were announcing the semi-finalists and stuff like that, I found out I was the only one, so I was like, ‘Alright, A game on — let’s go.’ And that was something that was really, really happy about,” she said.
“The entire thing, the way that they did it, was like a circuit. You spent, I think, around five or six minutes just doing all the challenges.”
She says the pouring challenges were particularly intense.
“I think the part that maybe stressed me the most was the pouring, because you had like 16 shakers in front of you, and you were just pouring these quantities. When you’re stressed and trying to go quickly, your hands are shaking like crazy,” she said. “Then there was a part where you had to make a drink as fast as you could, and that was going super well, but I was using their shakers, and I had so much trouble opening their… shaker at the bar, so I lost a bit of time there. After that, I was like, you know what, we’ll see how it goes. I did my best, and apparently it was good enough.”
Even under pressure, Roy-Bilodeau shined, earning a championship ring, a branded varsity bomber jacket, and an invitation to an event later this year.
“I will be attending the World’s 50 Best Ceremony with Monkey Shoulder next year in October, so that’s the big prize,” she said.
Breaking barriers in bartending
Roy-Bilodeau was one of very few women competing in the high-speed rounds. “For me, it was a really big deal when I found out. When I saw how many women were participating, I think overall for that thing we were like four, maybe,” she said.
She sees this as part of the industry’s broader balance.
“I feel like there’s a lot of women in this industry that I’ve met, and I feel like it’s pretty equally split between men and women in this industry. It’s just more like sometimes for competitions, when it’s more inclined toward speed and stuff like that, not as many apply to do it. I’ve been up against a bunch of different women in other competitions where you create a cocktail and have to tell a story and all that, but anytime there’s a speed component, there’s maybe two, three, four of us, that’s it,” she said.
A job that she loves — and bragging rights
Roy-Bilodeau loves the bar industry.
“I love it. It’s great. It’s completely different — very different schedules, so I had to readapt myself to that. But I love it, and I wouldn’t see myself doing anything else,” she said.
And winning has earned her some fun bragging rights.
“My boss really enjoys telling people that I’m the best in the world. I’m like, ‘Alright, cool, thank you, not really, but I’ll take it.’ So yeah, we do joke a little bit about it.”
Looking ahead
With her international victory, Roy-Bilodeau plans to continue competing, travelling, and exploring educational opportunities.
“I’ll see what other competitions are happening and apply to the ones that seem interesting, and just continue doing travels and educational stuff,” she said.
Montreal now has a bartender to celebrate — a rising star proving that with skill, creativity, and a steady hand, anything is possible.
