Visiting mixologists serve up fresh ideas that will have World Cup fans seeing double

If you need a break from tonight's World Cup football, you might check out the final evening of the three-day Cocktail All-Stars event at the Landmark Mandarin Oriental hotel's MO Bar, where four of the world's top mixologists will devise and serve drink concoctions that represent their bar-counter roots. The visiting bartenders include Chris Hannah of The French 75 Bar in New Orleans; Kenta Goto from New York's Pegu Club, Hidetsugu Ueno of Tokyo's Bar High Five and Ryan Fitzgerald of San Francisco's Beretta.

We caught up with California-born Fitzgerald (pictured) at MO Bar. He served up some fresh ingredient ideas for his Hong Kong counterparts in his tequila cocktails and margaritas.

'I've got many responses from the locals [saying] they've never tried the cocktails before,' said the 35 year-old, sharing details of his favourite recipe. 'I'm really into mezcal [a smokier kind of tequila] fizz now, with some egg white, grapefruit, lime and soda. It's almost like an alcoholic milkshake.'

The hotel's event helped to promote the cocktail culture in Hong Kong, said Fitzgerald, who has been mixing drinks for 12 years in his home state.

But there is more to mixology than making cocktails, he said.

'One can learn how to make a good drink easily, but providing an environment for people to have a great time is the most important,' Fitzgerald said.