HAVANA, April 18 (Reuters) - Cuba is famous for its rum

cocktails and on Wednesday evening below Havana's iconic Morro

Castle, guarding its bay, 400 people gathered to toast its

best-known rum, Havana Club, but not with Cuba libres, mojitos

and daiquiris in hand.

The festivities marked the culmination of an international

competition sponsored by the brand, a joint venture between Cuba

Ron S.A. and Pernod Ricard, pitting the cocktail

mixing skills of 600 bartenders against one another.

"The uniqueness of the event is that beyond promoting the

individual creation of cocktails ... it takes into account

friendship and camaraderie," said Havana Club's global

ambassador, Alfredo Guerra.

Alexandra Constantinescu from England said, "I think the

most difficult thing is the time, to work under pressure."

She was one of 16 finalists in eight teams attending the

event and offering the guests a choice of original cocktails.

"We are coming from different countries, so the products we

use have a different taste. The banana in England tastes

different from the banana in Cuba, and all the cocktails were

made and balanced here and that's the most beautiful thing," she

said.

Constantinescu and her teammate did not win the grand prize

for the world's best Havana Club cocktail mixer, nor did teams

from China, Spain, Brazil and other countries.

The team from Greece, made up of Danos Minoudis and Andreas

Giaprakas walked away with the 10,000-euro ($10,700) prize.

($1 = 0.9390 euro)