- mixology
A jury composed of Lauren Mote, Daniel Schofield, Jennifer Le Nechet and Marcus Philipp has selected Dirk Hanny as the Swiss champion 2019 for the Diageo World Class competition.
Last week, Georg Häussler, bartender at Werk8 in Basel, crossed the proverbial Röstigraben, the mythical border between German and French speaking Switzerland. For one night, he was behind the sticks at Geneva’s Little Barrel to showcase the cocktail that has him qualified for the Swiss finals of the Bacardi Legacy competition. El Fronterizo, is a delicate balance of Bacardi Carta Blanca, Martini Ambrato, Creme de cacao blanc, verjuice and yellow bell pepper juice. A Bacardi Legacy inspired by personal history Georg entered the competition at the suggestion of his bar manager, Martin Bornemann, winner of the Swiss title in
Remember, when you were a child, the excitement for the launch of the latest Disney movie at the end of the year? Yes? Good! That’s precisely that feeling the team at Little Barrel in Geneva wanted to recreate with this year’s winter menu. Adult drinks inspired by childhood memories Sending back people to their childhood memories and giving a nod to their friends who are now right in the heart of the Disney/Pixar craze with their kids, the gents from Little Barrel have taken inspiration from old and recent animation movies to come up with their 12 new cocktails and
Genevans, get ready! The Geneva Cocktail Week is back for a third edition from 24 to 30 September! After a sophomore year assembling two dozen participating bars, the Geneva Cocktail Week organizers have refined their concept. The list is now narrowed down to a dozen true cocktail bars (in my humble opinion), with the likes of Little Barrel, the two Black Sheep (Etuves and Rive), Bottle Brothers, the brand new Casa Tiki, Voodoo Reyes, Dynastie or le Verre à Monique. Throughout the week, bartenders from Paris, London, Marseille, Zurich, Basel and Barcelona will take over some of the participating bars.
Yesterday, to encourage sustainability in the bartending world, Werk8 in Basel invited 8 bars from across Switzerland (Angel’s Share and Werk8 from Basel; Atelier Classic Bar from Thun; Cinchona bar, Felix and Tales from Zurich, Die Taube from Bern and Little Barrel from Geneva) for a special event on their terrace: Liquid Garden. The Swiss bartending community working towards local plants’ diversity A few weeks ago, each bar drew a plant growing in Werk8’s garden to create a cocktail and a mocktail. The night’s profits will go to Pro Specie Rara, a charity supporting the diversity of Swiss plants and
Launched in 2009, the Diageo World Class Competition is now in its 10th year. In the USA, Canada and other countries, interested bartenders can now submit their entries. The national Diageo World Class 2018 champions will compete in the World Finals which will take place this fall in Berlin at the time of BCB (Bar Congress Berlin). The search for the Diageo World Class 2018 Swiss representative was launched on February 5 in Geneva with events in Zurich and Lugano the following days. Sharing his experience to the bartenders in attendance was the exhuberant and charismatic Dennis Zoppi, the 2012
Two weeks ago, on a whim, I decided to spend the weekend in Basel. I lived there for a year between 2008-2009 and had fond memories of the city. Back then I was impressed with Basel’s nightlife, finding it had incredible venues and a solid liquid offer (yes, I couldn’t resist the wordplay). What I got to see at Werk8 in terms of venue and drinks comforted my 10 year old opinion. Industrial setting for craft drinking Werk8 stands in place of what was my favourite bar when I lived in Basel, Eo Ipso. The bar is really special and
Named after Rome’s main railway station, Bar Termini is an oasis of calm, a little slice of Italy, in London’s ever busy Soho neighborhood. It is both a daytime stop for a coffee – Italian quality coffee – and an evening halt for a nice cocktail pre or after dinner. The bar is rather discreet with its Venetian blinds almost hiding it from passers-by. Inside, the atmosphere is cozy and laid-back with seven small tables and a few seats at the bar. The luggage racks on the brick wall give the atmosphere of a station bar. Vintage style posters on
I couldn’t go to London over Christmas and not visit Coupette. Its head bartender, Franck Dedieu, won the Bacardi Legacy competition in 2015 and is good friends with some of my bartender friends in Geneva. Two good reasons to visit him in his new venue to sample some of his creations! Also, the bar manager, Chris Moore, used to be head bartender at the Savoy’s Beaufort Bar. When I mentioned I wanted to visit Coupette while having drinks at the Beaufort, his former colleagues encouraged me to go. Discreet address for a golden bar Located in Bethnal Green, Coupette is
Imagine entering a whisky shop, perusing at the many bottles of your favourite spirit on the shelves, admiring the old bookcase at the back of the shop and suddenly disappearing from the other customers’ view to end up in a place of wondrous potions (aka cocktails). No, this is not the synopsis of Harry Potter and the Vanishing Liqueur Cabinet (sorry!). It is however what you can expect for real if you wander in London in search of The Vault at Milroy’s of Soho… When I arrived in London for the Christmas holiday, I had a whole list of bars