- cocktail culture
Fia. Oh Fia. These three letters could stand for “food is amazing” but, as it is, it’s short for Fiacre, the Latin god of gardens. An apt name for the restaurant Fia in Santa Monica, which, as it describes itself, is truly a “garden oasis”. A small alleyway leads from busy Wilshire Boulevard straight to the outdoor patio of Fia. And what a sight to behold, especially at night. On the multi-tiered patio, wooden tables and chairs stand under trees, softly lit by string lights. On the bottom level, the bar stands tall and proud on soft sand-coloured gravel. Above
Take me back to California! More specifically to Venice Beach and Santa Monica. It’s been four weeks since I’ve returned from an amazing holiday there and, boy, do I want to return. It was chilled, laid-back, creative, artsy, inspiring ; everything I was looking for. I’m telling you: there is a plane ticket to LA with my name on it for next year. But, in the mean time, let’s get to the cocktails in Santa Monica and Venice Beach now. The discouraging distances in Los Angeles Everybody’s been asking me how the cocktail bars were in Los Angeles. I’ll be
The global bartending and spirits community’s annual pilgrimage to Berlin is over. Bar Convent Berlin 2019 has closed its doors last Wednesday evening, bidding farewell to its 15’162 visitors! Berlin’s Station hosted an impressive amount of 446 exhibitors representing 1’200 drinks brands. A launch platform for new products Many took the opportunity of Bar Convent Berlin 2019 to present their latest products. That was for example the case of Ron Abuelo Two Oaks. Finished in extra-charred (a first in the rum world) virgin American oak barrels after a maturation in white oak barrels, the Panamanian rón tastes incredible. Another new
One, two, three and now four. The Geneva Cocktail Week is back for a fourth edition. It officially kicked off yesterday and will last until Sunday. Participating bars include Bottle Brothers, Blacksheep, Blacksheep Rive, Casa Tiki, Chat Noir, Little Barrel, Maison Balkii, Mambo Club, Mr. Barber, Shima (4Seasons), Le Verre à Monique and Voodoo Reyes One central stage: the IceBergues Like last year, the crop of Geneva’s cocktail bars are reunited in the form of pop-up bars in a single location for guests to easily sample – at a discount price – the drinks they have created especially for the
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.
Three weeks ago, I had the luck to attend the CLASS Bar Awards in London. Launched in 2003 by CLASS, the magazine of reference of the UK bar industry, the annual event gathers the most prominent figures of the country’s bar scene to celebrate the talents “that set the standard for hospitality and innovation across the UK”. The voting process The CLASS Bar Awards winners are elected either following the industry vote of the CLASS Collective, a group of over 70 industry experts from top bars across the UK, or after analysis of the submitted entries by a panel of
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.