Mixologist is a polarizing term. Yet the expression defines a specific group of bartenders. While "bartender" as such stands for every person working behind the counter and preparing and selling beverage in a hospitality environment, mixologists have a additional skills: they are cocktail bartenders. The Mixology Bar Award for Mixologist of the Year is bestowed upon a bartender, who has distinguished himself over the years with an outstanding knowledge in the use and combination of flavours.
Winners in the past two years were Mario Grünenfelder (Tausend Bar, Berlin) and the pharmacist bartender Heinz Kaiser (Dino’s Bar, Vienna). Mario Grünenfelder succeeded in establishing new cocktail standards among his guests. His understanding of flavors and managing of the unusual bar concept Tausend did polarize and stimulate the GSA bar scene enormously. Heinz Kaiser in turn learned the craft of the pharmacist and started applying these scientific principles onto the world of cocktails while working in Vienna’s Dino’s Bar. This brought him high acclaim and such did the sharing of his knowledge with other bartenders in seminars.
The Nominees 2009:
Oliver von Carnap (Trinkhalle, Munich
Torsten Spuhn (Modern Masters, Erfurt)
Ricardo Albrecht (Lebensstern, Berlin)
Klaus Stephan Rainer (Schumann´s, Munich)
Erich Wassicek (Halbestadt, Vienna)
Andreas Obermeier (Nightfly’s, Vienna)
Günter Windhorst (Windhorst, Berlin)
Nominees in other Categories 2009:
Helmut Adam
Helmut Adam ist Herausgeber von Mixology, Magazin für Barkultur, trinkt gerne Negronis, Tequila und den einen oder anderen Gin & Tonic. Bevor er sich zum Bar Manager an der Mixology Bar aufschwang, arbeitete er als Bartender in Zürich, Wien, Berlin und London.
