werbung
The congenial Irishman is Bols’ global brand ambassador and head bartender. He opened up and directs the Bols Bartending Academy in Amsterdam and is a fervent admirer of Dutch genever.
Furthermore he has his own consultancy, Liquid Solutions, and in his different functions travels the world to train, teach and drink.
Why are you coming to the Bar Convent Berlin and what is your presentation "Rich and Famous with Bols" going to be about?
I’m coming to BCB, because Germany now occupies the place in global mixology I thought it deserved, when I started coming very regularly to Germany three years ago. I recognised driven, passionate professionals and the world’s best classic cocktail bars then already, and it’s only gotten better since.
BCB is the crowning glory of that, and I get to visit the host I respect more than any other, Mr. Scholl in Rum Trader.
Rich & Famous is a fun title, but it’s essentially about how to make money for yourself by serving great drinks for which you can maintain the quality even when it’s SRO and packed to the ceiling, drinks that will be reordered by guests who return to the bar and who recommend the bar and its drinks to their friends.
This alone will make you famous, and working quickly and efficiently behind a well-set-up well-spec’d bar in a team of professionals that are (very important this) managed by a manager who’s a professional manager will make all concerned, well, not rich perhaps, but certainly richer than they would otherwise be.
What is your job as brand ambassador and head bartender of Bols like?
The best job in the world (apart, possibly, from that of Ed Hamilton, Minister of Rum). I travel the world business class, sleep in luxury hotels, meet gorgeous women in stylishly appointed bars and get paid to talk about drinks, cocktails, bartenders and just about anything else that pops into my little Irish head.
There are also enjoyable aspects to my work, though: setting up the Bols Bartending Academy in Amsterdam was a dream, as was briefing the design team about drinks, cocktails, history and bartending for the award-winning House of Bols in the same building.
The part of my work that isn’t visible is one of the most rewarding: advising the marketing and management of firms like Bols and Maxxium on their programs, often when they’re still in the concept phase. I can gently lead them away from ideas that won’t work, and make sure the budget is spent on initiatives that will work and be respected and well-received by the bartenders and consumers they’re aimed at, and that more bottles get sold!
I’m not in fact an employee of Bols or Maxxium or indeed of anyone except my own firm Liquid Solutions: I still do consulting for other clients like Marriott International, and my real passion, writing, for magazines like BarLife in the Czech Republic, who are having their own inaugural Bar Awards just after BCB.
You heard it here first, Czechs are the new Germans in mixology terms!
Which are the most interesting new product developments by House of Bols?
Ah ha! There’s some extremely cool global projects that I’m sworn to secrecy about, that’ll be launched just before BCB. But generally liqueurs are an ongoing cycle, and I’m very proud to have helped with the new Mango, Triple Sec & Lime (Canada) and Acai Berry (USA) flavours, as well as on Galliano L’Autentico, Ristretto and Balsamico.
What kind of trainings and seminars can we expect from the Bols Bartending Academy in future? Are you planning on expanding your course offering?
Yes! In the future: more certified courses, harder exams, the ultimate sales-rep/marketing executive boot camp, master apprentice programs such as Australia’s just-launched The Craft program, hosting the legendary BAR program, hosting the WSET again, running the Ultimate Mythbusters program (test all cocktail myths and opinions such as stirring old fashioned, shaking Ramos’s etc) under laboratory conditions observed by a notary public and with an invited panel of the world’s top, to create judgements on what is in fact the best way to make drinks that we can abide by). And much more…
Which has been your favourite spirit or cocktail lately?
Of Bols: the Corenwyn 6 Years Old and 10 years Old, which were launched at the same time as the new Bols Archive (only accessible to Bols insiders) and the Bols barrel storage facility at Zoetermeer, near the Hague. The barrel storage even includes a “paradise” to which only our master distiller Piet has the key, and some of the genever in there would make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window…
Non-Bols: Diego Loret De Mola’s sublime Bar Sol Pisco (Quebranta), Adega Velha aged Portuguese brandy based on vinho verde, from the excellent Avelada vineyards, and a birthday present, Suntory’s Hibiki 17 Yeard Old Japanese whisky.
Cocktail: a real old-school Dark & Stormy with Gosling’s Black Seal rum (easy to get) and the real original Bermuda Barritt’s Ginger Beer (which I bought in a jam packed New Orleans dance club at 0400h while taking a break from dancing with a beautiful women in front of a 16-piece band…)
Phil, thank you for this interview.
Jonathan Ulrich
Jonathan Ulrich beschäftigt sich seit Langem mit Wirtschaftsthemen, die in der Bar in die Praxis umgesetzt werden können. Nach einer längeren Tätigkeit für Maker’s Mark, hat er mit seinem Partner Stefan Hinz 2011 eine Beratungsagentur für die Spirituosenindustrie gegründet.
