Inventory for June 8th, 2014
Our office bar has been cleaned. All bottles have been measured and counted. This weeks findings are, amongst others, the nominees of the Spirited Awards, new boutique distilleries opening up in the U.S. and three European bar shows.
Have you heard about Berlin’s summers? They are amazing. We’ve got continental climate, which usually means long stable periods of sunny wheather and not a lot of rain. This weekend has been a perfect demonstration so far. Over 30° Celsius and a perfectly blue sky. Time to check out the beer gardens or grill in the infamous Görlitzer Park. Oh, excuse us! You’ve asking about our winters? Erm, could we change the topic please?
From Berlin to Detroit. Our/Vodka soon to debut stateside
In the spring of 2013 Pernod Ricard opened its boutique distillery Our/Berlin in Berlin Kreuzberg, where its vodka is manufactured on-site. Based on the idea of introducing a locally produced vodka to the market, the business is shaped by the people who run each region. Invested in the success of their brand, the local partners have free reign in marketing and sales of the product. This entails that the positioning of the brand varies from city to city. The unusual situation brings a certain sense of flexibility along with it. The Berlin production process was placed in the hands of Pauline Hoch and Jon Sanders.
Having started in Berlin, more cities plan to follow. June of this year will see the opening of Our/Detroit. Given the former automobile city’s still pretty bleak economic and social situation this should prove to be an exciting next step. Detroit is catching itself, and now has a own Vodka brand to call its own. Numerous cities promise to launch in due time: Our/New York, Our/Seattle, Our/Los Angeles as well their European counterparts Our/Amsterdam and Our/London are set to debut later this year.
Barshows in Amsterdam, Paris and Warsaw
In the Noughties Amsterdam was the proud home to a beautiful and design-led barshow. Bartenders and bar-owners from Western Germany came to visit the show in droves. At some point the barshow was renamed Venuez, moved to Rotterdam and finally sold to a big Dutch hospitality show.
We are in the middle of witnessing the emergence of a new bar trade show in the Netherlands. The Perfect Serve is organized by an ex-Feijoa bartender and drew over 700 visitors to its premiere on May 12th and 13th. Learn more about the show here.
The boutique barshow Cocktails Spirits took place for the seventh time in Paris this year. A showcase of international bars that capture today’s Zeitgeist, anticipate new patterns of consumption and a celebration of the 100 new essentials for the upcoming 12 months, this year again drew visitors from all over Europe. Learn more about the show here.
The Bartender Symposium in Warsaw was limited to 80 visitors this year as it had to move to a bar. And yet, that did not stop the organizers from hosting a series of lectures touching on a wide range of topics. From Seduction & Body Language in a Bartender’s Life to Three-Dimensional Bartending and The History of Highballs. Learn more about the show here.
Spirited Awards Nominations 2014
On Saturday, the 24th of May the organizers of the Tales of the Cocktail festival announced the long list nominees for the Spirited Awards, which will be awarded in New Orleans on the 19th of July. Amongst those nominated were several German and Swiss establishments. Mario Kappes from Le Lion in Hamburg made into the mentions of “International Bartender of the Year”. Goncalo des Sousa Monteiro, who opened Le Lion bar together with Kappes back in 2007, was nominated with his Berlin bar gem Buck & Breck in the category “Best International Cocktail Bar”. Le Lion got another mention in the category “Best International Bar Team”.
Well deserved is the nomination of the famous Schumann’s American Bar in Munich in the category “Best International High Volume Cocktail Bar”. No surprise for connoisseurs should be the listing of Zurich’s Widder bar among the candidates for “Best International Hotel Bar”. Markus Blattner, the well known Swiss bar impresario who led Widder bar to fame over the last two decades, got a mention as well with his own new venture Old Crow in Zurich. It got listed for “World’s Best Drink Selection”.
On Friday last week the short lists were announced by Simon Ford in a Google hangout. Sadly only one “GSA” (Germany, Switzerland & Austria) bar made it into the final round: Munich’s Schumann’s bar is among the final four in the “Best International High Volume Cocktail Bar” category. It’s great to see other amazing European venues making the short list though. Among them are Prague’s Black Angel’s Bar, Door 74 from Amsterdam, Moscow’s Delicatessen and Candelaria in Paris. You can find all American and international nominees at Tales of the Cocktail’s website.
Drink Magazine China Celebrates Its Five-Year Anniversary
Chinese Drink Magazine is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year! The bilingual magazine was founded by Theo Watt in 2009 and reports on Chinese bar culture, as the only of its kind in the Asian region. Published bi-monthly in print form, with a circulation of approximately 10,000 it naturally also has an online presence. Drink Magazine has made it its personal mission to inspire and share its knowledge on anything relating to the bar. Shortly before the inaugural issue was published we spoke to Theo and now, five years later, MIXOLOGY sends only our best wishes!
