Cocktails
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Cocktails
Do you like it classic or unusual? Short or long drink? Whatever: you can’t spend the summer without a cocktail shaker close to hand in any case. As always, London is trend-setting and taking over the world! Getting to the bottom of this cocktail-mania in ten questions.
Who’s the hippest of them all?
“London is for cocktails what Paris is for good food,” Bertrand Guillou-Valentin emphasised, head barman at the Buddha bar. Same story at the Park Hyatt: according to head barman Yann Daniel “All the latest trends come from the UK. Customers really know their cocktails here, the names of them, what’s in them and the story behind them: it’s ingrained in their culture. In France, they’re getting there slowly especially in Paris over the last three or four years.” It’s all about timing: “There’s a right time for cocktails: preferably before midnight. Any later and customers want more straightforward things, Champagne or whisky-soda,” said Rémy Rodriguez, senior barman at Buddha bar. The latest trend in Britain: reworking classic cocktails, such as the Manhattan (Angostura bitters, vermouth and rye whiskey) and Martinez (gin, vermouth, maraschino and Angostura; the forerunner to a martini).
And the American influence?
It’s definitely having ‘the flair’, that technique for turning the making of a cocktail into a highly charged floor show. It really is the Olympics: reckon on four hours of practice per day to be at the top, so the experts say. “But few barmen can master the flair and mixing it up at once” one of them lamented. In France, this discipline isn’t widely practised. “You have to work with inexpensive products... as you drop quite a few shakers, glasses and bottles! And, for the same reason, you have to use heftier glasses instead of fancy ones. That’s why I don’t do flair’!” Yann Daniel smiled. The French and Brits still have a bit of progress to make: in the last few years, Uruguay has stolen the world flair championships four times, awarded by the international barmen’s association; with Turkey, Spain, Slovenia, Brazil and Singapore hot on their heels.
What’s the latest latest?
After the big fashion for flowers two years ago (jasmine, rose, violet and other hibiscus), the time’s now come for vegetables (cucumber, cherry tomatoes, fennel) and aromatic herbs (sage, lemon grass, basil, rosemary...). And not including everyone’s own little personal touch to push out the boundaries. You must try this one at the Buddha bar: the unforgettable Electric Daiquiri, based on spiced rum infused with Sichuan peppercorns giving the drinker a surprising sensation of testing out an electric battery on the tip of your tongue. The whole thing topped up with fresh lime juice, gum syrup and a hint of orange-flower water. Generally speaking, sugarcane spirits are still hip, whether called rum or cachaça, for making mojitos and caipirinhas. And this summer, Tiki cocktails are back big time mixing spiced rum with milky flavours (almond or coconut milk etc).
Where are the hottest places to go at the moment?
In Paris:
The Forum, 4 boulevard Malesherbes in La Madeleine district: for Xavier Laigle’s very exciting rums and whiskies and maestro Joseph Biolatto.
The very trendy Curio Parlor, 16 rue des Bernardins in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
The Experimental Cocktail Club, which lives up to its name, 37 rue Saint-Sauveur near Les Halles.
Meurice, 228 rue de Rivoli, where William Oliveri has excelled for nearly 30 years without losing any novelty.
The Sofitel Faubourg, rue Boissy d'Anglas close to La Concorde: for Stéphane Moeslé’s inventiveness, formerly at the Forum and the Astor Hotel.
The Bar du Plaza, 25 avenue Montaigne, where Thierry Hernandez does explosive “molecular” cocktails made from jelly decorated with giant blue-tinted ice cubes.
The Costes Hotel, 239 rue Saint-Honoré in the Tuileries: for Nicolas Olivier’s enthusiasm for gin in general and Tanqueray Ten in particular...
Everyone has their own speciality. Sandrine Houdré-Grégoire, head barmaid at the Murano and mad on vodka, loves using vegetables in her cocktails. The Parisian mixology masters hold office at the Plaza. For the great classics, head to the Ritz and Colin Field’s charming stories. The Park Hyatt hands out gourmet cocktails such as their fabulous “liquid lemon tart” that smells of citrus fruits and buttery pastry, with vodka in it, limoncello, lemon juice, lemon curd and a caramelised milky mousse: a real one-off while remaining in the realm of wine cocktails. And the 15Cent15, rue de Marignan just behind the Champs-Élysées (next door to Alain Ducasse’s very chic Spoon), does nice unusual cocktails every month based on white, red or rosé wine; playing on the grape varieties’ fruity aromas.
Outside of Paris, there’s no shortage either with the excellent Soda Bar in Lyon, Code Bar in Strasbourg, Manali in Courchevel and, more traditional but still mega, the timeless Hotel Normandy bar in Deauville for Marc Jean’s pure expertise.
In London, no cocktail lover could pass up on Fifty (50 St James’s Street, between Piccadilly and Green Park) whose head barman, the star Salvatore Calabrese, is still one of the world’s best; nor the Dorchester (53 Park Lane) in the deluxe, cosy, so- British category, where their gin & tonic is flavoured with homemade bitters, excuse me. More off-the-wall, the Kosmopol (138 Fulham Road, Chelsea) with its bright red decor rocks to the vibe of Swedish mixologist Fredrik Olsson.
How do you spot a good cocktail bar?
Among other things, from its variety of glasses. Test tubes, carafes, vases, eggcups... Odd containers have really taken off lately. Which doesn’t stop the good old martini glass from being indispensable.
One of the classics or an unknown novelty?
If grand hotel bars prefer to play the classical card with a touch of madness, hip places turn the tables. At the Park Hyatt, the known names only make up 25% of the cocktail list. And at the Buddha bar, there aren’t any at all! “But my team knows perfectly well how to make them when asked,” Rémy Rodriguez stressed, who started working here at 21.
What’s the barmen’s favourite cocktail?
The Jack Sour is very in vogue at the moment: Jack Daniel's, sugar and lemon juice, quite simply. “But to try out somewhere new” Yann Daniel continued, “the best test is to order your favourite cocktail to compare, the one you know best and have a good yardstick for in your head. Mine’s a mojito.”
Hélène Piot
Three questions for Guy Musart, president of the barmen’s association in France.
Which cocktails are the most popular?
It’s funny: they’re not the same ones from lunch to dinner. At lunchtime, anything with red vermouth in it, bitters like Campari, triple secs like Cointreau but also Champagne; all are a great success. In the evening, “Latino” style cocktails are very popular: mojito (rum with fresh mint), pina colada (tequila, coconut milk and pineapple juice), caipirinha (cachaça and lime)… Vodka-martini is also a great classic on an evening out.
When does this Latino trend date back to?
It’s becoming popular now but it’s already fifteen years old. It all began with… Ricard. When this company, who sponsors France’s Best Barman competition, bought out 50% of Havana Club rum, the final kicked off in Cuba. This is how all those in the business in France discovered the mojito! Having said that, you can’t improvise being a barman: you have to go to catering school and specialise for a year after doing the general course, including eight weeks work experience with a company. The caipirinha vogue is more recent: just five or six years.
Do aperitifs come back in fashion?
Without a doubt. 40 years ago, I saw the end of brandy and water. Today, spirits are making a comeback as a long drink: vodka & tonic, Cognac & Canada Dry, Calvados… “Fun” cocktails also work very well at the bar: the tequila boom-boom or B52, for example. This cocktail mixes coffee liqueur, Baileys and Grand-Marnier, set alight and drunk through a straw. Quickly though otherwise the straw burns! Customers who pick this type of aperitif are out to enjoy themselves, to relax after a hard day’s work.
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