World Bartender Day: the secrets of the best signature drinks

It is Friday February 24 it’s him world bartender daya day promoted to remember the founding of the International Association of Bartenders (IAB)which started in 1951. pass 72 years old from that moment, and occupation always valid behind barred as one of the most remarkable fundamental links lays bare there Restaurants of the planet.

What has changed since the creation of the AIB? How are signature drinks reinventing themselves over the years? Based on these concerns, GlobeLiveMedia chatted with three of the best bartenders in Argentina to get acquainted with gift and the coming Since national cocktail bar

Sebastian Garcia, bartender at Presidente Bar -in Recoleta- and ranked among the 50 best in the world in his profession, explained: “We are at the best moment in the history of this profession in Argentina. What should be emphasized is that there is a much greater female presence in the bars than before and that there is a more egalitarian way of working. Still, there are things to improve.”

According to García, bartenders are “more demanding when it comes to working, preparing cocktails and offering hospitality with more services. This makes consumers so demanding.” How? “When it comes to drinking, they don’t encounter any bar, rather they pick and choose where to grab each signature drink or cocktail, which means Buenos Aires has a constant circuit of many educated patrons turning and drinking. Customers are more and more educated and, when it comes to drinking for example, they choose not only a gin and tonic but also the tonic, the decoration and above all the glassware and the ice cubes”.

In this tone, the expert estimated: “This education that we provide to consumers requires that we continue to train and study to follow global trends. Whoever does not follow this, is separated”.

Referring to local flavors and ingredients that delight palates, García emphasized: “We work a lot with the seasons of the year. In the summer we use strawberries more, to give an example. The idea is to get the most out of the products. A cocktail that has been established for some time is the gin and tonic. People find it refreshing and easy to drink.

With their eyes set on fall, “most bars have started creating new recipes and understanding what can be offered with seasonal produce,” Garcia said. And he highlighted one of his creations: “Campari Solar”, which offers an aperitif, cherry oil, tropical fruit lemonade and bitter the hibiscus.

For its part, Flavia Arroyo, who runs the bar at the Casa Cavia restobar in Buenos Aires, gives his vision of the current situation of the profession: “Bartenders have the power to survive. In all circumstances we transform or reinvent ourselves. This makes us see that, year after year, cocktails always change because the consumer also grows with us. We are meticulous and we like to generate new experiences by wanting the consumer to drink rich and balanced”.

“When it comes to ingredients that are all the rage right now, anything that’s seasonal product, such as aromatics that grow tall and are native or agroecological inputs. We seek to approach small producers and study what we want to use and do in each season,” says Arroyo.

And he suggests: “The cocktails that can never be missing in a modern bar are the negroni, the cin, the vermouth rosso or the Campari. They are drinks that are easy to remember in all aspects, not only for the bartender but also for the consumer due to the balance they have; They cannot fail.”

The bartender and trainer Marina “Plays” Yalor, who applies his knowledge to Chicas Barra and once brought his creations from his native Cordoba to leading snack bars in Italyemphasizes: “Argentinian bartenders are very well positioned in the world because of the professionalism, the training and the number of cocktail bars that there are”, he says, and specifies that “there is still a lot to improve, as there is still a need for greater inclusion behind the bar.”

Yalour considers that we are going through “the gin and tonic boom, with an incredible number of national gin labels, a diversity of botanicals and imprints of all kinds. On the other hand, all that is clarified cocktails and milk punch (Editor’s note: inclusion of milk in the cocktail)”.

Secondly, the bartender details: “Recently, some flavors that were very poorly remembered have reappeared because in the 90s they were hit or were strongly associated with artificial flavors. They come back in style with homemade ingredients like coconut banana and this kind of super intense flavors that have been missing for a long time.

Along those lines, much of Yalour’s usual work is “matching seasonal inputs and seeing how regional or garden ingredients can be added to add value” to drinks.

According to a consultancy report International Drinkshe Negroni It was the world’s best-selling cocktail of the year. 2022. These data only reaffirm the popularity and the particular idiosyncrasies surrounding this drink, which has been present everywhere in bars and nightclubs for more than a century.

During this year 1919, as the effects of the First World War – which ended in 2018 – worsened further, the Count Camillo Negroni He was walking around the city of Florence, Italy, and decided to order an American cocktail. However, the man believed it was time to try something different. He ordered the same drink but instead of soda he added a splash of gin, reminiscent of his last trip to London, which is considered the historic mecca of gin. In this way, a vast culture began around this drink.

classic Negroni, by Sebastien Garcia.

The bartender proposed a classic recipe aimed at simplicity and the taste of each consumer. “If someone has a small budget to buy bottles or cocktails, my advice is to buy a vermouth to mix with soda, squeezed juice or tonic. Even vermouth can be drunk on its own with ice. Then I recommend going to the grocery store and buying something to decorate the cocktail.”

Ingredients:

-Vermouth

-A soda.

-Ice.

-Vegetables or fruits to garnish of your choice: an orange segment, a slice of cucumber, rosemary or basil leaves, are just some of the possibilities that García offers.

Place the ice in a short drink glass and distribute the soda with the vermouth in equal parts or according to the consumer’s preference. If you are looking for a stronger flavor in terms of alcohol, choose vermouth. “What it does is that someone who only has the appetizer and the soda to mix, can go through the grocery store and add something to decorate the cocktail freely. I find that very funny and it’s This is advice I like to give because sometimes we don’t have a budget and just by adding ingredients to change the flavor, something fantastic is left,” concluded García.

Modernist Negroniby Flavia Arroyo.

-30 milliliters Limoncello Burnt. What is it about? “It’s vacuum-cooked gin with burnt and clarified lemon skins,” says Arroyo.

-30 milliliters of appetizer. Barman’s suggestion: Campari.

-30 milliliters of Rosso vermouth.

– Citrus leaf skeleton.

“It was in Milan, the capital of fashion and design, that this story was born. The Negroni is a versatile, balanced and elegant cocktail. The challenge is to reverse it while respecting aroma, texture and flavor; design a new version of it, under the principle of using modern techniques,” explains the bartender.

And he adds: “The Limoncello, a cloudy liquid, it undergoes long processes to better extract its flavor, and with a little intervention we can obtain the characteristic color: bright red. Finally, the skeleton of the citrus leaf, a 10-day process to be finished manually taking care of every detail of the leaf, demonstrates this aesthetic value”.

summer negroniby Pipi Yaour.

-Gin.

-Aperitif. Suggestions: Campari.

-Dry vermouth.

-Basil.

-Strawberries.

With quantities of each ingredient to taste, mix in a medium glass and garnish with the basil leaf to finish and enjoy the cocktail.

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