House Tonic Issue 2

HOUSE

TO N I C

Soho House’s Drink Maga zine Boozy news Historic cocktails Best tools of the trade Tequila tourism How to match food & drink London’s best bars Bodybuilding bartenders Issue 2 -1-

Editor’s Letter

Contents Aperitifs

Welcome to the second issue of House Tonic – a magazine for bartenders and people who love bars.

We’re passionate about the drinks we serve in all our venues, from the Soho Houses in New York, London, Berlin, West Hollywood and Miami, to Shoreditch House, Pizza East, Cafe Boheme, BKB, The Electric, High Road House, Pizza East Portobello and Dean Street Townhouse in London, as well as at Babington House in Somerset and Cecconi’s restaurants in LA, London and Miami. Whether it’s the perfect cup of tea, a cocktail party for a thousand guests, or an iced glass of water on a scorchingly hot day, we take it all seriously. And when we’re not working, we don’t mind the odd drink ourselves, either.

In this issue we’re taking a look at the hundred-year-old stories behind our four House Tonics – the Soho House Group’s new signature cocktails – plus we’re finding out about precision bar tools and why having the right kit is almost as important as what you mix in it, paying a whistle-stop visit to Tequilaland, otherwise known as Mexico, dropping in glamorously at Cannes Film Festival and discovering how to match wine and cocktails with fish. All that, plus loads more!

If you fancy getting behind one of our bars, turn to page 31 for more information about our recruitment processes in the UK, or drop us an email if you’re overseas.

Check us out on Facebook and Twitter too. We’re only as good as the people who work for us – and we’d love to hear from you.

4–7 Booze news New openings, new wines and new ales to try, plus sipping gin at London’s youngest copper still and House Tonic’s interactive open days

At the Bar 8 Your friendly bartender Meet Aaron Alvarez from Los Angeles, who accidentally discovered that bartending is his dream job 10 A taste of the past How classic cocktails inspired Soho House Group’s brand new collection of cracking drinks 16 The bartenders’ bar guide Because bartenders know where to find good drinks.

This issue, London 18 Tool time If you haven’t got a precision-crafted Japanese shaker you’ll soon want one. Find out why in our exclusive interview with Greg Boehm, of New York’s Cocktail Kingdom 22 Yes we Cannes Soho House’s bar teams threw the party to end all parties at the Cannes Film Festival and here’s all the gossip

Cheers!

24 No slamming Miami’s Chris Hudnall takes a trip to Mexico to find out more about tequila. Along the way, he samples just a little...

sohohouse.com/housetonic housetonic@sohohouse.com twitter.com/HouseTonic

Digestifs 28 Perfect match In each issue master sommelier Vincent Gasnier and master bartender Chris Ojeda explain how to pair wine and cocktails with food. This time, fish and seafood Editor: Rebecca Seal

Design and Art Direction: Plus Agency

Sub Editor: Caroline Boucher

Thanks to: Dan Flower, Kat Hartigan, Chris Ojeda, Dylan

Murray, Vincent Gasnier, Oli Juste, Chris Hudnall, Joseph Grznar, Tom Kerr, Michael Frohnwieser, Nathan Dixon-Jones, Aaron Alvarez, Tomas Veber, Richard Arnold, Damian Samuels, Paul L Mang, David Greig, Paul Devereux, Shannon Beattie, Ann Tunnerman, Oliver Hornby-Smith, Ben Carlotto, Kate at Soho Management, Ben at Select Models.

Front Cover Photography: Robert Harper

using MAC Cosmetics and L'Oreal Techni Art.

Model: Emily Byron at Select

Stylist: Katy Lassen

Make-up & Hair by Jaimee Thomas at Frank Agency

29 Weighing it up Meet Tomas Veber, who’s a bodybuilder when he’s not pouring drinks in Shoreditch

APERITIFS

NEWS

Best Bitter At Babington House in Somerset, you can now try Babington Bitter, beautifully bottled or on draught.

Ambassador Grzegorz Joswiak says, “When [head chef] Ronnie Bonetti and Matt Greenlees [general manager] went to a local brewery to blend an ale for us to would be any good! But when they brought back a keg and we tried it, we realised that it was actually very nice and now it’s selling really fast.

After that first keg had gone we were disappointed that we had to wait two weeks for the next barrel!”

The ale itself is mellow and rounded in flavour, perfect for summer The Shoreditch House bar team

Tales of the Cocktail is a festival of

ferent tonight? Then look out for

all things drink-related taking place

some new wines from the Old

in New Orleans, and several of our

World. (Confused? Do keep up at

top US bartenders are attending

TRAINING UP

Tonic Training

The tiny Sipsmith gin distillery in Hammersmith fired up Prudence, their still, a couple of years ago – and the last one got going nearly 200 years back. The Sipsmith crew

Stewart, head bartenders in LA, and Chris Hudnall, head bartender

national recognition – we’re talking

in Miami, plus creative bar director

wines from places like Lebanon,

Chris Ojeda. Everyone who is

Russia, Georgia and even India.

anyone in the world of mixing is going to be there – including

Atkin explains: “People are getting

people like Chris McMillian, one of

more interested in where their wine

New Orleans’ finest bartenders,

has come from, what the French

Harold McGee, one of the best

call terroir or ‘somewhereness’.

ever writers on food and drink, and

Among up and coming countries,

Tomas Estes, an internationally

I think Turkey and Croatia could

renowned tequila expert. They will

be big. Croatia, Russia, Turkey and

no doubt be working tremendously

Lebanon all have grape varieties

hard, attending as many of the 150

other countries don’t have, which

New Openings

events as they can, which range

good wine coming out the country,

Exciting times in west London

we’re just a little bit jealous...

Grace, and Chateau Lafite

with the opening of Pizza East

has just planted some of its vines

Portobello, the second Pizza

near Beijing.”

(For more information on Master of Wine Tim Atkin, go to www.timatkin.com)

East restaurant in the Soho House

to look for. China could be big, increase. There is already one very

are pictured above – Fairfax Hall,

In order to ensure the Soho House

Jared Brown and Sam Galsworthy.

Group drinks are consistently

The team had a tour and a tasting

good in all locations, a new

and are looking forward to the

House Tonic training programme

up Electric House. Pizza East

next Sipsmith product, sloe gin,

has just been started. In Berlin,

Portobello is an airy restaurant,

which they saw macerating and

bartenders caught a little sun as

open to everyone, with a wood-

will launch in August. Sipsmith

their training took place on the

burning pizza oven and

gin is currently used in Shoreditch

Berlin House rooftop, while in

a great bar – the accent is on Italian

House's popular Violet Sipsmith

Babington the team kept cosy in

favourites, like Aperol spritzers

champagne cocktail.

the Log Room, by the fireplace. In

and Bellinis. The Electric House is a

Shoreditch House, things got a little

members-only space (the Electric

competitive when bar manager

Brasserie and Cinema are open to

Nathan instituted a Bar Off, a

the public, though), with

speed-mixing contest to a techno

a great wine list and a host of

soundtrack...

classic cocktails.

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this year - Aaron Alvarez and Brian

the planet are finally getting inter-

too, when its production levels

the newest copper still in London.

PIZZA EAST PORTOBELLO

ancient wine-producing areas on

means new flavours and names

drinking.

recently paid a visit to the home of

Fancy a glass of something dif-

Award-winning wine expert Tim

serve, we didn’t really believe that it

Sipping at Sipsmith

New Orleans

the back!) Some of the most

Head Bartender and House Tonic

SIPSMITH

Wines of the World

from award ceremonies to dinners, brand showcases and mixing competitions – but even so, as work goes, it sounds rather fun. Frankly,

Group (the first is across town in Shoreditch), and the re-opening of the newly revamped and glammed

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Want to work with us? Email housetonic@sohohouse.com

AT THE BAR

NEWS

Master Glasses

Boozing for Boobs

Master Glass is a new Soho House Group initiative aimed at recruiting the best possible staff for Soho House’s venues around the world.

Rather than interviewing potential candidates and giving them a trial shift, they’re now invited to take part in a monthly interactive open day instead (pictured below). These take place in Concrete, the bar underneath Pizza East in London, and involve around 10 bartenders at a time, who are assessed by bar managers and House Tonic ambassadors.

Rocking Rioja

Alcohol and fast women are usually considered a bad mix, right? But not at Speed Rack – a national, women-only speed bartending

Thanks to Berkmann Wine Cellars

competition in the US, which raises money for the fight against breast

in London, a representative from

CECCONI’S LA

cancer. In the first regional heat,

every UK house got to go on a

which took place in New York in

Be our Guest!

whistlestop tour of Rioja, Spain,

they competed round by round,

At Cecconi’s LA and Soho

ageing, bottling and labelling. They

making batches of up to five

House West Hollywood a guest

were really rather spoiled – each

drinks at a time against the clock.

bartending series has just kicked

day there were huge lunches to get

Contestants were judged on the

off with nights being hosted by

through, with up to 18 wines to try,

quality of the cocktails as well as

both bartenders from within

then they were wined and dined

the speed with which they made

the group and well-known

each night as well, with tapas tours

them, so the women had to be

mixologists from outside. Gaston

and Mercedes cars to whisk them

both quick and good – or else extra

Martinez, brand ambassador

between venues. Their dedication

time was added on to their scores.

for Milagro tequila, has already

paid off, as attendees have since

Bars taking part included Death &

spent an evening behind the bar,

been running Rioja training

Co., Mayahuel and Peels, but the

showcasing Milagro via a tasting

sessions back home.

winner was PKNY’s Yael Vengroff,

flight and mixed drinks, and so

who’ll go on to compete in the

has Jamie Evans, ambassador for

finals in 2012.

Oxley gin. Alongside Chris Ojeda,

June, 16 bartenders were whittled down to eight in an elimination round in front of a judging panel that included Dale DeGroff. Then

taking in several wineries who supply the group, learning about

Each candidate gets given an envelope containing a few cocktails for them to make from scratch which are then sampled by the assessors, who also chat and ask questions as they make their drinks as though it were a normal bar shift. Finally there’s a speed round in which the bartenders have to make a batch of drinks within six minutes, again mimicking the atmosphere of a busy night, plus they get a chance to show off a signature drink recipe of their own as well.

Each Master Glass held so far has been super successful, with 7080 per cent of candidates being selected for further training and a new job. If you’re interested in attending a Master Glass session, have a look at www.sohohouse. com/housetonic to find out when the next one is, or check our facebook page – we’d love to hear from you!

Interested in joining the team at one of Soho House Group’s bars?

Then get in touch at housetonic@ sohohouse.com

the whole wine-making process from presses, tanks and barrels, to

creative bar director, he turned the garden restaurant at Cecconi’s into a speakeasy for the night, asking guests to put their trust in him as he made them prohibition style drinks chosen on the basis of whether they were sweet, sour, fizzy or aromatic – there was no menu to choose from.

Look out for more guest bartenders in the coming weeks on the House Tonic website or at www.cecconiswesthollywood.com

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Photography: Dai Williams

COMPETING IN SPEED RACK

MASTER GLASS TAKING PLACE AT CONCRETE, LONDON

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AT THE BAR

PROFILE

Your Friendly

Bartender Aaron Alvarez, 32, Head Bartender, Soho House West Hollywood

I

started out working in restaurants because I wanted a job that would let me play music and ride my skateboard, but I became more passionate about my work along the way, and fifteen years later I’m still here. Gradually music began to take a back seat as I got more into things to do with taste: food and beer initially, and then I got really captivated by wine, which I began studying. I found a study group under master sommelier Michael Jordan and after that things changed for me.

In my job at the time I felt I wasn’t growing and learning, which is all I really wanted to do.

But then I was lucky enough to interview for the new Soho House West Hollywood, which sounded pretty cool, and when I met Chris [creative bar director Chris Ojeda] and Mashia [head bartender] I was completely sure this was a good thing for me. I officially started at the opening in February 2010. I was excited to get to a point to be able to show people what I do, that I’m the real thing. I’m not here for money – I want to learn and show that I’m a master of my craft.

Music will always be a part of me, though, like wine is now.

I dedicated literally years of my life to it. I’m still super active too.

I’m an avid surfer and you’ll see me ride up to Soho House on my skateboard pretty much every day.

I definitely make a point of taking

full advantage of living here in southern California.

I don’t focus too much on any one thing – I don’t think of myself as a sommelier or a master bartender, I just love hospitality. I love wine and that’s never going to change, but I don’t want to stick in one direction – and there are a lot of things about the wine world that I don’t like, things that take away from just drinking the wine.

It can be political and competitive, and that’s a turn off – I like to be surrounded by people who just love what they do.

Ice is crucial. It’s easily taken for granted, but if paid attention to it can bring a new dimension to a drink. It’s pretty basic: if you have a larger, denser, drier piece of ice in your glass then your cocktail is going to stay colder longer with less dilution. We have a reverse osmosis machine that delivers amazing water, then it’s a matter of freezing it in large blocks and cutting them into pieces for different drinks. Like, I’ll cut it into small pieces so that, say, for a single malt Scotch on the rocks I can give someone a single, medium-sized piece of ice, and control the amount of water in it while also bringing down temperature and the alcohol by volume. Then I can do a beautiful large piece that will fill the glass for something like an Old Fashioned which can sometimes do with a -8-

little more water. And aesthetically the blocks are just really pleasing.

I’m really into style and presentation behind the bar, plus learning new recipes, of course.

Right now I’m focusing on style and grace, being visually captivating and fluid, but also welcoming and warm. Once you get past the recipes there are a few more levels to being a good bartender.

In the grand scheme of things the profession isn’t there yet in terms of being respected, but individuals out there and doing it are changing the population’s perspective. It’s how you wear it, and if you wear it with pride, people respect that. Plus I make a pretty good living, and I think the more that that happens, the more it will be aspired to. I have no shame in doing what I do.

The volume bartender in me still gets a thrill from a large crowd, and delivering beautiful cocktails really fast is a personal challenge. But I know that when I have someone in front of me who is interested in what’s happening, is enjoying our beautiful space, has something nice on, feels great and we’re entertaining them, then that’s what we all hope for in this job, those moments. That’s really a treat

If you’d like to work and learn behind our bars email: housetonic@sohohouse.com -9-

AT THE BAR

DRINKING UP HISTORY

Drinking Up History Great bartenders know how to turn cocktail recipes from the past into delicious drinks for today and we've created four modern classics of our own Photography: Robert Harper Styling: Katy Lassen

E

ach and every cocktail recipe is based on another from the past. Some recipes have roots going back over a hundred years and a few classics are still served, even now, just as they were when they were invented, the century before last – although you might not notice as you knock back another round. The best bartenders use this history to make really great modern drinks, and so earlier this year creative bar director Chris Ojeda brought all our House Tonic ambassador -10-

bartenders from around the world together in London.

They spent a week, touring, tasting, researching and hammering out fresh cocktails – looking forward to new, exciting ingredients (like chilli or coriander), and back at classic recipes (like original Daiquiris and Moscow Mules). The four delicious resulting drinks are now available across the Soho House Group bars...and each comes with a side order of history. Introducing the new House Tonics. »

DAIQUIRI TIME: COULD DRINKING OUR COCKTAILS MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE THIS? Dress by Alexander McQueen at Matchesfashion.com, silver ring by Lucy Folk, sunglasses stylist's own

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AT THE BAR

DRINKING UP HISTORY

THE SOHO MULE

DRINKS LIST SOHO MULE 15ml / 1/2 oz Fresh lime juice 20ml / 3/4 oz House Ginger syrup 50ml / 2 oz grey goose Vodka METHOD: Shake and dump into Collins glass.

Fill with ice and top with soda water.

GARNISH: Ginger candy on a pick (stick).

Picante de le Casa 50ml / 2 oz Reposado Tequila 20ml / 3/4 oz Agave Nectar 25ml / 1 oz Fresh Lime Juice 1 small piece of Chilli pepper 1 stem of Coriander (Cilantro) METHOD: Add cut chilli. Hand-clap the coriander, add all ingredients, shake and strain into rocks glass.

GARNISH: THREE FLOATING COFFEE BEANS EASTERN STANDARD

Soho Mule The Moscow Mule dates back to 1941, when a certain John G. Martin had just purchased the rights to a Russian vodka company for Heublein, his distribution company, and Jack Morgan, who owned the Cock ‘n’ Bull saloon in Hollywood, had recently invented a new ginger beer. The two men met at a bar in New York City, along with Rudolph Kunett, president of the Hublein vodka division, where, as Jack Morgan put it soon after, “We three were quaffing a slug, nibbling an hors d’oeuvre and shoving toward inventive genius”. Wondering what their respective drinks would taste like together, they mixed them

up, counted down to five, drank them down, and the rest is history.

Morgan had a friend with a copper factory, and in order to promote the two products still better, they commissioned special copper mugs, engraved with a mule, for them to be served in.

Picante de la Casa This is a spin on a Tommy’s Margarita, invented in a famous San Francisco restaurant, Tommy’s, which opened in 1965. The cocktail itself was invented by Julio, Tomas’ son, a tequila aficionado who later even became a tequila brand ambassador. (Tommy passed away in 2007).

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When inventing Picante de la Casa, it made sense to use reposado tequila (aged for less than a year in oak barrels) just like Tommy’s original version, but also to work with some of the most popular ingredients from venues in LA and Miami – fresh herbs and spices. “In West Hollywood and Miami,” says Chris, “we already had spicy margaritas on the go, but in London there weren’t many tequila-based cocktails. This drink reinforces what we’re doing in America but also shows off our forward thinking in the UK.” This cocktail packs a gentle punch, as it’s made with a touch of raw chilli pepper, topped off with fragrant coriander (cilantro). »

3 cucumber slices 3 mint leaves hand-clapped 20ml / 3/4 oz Sugar syrup (1:1) 25ml / 1 oz Fresh Lime juice 50ml / 2 0z grey goose Vodka or Gin METHOD: Add cucumber, mint and wet ingredients into shaker with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass.

GARNISH: 1 slice of cucumber rubbed on the rim of the glass and placed in the cocktail.

House Daiquiri 2 barspoons of white sugar 25ml / 1 oz Lime Juice Half shell of used lime 50ml / 2 oz Bacardi Rum METHOD: Add ingredients into shaker. Stir several times add rum and ice, shake and strain.

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AT THE BAR

DRINKING UP HISTORY

IT’S A HARD LIFE: A DAIQUIRI ON THE ROOF AT SHOREDITCH HOUSE. Dress by Stella McCartney at Matchesfashion.com, sunglasses stylist's own

The Eastern Standard One version of the history of the Southside (the inspiration for the Eastside, which then inspired the Eastern Standard – phew!) was that it was favoured by Chicago’s Southside mobsters during prohibition, while Northsiders drank gin and ginger ale.

The alternative story suggests it was invented in the Southside Club on Long Island in the late 1800s. Either way, Christy Pope, the well-known NYC bartender at Milk and Honey New York bought it up to date when she invented the Eastside. Then the Eastern Standard came to life in Soho House West Hollywood after a bartenders’ trip to NYC. “Using mint, cucumber, lime and a white spirit like gin or Grey Goose vodka

THE EASTERN STANDARD: A REWARD FOR SWIMMING TWO WHOLE LENGTHS. Bikini by Heidi KlEin for Cowshed, sunglasses stylist's own

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[you can choose which] came out of pooling the ingredients that we were all using in the different sites and discovering how popular they were. This is a drink that you can get any guest on to, and they’ll love,” reckons Chris.

House Daiquiri “This is a bartender's drink,” says Chris. “One that a bartender would order and use to test the quality of the bar.” The original was invented by engineer Jennings Stockton Cox while working in Daiquiri, Cuba, at the end of the nineteenth century.

(It is also pretty similar to an older Cuban drink, Canchanchara, made from rum, honey, lemon and water.)

He saw local workers mixing their Bacardi with coffee, and started messing about with mixers himself.

There are two stories about the -15-

moment when the recipe came about – either Cox was touring the Daiquiri mines with another engineer and rustled it up for the pair of them then, or he ran out of gin while entertaining and didn’t want to serve neat rum to his smart American guests.

According to legend, Cox and his team used to drink three or four Daiquiris in a local bar every morning (obviously before health and safety got going), which was where they also named it. Unlike other cocktails, there’s no doubt about the origins of this one, as Cox wrote the recipe in his diary. “It’s a great drink to assess a bartender’s ability to balance sweet and sour,” says Chris Ojeda Can you make the perfect Daiquiri?

Then come and work with us! Email housetonic@sohohouse.com

BAR TOOL SCIENCE

AT THE BAR

Bar Tool Science The kit you use to make your drinks is almost as important as the ingredients. New Yorker Greg Boehm is the world expert on barware, which is why we buy our tools from him Photography: Jamie Bevan

I

f you want to get your hands on some seriously good bar tools, there’s really only place to go: Cocktail Kingdom in New York. Owner and cocktail obsessive Greg Boehm works hard to provide bartenders with the best and most precise barware possible, and his newest kit is now being used in Soho House Group’s bars. House Tonic caught up with him on a rare day at home in NYC, to find out more about his business, and just how he came to have the largest collection of antique cocktail books in the world: “I’m not a bartender but I am a collector of information I got into cocktails because I owned a publishing company which published bartender Salvatore Calabrese’s cocktail books and I would go to London a couple oftimes a year to see him and look -16-

at his cocktail book library while I was there. I realised I didn’t really know anything about cocktails myself.

Being a book person, I turned to cocktail books to learn more and began to collect them. Next I started re-publishing and authentically reproducing some of the most important of the cocktail books from the past. We work really hard on them and now our reproductions are so incredibly close to the originals, with the same paper, covers, colours and even foil stamps, that I worry one day I’ll buy one of my own books on eBay! We were in touch with a lot of bartenders through doing the books. Because I also do some import-export, we started importing Japanese barware for them, as a favour, really, because it was really hard to get. Cocktail Kingdom as a business grew from there. »

TRIDENT TOPPED BAR SPOON

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AT THE BAR

“Our cut-glass bitters bottles are extremely precise.

With commercial bitters bottles, one brand’s bottle can dash as much as five times more than another brand” –18–

BAR TOOL SCIENCE

BITTERS BOTTLE

JULEP STRAINER

J

apanese bar tools tend to be better than any others.

The shakers function better, the mixing glasses are attractive, durable and stable, the shakers don’t get stuck together because they’re precision crafted and more finely tooled. The mixing spoons are smoother in the metalwork and easier on the hands, plus they’re extremely well-balanced.

I love to bring things from the past back to life. The Japanese Yarai mixing glass we sell is based on a US patent from around the mid 1800s. The cut crystal pattern gave it its name – Yarai means falling arrows and it’s the Japanese word for a really hard, driving rain. After the Japanese embraced Western culture in the 1880s, they never stopped making proper barware and mixing proper cocktails, while the West really kind of forgot. The 1970s and 1980s were a pretty dismal time for cocktails in North America and Europe, while in Japan they just

kept on making them, and doing it well. The golden age for Japanese cocktails is considered to have been the 1950s, while it was way back in the 1880s for America.

We bring things back that people have forgotten about. For instance, I don’t think there’s been a good Julep strainer out there since the 1940s. Because I have hundreds of Julep strainers (I have a big collection of antique barware as well as books), I had a bunch of bartender friends try them all out in order to find out which was the best, and now we’re producing a first really good Julep strainer for probably around 70 years.

Our Martinique swizzle sticks actually come from Guyana as the forests in Martinique are protected, but it’s from the same tree. Using a swizzle stick is a method of mixing drinks which dates back to the 1700s, usually with crushed ice, and they’re extremely hard to find. Ours last a surprisingly long time – in a bar they can last a year, unless, of -19-

course, you drop one and stand on it!

The trident on the top of our spoons (pictured on p17) is an iconic Japanese design but there’s no clear use for them. The design is at least 60 or 70 years old.

Our glass bitters bottles are extremely precise. With commercial bitters bottles, one brand’s bottle can dash as much as five times more than another brand – so the idea is to decant them into something accurate, meaning if your recipe calls for one dash, you’ll be able to make it exactly the same the next time.

If a bar uses Japanese barware, then they’re taking their craft seriously. I travel all over the world, working and visiting different bars, and if I see these tools behind a bar, I’ll have a cocktail. If I don’t, then I’ll have a beer!”

Know your swizzles from your spoons? Come and work with us! housetonic@sohohouse.com

AT THE BAR

GREY GOOSE

Cannes Film Festival In a flurry of fabulous parties during Cannes Film Festival, the Grey Goose and Soho House party was the hottest ticket in town

THE PARTY GETS GOING

T

he Cannes Film Festival is pretty much just one, long, gorgeous, glamorous party (with a little culture thrown in for good measure) but this year one event stood out above the rest: the party that Grey Goose Vodka and Soho House threw with Creative Artists Agency, one of the biggest entertainment agencies in the world.

It was held at La Villa Eilenroc, a beautiful building designed in 1867 with extraordinary gardens, created and cultivated out of desert-like land. It was in these gardens that model and actress Karolina Kurkova hung out with actress Vanessa Hudgens, while Jane Fonda rubbed shoulders with Harvey Weinstein, Rosario Dawson, and Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen.

Food tents were set up on each side of the garden, serving piles of lobster, meats and cheeses while the Grey Goose and Soho House teams, many of whom had flown in specially from Los Angeles, knocked out some terrific cocktails.

The Palme de Cannes was a blend of Grey Goose, saffron syrup and strawberry and passion fruit purée, garnished with an edible flower.

“I was in Antibes the day before, looking for edible flowers to use as a garnish,” says creative bar director Chris Ojeda. “But I couldn’t find any! I ended up buying a load of plants with edible flowers instead, in mason jars, and we lined them up along the bar on the night.

Whenever we needed a flower, we just picked them.”

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The Etoile de Cannes was made with Grey Goose le Citron, cherry liqueur, ruby orange juice, morello cherries and lime juice, while the favourite of the whole night had to be the Grey Goose Le Fizz – elderflower, Grey Goose vodka, lime and ice cold soda water. For any designated drivers, there was the delicious Sunset Breeze, with apple juice and mint.

“It was a great night,” says Chris. “And the fun thing was that we knew a lot of the people there because there were loads of members over from Soho House West Hollywood. The same thing happens when we do the Toronto Film Festival too. For the team it was a one-night film fest, and we really, really enjoyed it.”

VANESSA HUDGENS

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AT THE BAR

TEQUILA SUNRISES

Tequila Sunrises Chris Hudnall reports back from his trip to Guadalajara, home of tequila Photography: Jay Schroeder

O

n landing in Mexico, I was greeted by a huge mural that read, “Welcome to Guadalajara, the Land of Tequila”. If that’s not the best welcoming sign for a bartender and lover of tequila, then I’m not sure what is.

I was here to visit the Milagro tequila distillery, which was started by its Mexican founders Daniel and Moy, with just $100,000 scraped together after college. It has since won internationally recognised awards – their story should be made into a movie. On our first night they took us (bartenders from all over the US) for an incredible dinner at restaurant LA Tequila, accompanied by Milagro select barrel silver, reposado, and anejo tequila. You put bottles of tequila at a table full of bartenders that have never met and they definitely

A MARIACHI BAND SERENADES THE BARTENDERS IN MILAGRO’S PINA FIELDS

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aren’t shy by the end of dinner.

Afterwards we were taken to one of the coolest mezcal bars I’ve ever seen. (Mezcal is a spirit made in Oaxaca.) After stealing the sign from the bar top and telling a group of people from Guadalajara that I’m from Guadalajara (I have blue eyes and blonde hair, and the only phrase in Spanish I know is “puedo pasar el bano?” – where is the bathroom?) I felt like it was probably time to escape to bed.

We had an early start to get to the distillery next day and we started our tour at the spot where the raw agave pina hearts are dropped off, just picked. Agave are succulent plants that tequila is distilled from, and the hearts can be very irritating to sensitive skin.

You should definitely not eat them.

So when they told me not to taste -23-

the raw agave..? I tasted the raw agave. It didn’t have much flavour and luckily I felt fine.

We moved on to the ovens where they cook the agave.

Although the pinas look dry, they are full of sugar and when cooked they caramelise. Then they’re juiced, and the juice is so high in sugar that they have to add water to balance the flavour and allow the correct amount of yeast to attract during fermentation.

We headed to the fermentation tanks next – 45 of them that can hold 600 litres each. After 15 minutes I felt so high I was about to pass out. We also got to see the Milagro copper-lined stills and actually try the tequila. At this point in the process it’s at a very high ABV of 70%, 140 proof tequila.

When the agave has been

AT THE BAR

TEQUILA SUNRISES

DANIEL SCHNEEWEISS, CO-FOUNDER OF MILAGRO

AGAVE PINE HEARTS ARRIVING AT MILAGRO DISTILLERY

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processed, fermented, and distilled it is ready to be aged, either in American or French oak barrels.

Blanco tequila is either un-aged or aged under two months, Reposado is aged for a minimum of two months but less than a year, Anejo is aged a minimum of one year but less than three, and an Extra Anejo is aged a minimum of three years.

After departing the distillery we took a bus ride to the agave fields and were presented with cowboy hats, a 10 piece mariachi band, and classic margaritas with a cayenne and salt rim. It may not have been the best timing, but we also had a go at chopping agave, too.

Next day I took a seminar with Ana Maria Romero Mena – Maestra Tequilera. (If my title was Master of Tequila my life would be complete.)

She started as a sommelier but felt there should be a way to regulate tequila like wine and convinced the Mexican government. There are 600 aromatic components in tequila and she broke them down on an aroma wheel, which is now used to grade tequila.

I hope people get more of an appreciation of what’s going on in Guadalajara and what’s happening in that bottle of tequila.

Next time your bartender pours you a shot, smell the aroma, look at the colour, taste the flavor and remember its roots. Cheers!

DRINKS LIST Azucar De la Sandia 2 oz / 50ML Milagro Select Barrel Reserve Reposado 3/4 oz / 25ML Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice 1/2 oz / 15 ML Agave Nectar 1 oz / 20ML Fresh Pressed Watermelon Juice METHOD: Add ingredients to collins glass, add crushed ice, swizzle for 10 seconds, add ice cap, activate basil

Know your Anejo from your Reposado and want to work in a great bar? Get in touch: housetonic@sohohouse.com

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leaf and garnish on top of the ice cap.

GARNISH: 1 BASIL LEAF

DIGESTIFS

HOW TO MATCH…

How to Match…

Choosing a drink to go with food can be tricky whether you’re a server or a guest, so here’s our guide to choosing booze to go with fish dishes Photography: Dai Williams

W

elcome to the first of our ongoing series about how match booze and food. It can seem like an impenetrable science to the uninitiated, but pairing dishes with great drinks can get much easier once you have a little bit of basic knowledge – and it's very rewarding. To help us along, Vincent Gasnier, master sommelier for the Soho House Group, shares his top tips on how to choose a great bottle of wine with your meal, and creative bar director Chris Ojeda has the lowdown on eating with cocktails. In this issue, we’re talking about how to match drinks with fish.

Vincent on Wine There are three main things to have in mind when you’re matching wine and food that can make your

experience more magical: first of all, it’s very personal. It’s also very regional and very seasonal.

You have to follow your personal taste – if you only like red wine, then you’ll only want to drink red wine with any food, and there are many wine styles to suit everyone’s palate.

It’s seasonal in that you’ll want a lighter red in the summer, and crisp rather than full whites. I don’t really see the point of recommending a Shiraz on a blasting hot summer’s day (even if you like big reds).

It’s regional in that Rosé in France or Chianti in Tuscany inevitably tastes better there than at home! Local wines matched with local foods are always more special – a goat’s cheese salad with a Pouilly Fumé is lovely, but is particularly so in a lovely café overlooking the Loire valley...

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those flavours. Go for a dry white instead to cut through the richness.

Finally, the temperature of wine is also crucial. The colder a wine is, the fruitier it tastes, while warmer wine tastes more alcoholic.

Wines to choose include Rias Baixas Albarinho from Galicia, great value and a great food wine, halfway between a Sancerre and a Chablis in style. A Pinot Noir from Oregon would also be a good seasonal wine with barbecued fish, white meat or grilled vegetables, served at around 12ºC/53ºF (to reinforce the fruit flavours), or you could try a complex Chardonnay called Cervaro from Umbria, which is an award-winning rival to the classic French Burgundy.

Chris on Cocktails I don’t think that cocktails should be directly paired with every course on a menu. I love cocktails and will have a cocktail to start my meal like a Negroni or Hoffman House Martini, and probably finish my meal with a cocktail too, but during dinner I prefer wine. There have been a few bartenders who have successfully prepared cocktails with dishes like fish and meats, but it can be very challenging because of the temperature of cocktails and their alcohol content. After all, cocktails are meant to highlight the main spirit and to be consumed ice cold.

However, you can have great starter cocktails that will kick off a good dinner. If you’re eating

When looking for a wine to match with fish, you need to know that the salts in a dish will naturally reduce your perception of acidity in a wine. So when you match wine with seafood, you can go for a drier wine, because the salt present will make the wine taste less dry.

It’s the same with red meat – a big red will be better matched with dishes containing a lot of protein (like cheese or red meat) as they will reduce and soften the dryness from the tannins in red wine.

Reds do work well with meaty fish, as long as they are lively and fruity though: if you match fish with a heavy, tannin-rich wine, it will taste metallic.

If you’re serving smoked fish or fish in a creamy sauce, then avoid oak-aged wines, which will taste oily and heavy alongside -27-

seafood and having a meal with shellfish or fatty fish like tuna, citrus cocktails are a great palate cleanser. I like using grapefruit in cocktails to start people off before dining because you find a lot of grapefruit notes in crisp white wines like Sauvignon Blanc.

Cocktails that are based on vermouths are a great option too, like the inverted Hoffman House Martini made with two parts bianco vermouth to one part gin, with a few dashes of orange bitters.

A Bamboo cocktail, based on vermouth and sherry, is also great paired with seafood Fancy helping our guests choose great drinks? Email us: housetonic@sohohouse.com

DIGESTIFS

COCKTAIL BAR GUIDE

London’s Best Bars

CALLOOH CALLAY

(as chosen by the best bartenders in Soho House Group)

69 Colebrooke Row

Night Jar

Otherwise known as the “bar with no name” this brilliant and national award-winning cocktail bar is the brainchild of Tony Conigliaro, who is a bit of a legend in cocktail circles. Above the bar, you’ll often find Tony in his lab, tinkering with his own blends and infusions, working out just how to make the perfect horseradish vodka or fruit syrups.

The Night Jar is a discreet speakeasy-style bar that also has fantastic live music nights. The exciting cocktail list spans pre-prohibition, prohibition and post-war inspired drinks, alongside a few of the team's own creations. Some date back as far as the 1600s.

69 Colebrooke Row, London N1, +44 (0) 7540 528593, 69colebrookerow.com

The QV Bar at Quo Vadis

QUO VADIS

WHISTLING SHOP

This elegant art-deco style bar, part of the excellent Quo Vadis restaurant, is a relatively recent addition to the Hart brothers gentle restoration of this historic Soho restaurant building. Pop in for Champagne and oyster hour from 5.30pm each night, or sip a Venetian spritz (Aperol charged with Cava).

26-29 Dean Street London W1, +44 (0)20 7437 9585, www.quovadissoho.co.uk

Academy Academy used to be called Lab and has turned out some of London’s finest award-winning bartenders. It often gets absolutely rammed at weekends as it’s right in the middle of Soho, so go when it’s quieter if you like to cogitate over a drink. The list has over 100 cocktails on it, so there really is something from everyone.

12 Old Compton Street, W1, 44 (0)20 74377 820, www.labbaruk.com

10 Bells This Victorian pub still has loads of its original features (including some beautiful old tiles) but has been brought up to date slightly since Jack the Ripper’s final victim had her last drink at the bar. It is a really a place to sample some of London’s finest ales and the wine list is worth a look too.

84 Commercial Street E1, +44 (0)20 7366 1721, www.tenbells.com -28-

The Nightjar, 129 City Road, London, EC1, +44 (0)20 7253 4101 www.barnightjar.com

Montgomery Place A wonderful cocktail bar with a classic American snacks menu to complement its extensive classical drinks list. Well worth trying their Hoffman House martini or a Mary Pickford.

31 Kensington Park Road, Notting Hill, London W11, +44 (0)20 7792 3921, www.montgomeryplace.co.uk

Callooh Callay This quirky and distinctive bar was inspired by Lewis Carroll's surreal nonsense poem Jabberwocky, and you even have to go through a wardrobe to enter one of the bars. Friends of the bar get given a key to a small upstairs private bar, so you should be extra nice to the staff. Don’t be deceived though – the bar may be playful, but the drinks are very serious indeed.

65 Rivington Street, London, EC2, +44 (0)20 7739 4781, www.calloohcallaybar.com

The Whistling Shop Based on a Victorian gin palace (it even has an old fashioned streetlamp and an ancient bath in it), this bar, from the founders of the experimental cocktail bar Purl in Marylebone and VOC, a 17th century punch house in Kings Cross, is an exercise in cocktail history.

With a short menu of twisted historical drinks, an in-house lab and a rather daring food offering, this bar is surprising and beguiling.

63 Worship St EC2, +44 (0)20 72470015, www.whistlingshop.com

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Fancy working in our bars?

Away from the Bar There’s more than meets the eye to our bartenders. This issue, meet Tomas Veber, head bartender at Shoreditch House. He has been a bodybuilder for the last ten years.

Illustration: Joel Lardner

With sites in New York, London, Miami, Los Angeles, Berlin and Somerset, plus more on the way around the world, the Soho House Group is always on the look out for exceptional staff. We offer high quality training, excellent support, and you might even get the chance to work in venues overseas. We want to help you develop a great career in drinks.

If you'd like to join one of our bar teams in Europe or the United States then please get in touch: housetonic@sohohouse.com.

You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.

because of it! People always want to touch my arms – sometimes they’re being complimentary and sometimes they’re really not. It’s the same as for a girl in a short skirt – every second person has something to say.

I go to the gym four or five times a week for an hour or 90 minutes. Most days I start work at 5pm so I go before, have a shower and then get to work. I train at Muscle Works on Bethnal Green Road, which is a proper gym for body builders with a good atmosphere.

It’s not commercial like some other places. I don’t have a trainer – I do it myself.

I wouldn’t say that it’s like meditating exactly, but when I leave the gym I feel really good – happier and more confident. Afterwards, I could do a 15-hour bar shift, if I had to. If I don’t go, I feel bad and I don’t feel myself.

I’m thinking about competing, perhaps this year, maybe next. I’ve never competed before but some friends have been encouraging me. In bodybuilding competitions they just judge you on your looks – there are no strength tests. You can’t have a large upper body and skinny legs, for example, as your whole body size is assessed.

I don’t know how big I am. All I know is that my arms are 44cm around. I’ve never used my size to my advantage. In fact, I sort of get picked on by people

I don’t have favourite exercises, but I do have certain body parts I prefer to work on. I don’t particularly like training my legs because it’s harder, but I enjoy working on my arms and chest. I do two body parts a day, and I rotate – three days on and one day off.

I’ll definitely keep doing sports as long as I can. I like cycling and football and any sports which come with adrenalin. As long as you’re healthy it’s a sport you can do until you’re 50 or 60. Really, you could do this for life Reckon you're strong enough to join our diverse team? Email housetonic@sohohouse.com

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PHOTOGRAPHY: ARTHUR WOODCROFT

I

started young, when I was about 16, back home in Prague. A friend started going to the gym, then all my friends did too, and so I started and just fell in love with it. Most of them are still doing it now, like me.

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