Nils Boese – Global Ambassador for Jägermeister

Owner of Manhattan bar, famed German bartender and Jägermeister Global Brand Ambassador Nils Boese was recently in Australia hosting a series of classes and bartender events. Drinks World’s Lukas Raschilla caught up with Nils for a chat about his bar philosophy, the European bar scene, and of course, Jägermeister.

Boese

LUKAS RASCHILLA: You’ve owned and operated Manhattan Bar for over 15 years. Can you tell me about your philosophy of not having a drinks menu?

NILS BOESE: I’m always trying to keep people interested in new things and new drinks, and the bar is a very small room in itself. At first I was working with a menu, it was the late 90s and it was quite an extensive menu and people usually order something because they’re used to it, and think it’s secure, they’re not necessarily wanting to change. Around 2006 I was looking for a more satisfying approach and I stopped working with a menu. Having a menu meant that people tended to automatically stick to what drinks were on the menu. I was getting into a mood and a little disgruntled, but that wasn’t the fault of the customers, I just needed a change. I see my approach like the difference we have with food. On one hand, we eat food because it’s nourishing and we need energy, which is called eating, and then we have fine dining, which is a luxury. That is more where the focus is on the experience. So with alcohol we kind of have the luxury aspect already inherent because it’s always a luxury and we don’t need alcohol. Alcohol in itself is always a luxury. It’s difficult to get people to come to a bar and open up, but the moment they step into a fine dining restaurant, they open up because they know they are going to spend money and have a good time. When people go out to drink alcohol, they just want to have a good time and that’s usually the only focus they have. It was a harsh decision to do away with the menu and people were used to it, and sticking to it but it felt necessary for me to do away with having a menu and now I just work with recommendations.

LR: When you’re not in Hildesheim, the bar is closed. Tell me about the evolution of the bar, namely not having any staff other than yourself and only opening when you’re in town?

NB: It was coming to a point around 2009 where I decided to more or less slow down and change the place. I closed down, and during this point I made the conscious decision to avoid banks and not seek out any loans, so changes could only be made to the bar once I had the money. That meant the renovation time was more extensive than I actually planned, but during that time I realised that I was really looking forward to working again and I wanted to have the freedom of not being there every day and I didn’t want to be dependent on other people.

Obviously with any business you need to have people working for you and you need to trust them and you need to open them up and have the time it takes to teach them, but being a perfectionist and having more or less only a limited amount of people in the bar at any time, there hasn’t been a need to put other staff on. At that time there wasn’t the kind of interest in the bartending scene that we have now. Then obviously not being based in a big city like Berlin, Frankfurt or Munich it was a decision to have the bar only open when I’m there and want to work. Maybe in the future I will look at having the bar staffed but for the last few years it’s been the most comfortable arrangement because I can work around my schedule. I have an openness, which is nicer, and it gives me flexibility and piece of mind. It’s like getting out of a hamster wheel where you just keep turning. Right now whenever I open the bar, I’m the happiest man ever.

LR: Can you tell us a little about the German bar scene, and how it’s changed during your time in the industry?

NB: It has changed massively. I recall a big acceleration in terms of the bartending scene, not just in Germany, but in Europe around 2008. After the big bust in the economy there were a lot of young people going to other countries. So, for example, some of the best Spanish bartenders I knew were working in the Netherlands, some of the best Polish bartenders were working in Berlin, and people were going between places and working in different cities and from these places they were taking all this experience away. A result of that, right now in Madrid for example, the bartending scene accelerated and before that there was no real bartending scene, and that’s a real benefit of Europe we’re seeing now because we’re so well interconnected. They all have their own flair and style but learnt different things from working in different countries.

There are also knowledgeable guests, and that kind of means the bartenders and guests feed off each other; you can only have a sophisticated bar and bartender if you also have sophisticated guests.

One of the very obvious changes from the consumer is that people are drinking more consciously in terms of what they choose, not necessarily about volume or how much they drink but what they drink. They are more open in terms of taste and getting more adventurous with trying new things.

LR: What do you want people to understand about Jägermeister and how do you envision it being used in venues?

NB: What I want to get across with drinks is trusting in the product. The only thing I care about is that you’re trusting in your own taste. I want everyone to be like, “I know this taste now and I trust this product”.

For me, the way I envision Jägermeister being used is by a good bartender that thinks intelligently and adventurously when incorporating Jägermeister into drinks. When they actually know the product and how to build a new drink and know when to apply a rule and when to ignore a rule, that for me is the perfect use of Jäger.

LR: What is the most enjoyable aspect of working with Jägermeister?

NB: The product and the company are enduring me. I now have an influence and a platform to mix with the biggest shot brand in the world! How much confidence do you have as a brand when you say, “Yeah, we’re going to let this guy walk around and talk about it.” That is how much respect we have for each other and that’s why it’s so much fun.

When I think about working for Jäger as a brand, with most brands and companies there’s always structure, when I started working with Jägermeister there was no clear plan, there was no structure, sometimes there still isn’t, but that isn’t a problem the moment you have trust. And that is the basic beauty of working with Jägermeister. It’s more like a journey we started together. It’s always evolving and always changing and that’s what I love.