In making cocktails, understanding alcohol and finding the right balance of ingredients is the most important thing, said the world’s top two bartenders.Erik Lorincz, the 2010 Diageo Reserve World Class Bartender of the Year, and Eom Do-hwan, the runner-up, are having another “competition” here to provide their own unique cocktails.
Lorincz came to Seoul to participate in Ritz-Carlton Seoul’s promotion of “The World Class Battle,” held at the Ritz Bar of the hotel from Jan. 19 to 21.
Source:Korea Times
The head bartender at the American Bar of the Savoy Hotel in London was crowned the best bartender in the World Class competition last year.
Organized by Diageo, World Class is the biggest international bartending competition. Some 9,000 bartenders took regional preliminaries, and 24 people from 24 nations participated in the finals in Greece in June, demonstrating their creativity, knowledge of alcohol and mixing skill.
Lorincz was named the best barman after six “challenges,” and Eom was named runner up."What is important to make a really good cocktail is dedication to it and finding the right balance to recognize the flavors, balance of the right ingredients with the right flavor. So you have to understand the liquor,” Lorincz told The Korea Times during an interview at the Diageo Lounge in southern Seoul, Tuesday.
The 31-year-old started his career 10 years ago, when there was no cocktail bar in his homeland Slovakia. After seeing bartending on TV, he went to Prague to attend a bartender school.
After several years of experience in the city, Lorincz said he wanted to learn more in places where cocktail culture is a tradition such as London and New York. “I moved to London, learned English and dived into the bartending world, because London is recognized as the capital city of bartending. They are much more developed. In terms of ingredients, knowledge and products, everything was already well established.”
The six challenges of the World Class are comprised of tests which the contestants could prepare in advance for, testing their knowledge and technique; and those for which they had to come up with ideas on the spot ㅡ in the Cocktails and Canapes challenge, for example, they had to choose two out of six dishes, which they didn’t know in advance, and make cocktails to match them. "In such challenges, you don’t know what you were going to prepare. That was the challenge that really pushed the limit,” Lorincz said. He was always in the top three of all the challenges, and became the No. 1 of all in the end.
“For the first two days, it was something I couldn’t believe. Today I really enjoy it because it gives me a lot of opportunities to travel, explore and see new people in different countries,” the barman said.
He and other runner-ups will become judges of regional preliminaries for this year’s competition. Lorincz will visit Australia and Singapore soon. “When you travel, you meet people from new countries and you always learn something new as soon as you go to the bars there. It’s lifetime experience,” he said.
The mixologist said he always think of new recipes. “I look for a recipe from almost everywhere. I come up with cocktails when sitting on the bus, thinking about combing ingredients and come back to the bar and try to use them. The inspiration is coming from everywhere.”
Famous for making cocktails characterizing regions and seasons, such as Russian New Year and Chinese New Year, Lorincz said he would love to make a Korea-related one someday. He said he uses “gochujang,” or Korean red pepper paste, in his Bloody Mary. “People say that is one of the best Bloody Marys they’ve tasted. Gochujang is my spice agent. It also gives a smoky flavor as well and goes really well with tomato juice and other herbs,” he said.
Lorincz recommended Korean bartenders to be more challenging and try spirits other than whiskey. “There are so many spirits. Give guests an opportunity to try different spirits, and that will help develop drinking culture.”
His friendly rival, Eom, captain of the Ritz Bar, was the runner-up as a whole, but he won the Market Challenge, in which the contestants were give 40 euros and bought ingredients at a local market and made two cocktails.
“While preparing for the finals, I thought of Greek salad. And I could buy the ingredients of the salad at the market, like olive oil, cucumber and feta cheese. I ground them and used the juice for the cocktail. And I stuffed a cherry tomato with the ground ingredients and used it as a garnish. I named it ‘My Own Greek Salad’,” Eom said.
He also bought rosemary and made “Smoky Rosemary.” “A rosemary stem is rolled in the cocktail, and the judge told me that it looked like a laurel wreath,” he said.
When asked what the attraction of bartending is, the 33-year-old barman with 10 years experience said he enjoys talking with guests. “Meeting various kinds of people with various jobs, I like to get to know various lives,” he said.
Eom said the most important thing in making a cocktail is to make most use of the base alcohol. “Each liquor has its own flavor, and it is important to show the base liquor’s flavor,” he said.
During the promotion, Lorincz and Eom will create cocktails using Johnnie Walker Black, Green, Gold and Blue. For more information about this unique opportunity to sample their interpretation of these classic whiskeys, call 02-3451-8277.
Famous for making cocktails characterizing regions and seasons, such as Russian New Year and Chinese New Year, Lorincz said he would love to make a Korea-related one someday. He said he uses “gochujang,” or Korean red pepper paste, in his Bloody Mary. “People say that is one of the best Bloody Marys they’ve tasted. Gochujang is my spice agent. It also gives a smoky flavor as well and goes really well with tomato juice and other herbs,” he said.
Lorincz recommended Korean bartenders to be more challenging and try spirits other than whiskey. “There are so many spirits. Give guests an opportunity to try different spirits, and that will help develop drinking culture.”
His friendly rival, Eom, captain of the Ritz Bar, was the runner-up as a whole, but he won the Market Challenge, in which the contestants were give 40 euros and bought ingredients at a local market and made two cocktails.
“While preparing for the finals, I thought of Greek salad. And I could buy the ingredients of the salad at the market, like olive oil, cucumber and feta cheese. I ground them and used the juice for the cocktail. And I stuffed a cherry tomato with the ground ingredients and used it as a garnish. I named it ‘My Own Greek Salad’,” Eom said.
He also bought rosemary and made “Smoky Rosemary.” “A rosemary stem is rolled in the cocktail, and the judge told me that it looked like a laurel wreath,” he said.
When asked what the attraction of bartending is, the 33-year-old barman with 10 years experience said he enjoys talking with guests. “Meeting various kinds of people with various jobs, I like to get to know various lives,” he said.
Eom said the most important thing in making a cocktail is to make most use of the base alcohol. “Each liquor has its own flavor, and it is important to show the base liquor’s flavor,” he said.
During the promotion, Lorincz and Eom will create cocktails using Johnnie Walker Black, Green, Gold and Blue. For more information about this unique opportunity to sample their interpretation of these classic whiskeys, call 02-3451-8277.
Source:Korea Times
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