As we sit in Diageo’s sprawling office bar, a man approaches us.
He is of average height and build, with sandy brown hair and tall, confident poise. His manner is warm and he has a genial smile on his face, despite the clear signs of jet lag.
The man extends his hand and speaks in soft Spanish accented English as he introduces himself as David Rios. We know who he is, of course. In 2013, after months of grueling competition, he was crowned Diageo Reserve World Class Bartender of The Year. That puts him in a rather exclusive club: one of the best bartenders in the world.
David is in town for the Singapore launch of the Tanqueray Rangpur, as it turns out.
A be-gin-ning
“I remember when Rangpur started in Spain. You know how it is in Spain, we’re crazy over gin and tonic. And David Rios, many people know him as Mr Tanqueray. Because I won the gin and tonic competition. With Rangpur, it’s amazing because its really easy to understand for the guest- it’s citrus.In summertime, you can drink six or seven.”
David refers to the National Championship of Gin Tonic by Schwepps and the International Championship of Gin Tonic by Fever Tree, both of which he won. Perhaps, given the popularity of G&T in Spain, it is fitting that a Spaniard takes both trophies. We love gin and tonic here too, of course. It’s the perfect balm to the merciless summer sun. The best part about it is how easy it is to make- which we can’t help but comment on. He nods in response, a knowing smile on his face.
“Yes, and I think that’s why gin and tonic is so crazy in Spain. For the bartenders, it is easy to make. It is fresh, clean, and if you put strawberries in your glass or many things it is beautiful. After (making it), it is easy, because if you have a bottle of gin, you look behind at the label, you choose 3 of the botanicals and put it in the gin and tonic.”
While David makes light of how easy it is, he is quick to offer a deeper perspective. “A few years ago vodka tonic was the new trend. All the papers were saying that. I looked at it and I said no. Many bartenders didn’t have the knowledge. If you look behind the bottle now and see nothing- now what do you put in the drink? It’s also really difficult to understand tonic, gin or gin and tonic. Sometimes I serve just tonic with lemon peel. And they’ll [customers] tell me “it’s the best gin and tonic I’ve ever tasted”. Then I tell them it’s just tonic water. It’s all in the mind.”
We sense that having reached the pinnacle of the G&T, he would be looking for something else to try his hand at- so we ask him about his favourite way to drink gin. He confirms our intuition. “All my life I worked with highballs. Gin and Tonic, Cuba Libres- maybe i’m just getting a bit tired of this kind of drink. I like drinks without ice, more complex, more bitter, more strong, more spirit-forward. Of course it all depends on the company, the weather, the country. For example, I love gin with a bit of lemon juice, lime juice, ginger beer. I created a cocktail last week. Tanqueray Ten, dry vermouth, sugar, bergamot bitters, lime juice, topped with ginger beer. Super fresh. A substitute for the gin and tonic- but more complex- and now you’re thinking in front of the beach, or on the terrace.”
The magic of simplicity
The Spaniard has a long and impressive resume in the cocktail world. The Diageo World Class Bartender now sits on judging panels and gives lectures on the art of bartending all over the world. Yet, there are no airs about him, despite his impressive list of achievements. He describes his ideas about what makes a good cocktail.
“High level [in cocktails] is about everything. It’s about hospitality, not just about making incredible cocktails [just] because sometimes that cocktails is impossible to reproduce in other places; just in your bar. The most important thing is the guest.” Coming from a fresh barhand, it would not hold much weight, but David’s long list of achievements include being maître d’ and sommelier at three Michelin Star restaurant Mugaritz – and he just so happens to be one of the best bartenders in the world.
We wonder if there is room for something new in the world of cocktails, then. Since the last wave of molecular mixology some years back, evolution in drinks has abruptly halted. David does not think that this seeming lack of progress is an accident.
“I don’t know if that’s the right way. About the molecular mixology for example. 3 or 4 years ago, everyone started to work on molecular, but now, nothing. Maybe some foam for fun, but not too much. Right now people, I think, are thinking about classic cocktails with a twist”
“If you make cocktails that people understand, it’s better. In my country, in my opinion, its impossible to make everyone understand strange ingredients or methodology. That’s impossible for everyone to understand. People are just not ready,” he declares without hesitation.
Curiousity piqued, we ask him how strange those ingredients can get.
He chuckles politely. “You can’t imagine. When you are judging cocktails around the world. You can imagine different cultures, and of course of the food. And this is another point that bartenders confuse. You feel like you’re a chef. You mix drinks, not food. Food is for chefs, you are bartenders. A lot of young bartenders infuse the most strange products in drinks.”
Over the years, strange things such as bacon, popcorn and bubblegum have been tossed into spirit and left to gestate, David doesn’t quite approve of some of the exotic and, frankly, odd things that have ended up in drinks over the years. “Why infuse the best bourbon in the world with bacon, blue cheese? Where is the bourbon? It’s disappeared.” He pauses to consider. “I think it’s fine if you infuse something inside if you think it helps the bourbon, or finds another theme in the bourbon. But never cover it.”
Certainly we can see his point. His own cocktails are made from simple, fresh ingredients. The Bitter Sweet Fizz, a cocktail created for Rangpur’s launch, only has Tanqueray Rangpur, Campari, fresh pink grapefruit juice, yuzu syrup, mint leaves and soda. The Campari and citrus components lift the gin and bring out its own lime-forward character, with the Campari herbs and mint balancing the flavours with a tinge of bitterness and aroma. Simple, yet delicious.
An eye towards the future
During his long career in the trade, David has worked at some of the best restaurants and bars in the world, including Res.Aizian and Mugaritz, currently No. 7 in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Given his background, we are not entirely surprised by his response on what he sees as trends for the coming years.
“Last week we were talking about chefs. Next year, we will, together with Mugaritz, open a new restaurant bar. I was in Barcelona last week at a Michelin star event. Another chef with an established name called me, they want to make cocktails in his restaurant.” He elaborates. “The chef is thinking, how can I make more money. If i start to create cocktails with food, maybe you have more time to seat in my restaurant, drink more, and maybe sit at the bar.”
He recounts another experience he had. “At the last global World class in Miami, we talked with master chefs, Charles Joly, more people about this kind of things. How can you serve cocktails with food? It’s really difficult because people don’t understand. Wine- of course. Meat, red wine, fish, white wine, dessert, sweet wine. Everyone understands this, more or less. And it’s OK – but I want to serve cocktails with food. When I think about how to do this, I start to think about wine. Assemble it with wine as the base. You can make cocktails with sherry wine. People understand sherry, and it goes well with dessert. I put Lagavulin, Talisker, with the sherry and serve it with dessert. You understand that it’s wine, but I start to put whisky as well. I think it’s a good way to start to introduce spirits.”
We’re a little sceptical, of course. We are not quite sure that cocktails will rival the place of wine in restaurants. Plenty of restaurants offer voluminous winelists and employ a host of sommeliers, but one rarely hears of a restaurant with a cocktail menu longer than two pages, or a dedicated house bartender. David offers his own take.
“I think it’s all about the chefs. If the chef wants to do this kind of thing, of course. Chefs are the rockstars. It’s significant for bartenders right now. Not just me, a lot of guys, a lot of friends starting to work with chefs. Twelve or fifteen years ago was the era of the sommeliers. Chefs would call the best sommeliers…And now, it’s bartenders. Believe me, the chefs are starting to think: bartenders.”
To make the point, he speaks about an experience in South Korea 3 years ago. Instead of the normal process, where the chef first creates the food, the chef built the menu around 6 of his cocktails. It was not just about creating the cocktails- the master bartender himself was there in person to explain all of his drinks to the diners.
“I was in the middle of the restaurant, 30 guys, all VIPs. It was incredible. The rockstar in this case was David, not the chef.”
Poetry in motion
David started his journey in hospitality at the age of 18. In 2013, he opened his own bar, Jigger, in Bilbao in the north of his native Spain. In creating the bar, he kept to his philosophy on what really matters.
“Why do people go to the bar? Because you need alcohol? No. If you do , go to the supermarket, because it’s cheaper. You go to the bar because it’s about the experience and it’s a social place. You come for the experience, not just the drink,” he quips.
We watch transfixed as he makes one of his famous gin and tonics.
First, he carefully selects each shard of ice that he intends to use, scrutinising them with a critic’s eye. Rhythmically, like a giant metronome, he adds only the perfectly clear and shaped cubes into the tall glass.
His hands turn into a blur of motion as he uses a matched set of tongs to twist and squeeze every bit of aroma from a lemon peel into the glass. Only after the citrus scent permeates the entire glass does he add the Tanqueray, pouring a measure into the glass before picking up his tongs again to add a second dose of citrus oils. Freshness fills the air as some of the vapour rises from the half-filled glass.
Then, it’s time for the tonic. To preserve the bubbles, he does not simply upend the bottle, but gently pours the fizzy liquid in a slow, steady trickle, keeping the bottle level with his forefinger. Every motion is precise, fluid, practiced.
Even now, David’s work is not yet done. He gives the mix just one gentle stir, no more, and adds the garnish- a green lemon peel from his mother’s own garden and a bay leaf. With the same spiralling motions, he once again twists a lemon peel over the now full glass until, finally satisfied, he serves it to us.
We taste the drink. It’s the best Gin and Tonic we’ve ever tasted- and we have had hundreds. Bursting with the scents of an orchard, the drink is pleasurably cold and brisk. It refreshes us with a pleasant tartness, filling the mouth with cascading waves of citrus, mingled with fresh pine juniper. A brisk, bright spring day trapped in a glass. It evokes memories of renewal and exuberant youth.
Speechless, we simply take another sip and take the moment to contemplate, silently, what poetry in bartending looks like.
