First up we have Swedish bartender Emil Åreng from Open/Closed in Umea. He is a regular competitor in international cocktail comps, including Absolut Invite, Bacardi Legacy and Diageo’s World Class.
HS: What styles of drink are you making right now?
EA: Like always it's all about the experience. We try to be innovative and use storytelling in everything we do so the guests think it's fun and actually get what we are doing. We have four cocktails that we change every second week. Its fun for guests and it means you need to come up with new things all the time. This job is all about fun and sharing is a blessing.
HS: Are you working in anything in particular?
EA: Now its all about the Bacardi Legacy 2015 comp. I’m working to get everything right about the story for my cocktail so people see why I use the ingredients I do.
HS: Tell us about the story behind the drink.
EA: The story is about Pepin Bosch, the legendary president of Bacardi (1945-1970 ish) and what he did for the company. He opened up a lot of the Bacardi distilleries around the world, so I’ve taken the flavours from respective countries and put them - and the history of Pepin - into the cocktail. I'm using Bacardi Gold from Puerto Rico, lime from Brazil, maple syrup from Canada and corn foam from Mexico and the US.
You need to visit Open/Closed to get the full story - or travel to Copenhagen for the Bacardi Legacy Nordic finals. Some stories are better live and this is one of them.
