Interview: bartender Erik Lorincz (The American Bar at the Savoy)

Bartender London

INTERVIEW CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

Would you say that you have any mentors?

Yes. The first one was obviously Roman Uhlir back in Prague.

What did you learn from Roman Uhlir?

It was all about classics. His school was set up on prior knowledge, 220 classic cocktails. We got a book of classic cocktails, and when we went to school, I remember the first day, he says, “After three months, you’ve got this book in your hand, make sure you have it in your head.” I was like, no way. And it happened. After three months, I knew all these classic cocktails. From Roman, I moved back to Bratislava and started practicing all these classic cocktails. We had all of them. For me, it was great because I just came from the school where we learned all of them. I had no problem at all. That was a good start for me. Then when I moved to London, I started networking and going to different seminars. Gary Regan was one of the first big mentor. I attended his master class and learned lots from Gary. Then I made my way to Japan, where I met Kazuo Uyeda. He’s the owner Tender cocktail bar and famous for inventing the hard shake. I took a private lesson with him as well.

In terms of presentation and ice?

Yeah. Ice carving, stirring, shaking, all techniques, basically.

Do you employ that Japanese technique?

Oh yes.

Who are some bartenders you haven’t worked with that you admire, and how come?

That would probably be Jerry Thomas, who passed away, but the bartenders who are still with me – I had the pleasure of pretty much meeting all of them, not working with them, but I’ve met most of the legendary bartenders around the world. From cocktails, I’d say King Cocktail, Dale DeGroff, Salvatore Calabrese, I’ve had the pleasure to meet all of them.

What was the last cocktail you developed, and what was your approach?

The most recent cocktail was a couple days ago, for the Conde Nast Traveler magazine. I’ve been named for hottest bartender and they asked me to create a cocktail. It was gin, fresh raspberries, red basil, a little egg white, fresh lemon juice, cloudy apple juice and simple syrup, served on the rocks.

What do you call it?

Vir-gen, because they sponsored it.

What’s a great simple cocktail for people to make at home?

Gin martini. You need gin, dry vermouth, orange bitters, great spirit and many thirsty people…I prefer stirred rather than shaken, because I don’t want to bruise the gin.

Any gin in particular?

My favorite is the Tanqueray 10.

Where and what do you drink when you’re not at work?

It depends who I am with and what we are doing. I drink any kind of spirit.

Any other bars in London that you prefer?

I kind of like hotel bars, members bars. Quo Vadis is a great bar for me. It’s sort of a speakeasy style bar and restaurant.

If you could only fill your glass with one more cocktail, what would be in it?

I would leave it up to the barman.

Which barman would it be?

Which bar are we at?

Quo Vadis.

I would leave it up to Stanic Kasadic, who’s a great bartender and I’m sure he knows my taste.

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Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

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[…] more about Erik Lorincz, check out Josh Lurie’s Q&A with Lorincz and a Wall St. Journal article that features Lorincz’s recipes for his five favorite cocktails. […]

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