This year will expand on last year’s model which saw some of London’s top bars open their doors to the trade to offer specifically-created educational sessions and a glimpse behind the curtain outside of usual opening hours.
“Last year, we teamed up with London Cocktail Week on the Bartender Knowledge Exchange programme to host a first-of-its-kind bartender experience at The Connaught Bar: Behind the scenes of The Connaught Bar,” explains The Connaught Bar director of mixology Agostino Perrone.
“I welcomed the group and introduced The Connaught Bar. Giorgio [Bargiani] showed the group around to have a taste of our bar, Andrea Maiolani, the bar supervisor, took them through the details of our team and our rota, the various roles and responsibilities covered by everyone, the back bar and so on. With the help of every team member we gave a real taste of how our bar works and how we implement our hospitality culture.”
This year will see new sessions with Tayer + Elementary hosting sessions about menu development, A Bar with Shapes for a Name will offer an introduction to flavour, Lyaness will grant behind the scenes and explore storytelling through cocktails, Dram will cover what it really takes to open a bar, while Satan’s Whiskers will dive into roundbuilding and speed of service.
Like The Connaught Bar, several bars that hosted sessions in 2023 will be doing the same this year.
“We’re actually running the same two sessions as last year,” explains Coral Anderson managing director and co-owner of Swift where guests can attend an intro to hand-cracked ice and a one-on-one tasting of some of the team’s favourite drams.
“Last year just went so well. I think the word we’d use is wholesome. Everyone who attended was there because they wanted to be – it wasn’t because their employer or a brand wanted them to – and that meant everyone was so engaged and wanted to take something from it. It was a genuine knowledge exchange and we’re really looking forward to doing it again.”
The sessions are open to anyone working in hospitality, tickets and additional information can be found here.
