Nowadays, most high-end bars are equipped with not just bartenders but a slew of certified mixologists. These servers act more like doctors than drink pourers, concocting a customized remedy to revitalize a lost soul or sustain the buzz of an over-enthusiastic reveler. But what exactly is the difference between a mixologist and your regular bartender? According to Wing Fan, the dapper mixologist of haven Hunting, it’s simple: “One has to face the customers, the other doesn’t.
“Whereas bartending is one part of a multi-varied job, mixers can spend the night with their backs to the customer just making drinks, tending to their spirits and crafting cocktails.”
Those that turn their backs on patrons are often certified to do so. Though it’s only a two-day course, your results in the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) exam can “define who you are. It shows if you really are a professional.”
Being a good mixologist is not about making the perfect drink 100 percent of the time. Instead, Fan’s mantra is: “The right timing, the right customer, the right place, the right drink, the right service.”
Different bars throughout the world have signature drinks that they pride themselves on. Hunting offers traditional standbys while at the same time adhering to its own personality. Their jasmine tea-infused vodka with lychee liqueur, elderflower syrup, egg whites and fresh lemon juice, named the Mural, is one example; a Thai-style sour and (really) spicy beverage, garnished with a shrimp, is another.
“The cocktail is really a fantastic drink,” enthuses Fan. “Not too long ago people knew nothing about it. We’re here to educate people as to what a cocktail is and can be.”
The concept of the cocktail is one that is relatively new to China, and the idea of craft cocktails is so nascent it rarely makes its way anywhere outside the cosmopolitan centers of Beijing and Shanghai.
Most people tend to go for the classics, drinks they’ve seen in movies or television shows: the Long Island Iced Tea; the Singapore Sling; the Negroni or an Old Fashioned. These libations are popular in any of the major cities of China.
What isn’t yet popular is the recent trend of molecular gastronomy – the art of blending physics and chemistry to transform the tastes and textures of food or drink.
“That kind of skill isn’t around on the mainland at the moment,” says Fan. “Even molecular gastronomy with food isn’t wellknown in China, so it’s understandable that it isn’t really present in the world of drinks.”
If you want to get to the essence of what a molecular cocktail is, Fan recommends taking a short train ride to Hong Kong to sample the beverages of Antonio Lai at the Quinary Bar.
For now, the most important chemistry being done in mainland bars involves ice. According to Fan, it’s really important – so important, in fact, that Hunting uses homemade ice that’s sculpted into different shapes of ice for different drinks. A Long Island Iced Tea for example will be served with cubed ice that gradually melts to dilute the high alcohol content.
“If our fridge is really cold, below minus 10, the water gets cold too fast and there’s too much air in the ice,” explains Fan. “We have to control the temperature so that the water slowly becomes ice and is solid with little air.”
It turns out mixology is all about staying cool.
// 36 Jianshe Wu Malu, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou 广州市越秀区建设五马路36号
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