Intro

KEEP IN MIND :
that this is a BLOG about cocktails and its culture. Purpose of this blog is to give you an idea and a description, whether the place is good or not from the point of you of a customer as well as bartender.
This blog should show you a way how to appreciate the bar, cocktails and its way of preparation, if you are a tourist or a visitor searching for a good place.
If you are a Bartender, Barmaid or Barmanager, you may find some useful informations about the VALUES of bartender´s job.
However, keep on mind, that this is a blog and only one person is writing it. There are many places i haven´t visited (yet) or I visited only once. My experience may be different from yours.
Enjoy responsibly.

Saturday, 31 December 2016

Have you ever seen a movie called Midnight In Paris?
I just had a very similar experience to this movie. But let me explain it a bit for those who don't know.

Basically its about a guy, who gets lost in Paris (or fells asleep and dreams) and he travels in time and he meets the most famous artists in the world...

I didn't get lost in Paris, but in Milano.
I did a review on one bar at the other side of the Milano and over there I got a paper with just one word written on it... I left that bar around 19:00 and around 30 minutes later I took a tram no. 19 to Porta Genova and from there, another one with number 30. In meanwhile I got a bit confused and therefore I got lost. And then I found myslef in front of a suspiciously looking shop. There was a man, who stop working, when I entered. and was just staring at me, waiting for something. I greeted him and I have realised, that the one woed on the paper could be the password. So I said it.

He turned around and knocked on a wooden shelf. That wooden shelf opened a bit and he repeated my words to the person behind it. Then after few seconds another person appeared behind me, from the door behind me and invited me inside.

What I've seen in there, left me speechless. The whole bar was situated somewhere to nineteen century. My personal guess would be thirties. Bare brick walls, great system of lights, wooden cabinets with premium bottles of alcohol and very stylish furniture were corresponding with clothes of the members of this bar. And then the music. A man, playing a piano. A have noticed all of this while passing through the bar as well as the genious details to maximize the relaxing atmosphere, as for example a hat hung up on top of the lamp, like if somebody left it there few moments ago...
Then I stood up in front of the bar itself and bartender left his position behind the bar just to shake my hand and while doing it with big smile he said : ,, Welcome to .....!''
But more than an introduction to the bar, it felt more like a nice welxoming of an old family member who haven't benn seen for a long time.
But as I was running late, I ordered a BREAD. Yes ''ONLY'' a bread. And while waiting for my bread, another guest next to me started to talk to me. When he turned his head towards to me, I have realised, that its not noone else than Roberto Artusio. We had a nice short chat about hisbar in Rome and about this amazing place and about our ways, how we reached this bar. And when we were chatting about mixology in general, another person joined our conversation. It was Julio Bermejo himself - the owner of Tommy's bar in San Francisco, famous for their tequila collection and also non less important : for Tommy's Margarita. Then Roberto introduced me to another two guests, one of them was Giorgio Bargiani from the Connaught bar in London and Tomas Estes, who opened more than 17 restaurants/bars in Europe and Australia. Honestly, I have never felt so small . All these people were introducing themselves with their big names and I was just sitting there like : ,,Hi, I am very honored to meet You all...and I am just a potato, Jim...''
 I was enjoying very well made BREAD seved in an amazing and stylish way after very careful and precisious preparation, but my time was over and all the way home I was thinking, what actually happened? Was it just a dream? Or was it a different dimension like in that movie?
When I woke up the next day, I was still pretty convinced, that it didn't really happen. Until I reached a pocket of my throusers. Over there I found the visit card and there was written the name of the bar and an invitation to the Agave Experience Symposium, that was happening the next day in Milano. Just then I've realised that it was not just a dream and BREAD was not just a bread, but an amazing cocktail, and that I really met those people, which led into amazing series of events as visitong Agave Experience in Milan or historically 1st P(our) bar symposium in Paris.
I just don't believe in one thing. I don't believe, that this place, with the highest quality of everything, didn't appear on the list of the world's best 50 bars. I have been in many of these, higly rated bars and knowing them and this place too, I would put this bar in between best 5 without even a blink of an eye.
This bar is a place from a different dimension. An extraordinary one. And if You have ever been dreaming about a speakeasy bar, that would be perfect, the outcome of your dream would be pretty close to this magic place. Best 5 bars in the world... If not higher. I could keep on going, I cannot stress enough how good this bar is, but to honor the culture of speakeasies and to respect the place itself, I will stop right here and just smile every time, when someone asks me about the name of this place.

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