opinionated alchemist

  Warning: this is just an early thought process of a technique I like to develop. Obviously you can use it (please at least give me credit) - but this is not yet a proven concept. You have been warned.  I think it was in the “DIAGEO World Class” competition in Dubai several years ago (well - it feels like a life before - it was for sure before the pandemic...). We attendees were warned, that Simon Difford, who ought to be a judge, expects of all participants to double strain their cocktails - and that he would definitely deduct points, if a bartender would not double strain! I find these stance bewildering. Especially of a person who further dilutes cocktails (Simon Difford’s  original recipes often includes water) - which not only never really caught on, but really is a very strange thing. Don’t get me wrong, when I am in a jury and a bartender would do something unusual, I would also raise my eyebrows, unless the bartender is doing it deliberately and is explainin...

Folks... A belated Happy New Year to all of you. There has been a lot of changes... I have got the feeling, that these changes will lead to a great year 2018... First: I have left my position as Beverage Manager at the Ritz-Carlton Dubai Beach. Better said, they made my position redundant (we will see, how well this works out for them 😶). I am not gonna lie - I loved to work with my previous Executive Assistant Manager i/c F&B Isabelle. It was simply inspirational and we have had a lot of brilliant and at times borderline crazy ideas! However Isabelle left the beginning of last year - and nothing was the same again. Let me not get into this too much... Second: Despite the fact, that I have had some offers as Beverage Manager again, I decided to go back into the operations - I am now “freshly appointed” Bar Operations Manager at Noir at the Kempinski Mall of the Emirates. The bar is beautiful, and had a short but somewhat controversial and very turbulent history. Th...

Screw caps on wine More and more wines are sold in bottles with screw caps - and since wine is sold with screw cas, there is a lot of controversy about this topic. If you are pragmatic, you would know, that a screw cap is far more advantageous. It is easy to use and opens without an additional tool. It closes the bottle air tight. It is has less impact in the environment – and the wine will less likely have a cork taint (the wine could still has contact with TCA, while it is produced – but most of the time, the cork is the offender). Cork is more romantic. More natural. Some people argue, that wine in cork ages better (it has at least a long history of being “ok” in aged wines). I have had a quite interesting conversation with Thibaut of Mouton Rothschild – as they are also changing some of their lower wines to screw caps. And this discussion just fueled my imagination. read on

It is Ramadan and everything [especially business] slows a little bit down. However it gives me the opportunity to get ready for my new assignment: Skylite. Skylite is a rooftop bar - and I would say, that it is by default one of the most exciting al fresco bars in the country. An illuminated grid-shell is spanning all over the hotel; colors changing slowly... and in Skylite you are sitting directly under these shells. Besides of the occasionally landing airplanes [which are awesome if you are interested in aviation - I haven't seen often a flying airplane closer] - which can be a bit noisy, this place rocks. For this venue, I am for the moment bringing F&B together - to have a really exciting offer for the new season. For the snacks, I thought about great custom-tailored finger food. Should ge tasty, accessible, inexpensive, trendy and just fun. The beverage concept is much more difficult. Problem is, that it is hard for me to departure my typical high-brow cocktail...