Perspectives

Season 1

Raw Materials & Flavour

Person holding a box of strawberries
Chapter 1 - Sourcing matters
We begin by looking at our broken food system and the ways in which bartenders can better source ingredients in order to remain true to nature. From utilising seasonal ingredients to educating guests on where they come from, our contributors explain why sourcing raw materials with flavour in mind really matters.
Man walking in a restaurant corridor
Chapter 2 – Creating uniqueness
In our second chapter, we investigate the relationship between ingredients and creativity. By stripping the creation of cocktails back to raw materials over technique, understanding the impact of locality and experimenting with new ways of expressing flavour, bartenders can really begin their journeys into creating uniqueness.
Clean and modern kitchen
Chapter 3 – Finding your own identity
In our final instalment, we focus on how bartenders translate their understandings of flavour into their drinks. By taking personal memories of flavour and using the right recipes and techniques to communicate them through cocktails, bartenders have the power to influence consumers and share knowledge with future bartending generations.

In this episode, our experts focus on two of the most important components of making drinks – raw materials and flavour. By balancing old ways of presenting flavours with new ones, exploring other supply chains for our ingredients and educating guests on the produce that goes into their drinks, bartenders can start to answer the question: what is the essence of flavour?
From the importance of understanding ingredients, to sourcing seasonally, creating uniqueness and finding an identity: this episode explores how bartenders can be leaders in changing consumers' (and future bartenders') understanding of produce and how it relates to flavour.

Contributors

Further Reading

Robert Tomlinson s Forced Rhubarb harvested by candlelight to preserve its bright pink fibreless stalks

Article

Why Natoora needs you to help them change the food system

Produce supplier Natoora has spent 20 years building a business that celebrates where our ingredients come from. Head of education, Clementine Hain-Cole, explains why bartenders should be supporting the farmers who grow them To Natoora, education means equipping everyone – starting from schoolkids and running right up to bartender, chef, home cook and everyone in […]

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Article

The ugly movement: Embracing imperfect produce in your bar 

The ugly food movement has been fighting the food-waste-fight around the world, but there is still plenty of work to be done. Here, we outline the implications of food waste on our planet and explain how you can be part of the solution  When thinking about the journey fruits and vegetables endure, from farm to […]

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Article

The origins series: How quinine’s medicinal properties created a classic cocktail

From curing malaria to being the catalyst for the gin and tonic, quinine has a storied history. In the third of our origins series, we explore it roots and how it became part of liquid history The year is 1638. Nine years had gone by, the legend goes, since Lady Ana de Osorio had first […]

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Article

The origins series: The history of sugar and its role in cocktail culture

For thousands of years, sugar has been a valued commodity around the world. As part of our series on origins, we take a whistle-stop tour of its history and its journey into the worlds of spirits and cocktails

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Grains

Article

The origins series: The many uses of grains for making drinks

From their role in the history of humankind, to their transformation into beer, whisky and more, we dig into the origins of grains in the second in our ongoing series

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Article

Seasonality, terroir and globality: How time and place can impact flavour

When it comes to looking beyond the back bar, working seasonally is an undertaking that is becoming more pertinent among the bartending community. Millie Milliken asks bartenders from Australia, Japan and Peru how time and place impact how they work

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