Get Behind the Bar to meet the Grand Encounter contributors

It’s almost time to raise the curtain on Grand Marnier’s new mini-series, The Grand Encounter: Behind the Bar. Three episodes that will delve into the merging of two different worlds, each explained and brought to life by industry-leading professionals. Before diving into the episodes, let’s get to know our protagonists.

Carina Soto Velasquez will be our exceptional host. Originally from Colombia, Carina moved to France in 2004, pursuing a student career in sociology.

Her first encounter with bartending came out of necessity, but quicker than expected she realized it was her passion and mission: in 2011, Carina launched Candelaria, a Mexican joint hiding a top-class speakeasy in the heart of Paris’ 3^rd arrondissement, which in little time became a staple of the local nightlife, consistently figuring among the best bars in the world. That was Carina’s first entrepreneurial success, paving the way to Quixotic Projects, the group she co-owns and to this day accounts for other globally renowned venues such as Le Mary Celeste and Hero in Paris.

Carina also regularly embarks in educational and mentoring programs to push the bartending community to new heights. 

The first Grand Encounter will involve Hugo Togni, bar manager and co-owner of Bar Pompette in Toronto, Canada.

Established during the challenging times of 2021, Bar Pompette is situated in Toronto’s Little Italy and it is both Hugo’s playground and main stage, with exquisite craftmanship and forerunning recipes regularly on display.

Born in the French border region of Alsace, famous for its wines and gastronomic scene, Togni grew up in a hospitality-oriented family, and went through education in culinary school: his first gigs saw him involved in the kitchen of Michelin-starred restaurants, before tuning to the bar in Strasbourg and eventually move to Canada.

His relationship with France, similarly to Grand Marnier’s, will be the centerpiece of his episode paris+world.

The second episode will take you to New York, where Carina will have her Grand Encounter with Takuma Watanabe.

Born and bred in Japan, Takuma grew up under the precious mentorship of Shuzo Nagumo, laddering up to successes in world-famous competitions and an irrefusable job offer from New York Angel’s Share then-manager Shingo Gokan. After eight years spent as a bar manager at the historical speakeasy, Takuma, a movie-enthusiast and thorough researcher, opened up his own venue in 2022: Martiny’s in Gramercy, where he showcases his Japanese, highly attentive to detail upbringing and combines it with spotless hospitality and delicious contemporary cocktails, made of ultimate respect for ingredients and unparalleled balance.

Takuma’s episode classic+modern will focus on the neverending relationship between past and present in the bartending industry. 

Finally, our third episode will feature California born-and-raised Deniseea Head, founder of Chicken&Champagne and Good Trouble in one of the world’s cocktail capitals, New Orleans.

Deniseea landed in the Big Easy after relocating to New York, where she arrived searching for inspiration and future in the fashion industry she got previously successfully educated in. Once in New Orleans, she dove into the bartending scene, managing to brilliantly combine exquisite recipes with cultural and historical storytelling that contribute to both the bartending and the Black communities.

Her approach to local roots and high-profile flavor experience will shine in the second episode, elevated+local.