The current trend in bars is locality: purchasing fresh, natural ingredients from nearby farms and producers. In gastronomy, this approach started quite a few years ago, and has been slowly appearing in the world of drinks as well.
Bars are opening across the world that are completely alcohol-free, but they try to give the guests the experience of socialising and a “bar experience”.
In Hong Kong, a very dear friend of mine opened a bar called The Savory Project, where the drinks have salty and umami notes instead of the usual fruity ones. But it’s also a trend in other bars to have two or three drinks on the menu that are more reminiscent of kimchi, or simply salty; for example, making a Martini with oysters. You may not find a passion fruit, a mango or a single strawberry in use in those bars. This trend has only appeared in Asia so far, but I believe it will spread to other parts of the world.
The gin craze recently reached Hungary, but it is slowly waning worldwide. However, agave distillates are gaining more and more space, e.g. tequila and mezcal.
Large hotels such as ours now give their bars much more space than 10-20 years ago. The bar is usually the cuckoo’s egg inside the hotel, can be extravagant, and are places where life is a little more relaxed. Kempinski is also creating better and better bars around the world.
Most guests are looking for classic cocktails. No bar can afford not to be familiar with the classics and we, as bartenders, will always turn to them for inspiration.
Balázs Molnár, Creative Director
It is important for a place to have its own signature drinks list, because this is the playground for the team, where they can express their creativity and show what makes them different from others. In our place, the ratio is about fifty-fifty in relation to classic and our own creations.
Photocredit & article’s origin: Forbes Hungary
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