Angus Winchester is a leading figure in the world of bartending. The veteran bartender, global brand ambassador for Tanqueray and director of training for Barmetrix – a company that helps hospitality companies maximize profits while increasing customer satisfaction – was in St. Louis this week as part of a 20-city, 40-week tour geared toward the professional development of individuals in the beverage industry. Sauce sat down with the U.K. gent to chat about bar trends and the world of gin,and, of course, to get a few drink recommendations.
Which bar trends excite you right now? What I am seeing now is bartenders realizing that this is a hospitality industry, not the bartending industry; people are realizing service. Other trends: There’s a lot of historical stuff — recreating old cocktails. The Aviation, Hanky Panky, The Last Word, The Clover Club — 15 years ago, no bartender under the age of 35 had ever heard of these cocktails. Now, they are the coolest cocktails you could possibly order when you go into a bar. The other thing we’re seeing is bartenders creating products. Bitters, liqueurs … people saying, “The stuff we buy at the moment is crap.” or, “Nobody wants to make the stuff I want.” I won’t say all the products they create are great, but now, especially with craft distillers, they often pair up with a bartender and say, “Can you help us create tequila or gin that you think would work?” Bartenders getting involved in the drinks industry as much as they are with the hospitality industry is definitely a trend I’m seeing.
In what area do you think bartenders most need to improve? They are not very good at the efficiency side of things. The craft market, to a certain extent, has this “You can’t make a good drink quickly” [mentality]. I appreciate that you can’t make a good drink in 30 seconds, or 20 seconds or 10 seconds. But there is a minimum amount of time, all things considered, to make that drink.
What’s your take on the current growth of the gin market? Because people are trying to be different, they are using non-standard botanicals. They are saying, “I don’t want it to be that big, piney flavor that you associate with gin. I want it to be rose petals … ” It doesn’t taste like gin. Juniper is why gin is so good. But a gin that doesn’t taste like a traditional gin seems to be completely acceptable. I would say there are 100 brand new gins in the U.S. in the last three years. The litmus test is always: Does it work in classic gin drinks? And that’s always based around juniper. What’s your favorite gin cocktail? A martini. If you just look at seven basic variables, there are something like 12,000 variations. Which of the gins; which of the types of vermouth; oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruits? You could have a different martini every day of your life. Just holding the glass gives you spine-stretching confidence. I sit a little bit straighter with a martini in my hand.
What’s your gin cocktail to win over a non-gin drinker? A bramble. It’s a modern classic cocktail invented in the late 1980s. It is fantastic. Bramble is the English slang for “blackberry.”
Tanqueray Bramble
Courtesy of Tanqueray
1 Serving
1¼ oz. Tanqueray London Dry Gin
¾ oz. lemon juice
¾ oz. simple syrup
¼ oz. blackberry liqueur
1 lemon wedge
1 blackberry
• In a rocks glass filled with crushed ice, add the gin, lemon juice and simple syrup. Drizzle the blackberry liqueur around the inner rim and garnish with a lemon wedge and a blackberry.
This article appears in August 2012.