Introduction It felt like an amazing honor: to be invited by Vantguard to give a presentation at their London and Barcelona Speakeasies. The goal Vantguard had, organizing the speakeasies, was to empower bartenders around the globe, by providing them with information and experiences that helps them further their craft. And they didn't hold back! Compliments for the team that organized a very professional event. Thank you! The speakers Carlos Magdalena, AKA the Plant Messiah, gave an introduction on plants, and how they play an essential role in the creation of spirits. Think "Corn & Whiskey" or "Blue Agave & Tequila", and you'll get the point.

Carlos Magdalena is the Plant Messiah ...

Odin was next. He informed the audience (close to 90 bartenders) on how spirits are made, and how flavors can be created, selected, and concentrated via distillation.

Odin at the Vantguard Speakeasy ...

The Schofield brothers, renowned bartenders that, in 2019 alone, travelled to over 70 countries to perform their mixology magic, took the discussion from "spirits" to "cocktails". Another eye opening performance!

Joe and Daniel Schofield discuss the future of bartending ...

Jorge Balbontin, owner of the Barcelona based Perdita Bar and manager at Vantguard, was next. His topic was inspiration and how it is the essential element to all cocktails and to all bartending.

Jorge and Odin having fun while having lunch at the Boqueria Market ...

Addie Chinn was last in line. He spoke about his profession: photography of alcoholic beverages. I'll let his work, one example of it, speak for itself:

Program The agenda wasn't all talk & listen, but of course had a more informal part as well, where various bars were visited and many cocktails were served. Here is a close-up picture of drinks and food, both amazing, we had at Perdita's:

CocktailCooker On my first visit, the Vantguard Speakeasy in London, something struck me as, well, not being right. As I gave my London presentation, and as I learned more about bartending and cocktails myself, during the remainder of the day, it struck me as weird that so many bartenders were buying small laboratory scale Rotavaps in order to create their own tinctures and essences. I mean, I am all in favor of experimentation and in-house production, but at the investment of over EUR 12.000? Really? And for what? For low boiling point distillation? "Heck!" I thought, "With our amazing extractor technology, we can do better!" Long story short? I put my team to work and we started designing a tool we felt could really help professionalize the craft of bartenders and mixologists. Take the art of cocktail making to the next level. We introduced it in Barcelona and boy did it get a great reception! We call the tool we designed the CocktailCooker, and - contrary to its name - it can even do NO BOIL extractions. How's that for maintaining and boosting fresh flavors? Other USP's the CocktailCooker offers? Here we go:

• Ease of use, because it runs via an app and doesn't need a vacuum pump;
• No vacuum, so no risk of implosion;
• Professional stainless steel build quality for longevity, instead of (breakable) glass;
• Helps the bartender make his or her own tinctures, bitters, extracts, and essences;
• For EUR 3.500 instead of EUR 12.000!

The CocktailCooker will be sold under its own brand name and can now be pre-ordered via www.cocktailcooker.com. Delivery will start end of February / beginning of March 2020. The first 100 orders get a EUR 500,- discount.

The CocktailCooker ...

www.cocktailcooker.com