campari : : the rise of the contemporary classic

Transcription

: CAMPARI
:
: THE RISE OF THE :
CONTEMPORARY CLASSIC
: 2014
:
‘Now people are starting to
become more familiar with all
the classics, they are choosing
to go for things like Negroni
and Boulevardier. Not because
it’s the only thing they know
but because it’s what they like.’
Tonia Guffey, head bartender Dram,
Williamsburg, New York, USA
opposite page :
A Negroni served at THE THOMAS ANd FAGIANI’S BAR AT THE
THOMAS, NAPA VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
THE : FUT URE : LABORATORY
CAMPARI FUT URES
The rise of the contemporary classic
The classic is back. From throwback tipples and clandestine drinking haunts to tried-and-tested fashion
staples and vintage interiors, consumers are dusting off the archives and reaching to the past for
inspiration in the contemporary world.
Classic Campari-based cocktails such as the Negroni, Americano and Boulevardier – whether on tap,
barrel-aged or straight up – are the toast of the town today, thanks to consumer interest in bitter-sweet
aperitifs, Prohibition-era recipes and the wizardry of bartenders who are refashioning classic cocktails for
a new generation of drinkers around the world. ‘A couple of years ago it was the Old Fashioned. Before that,
the Manhattan. Now the Negroni is the new popular classic option for drinkers,’ says Martin Auzmendi, a
journalist and drinks expert based in Argentina.
Bittersweet symphony
The art of the aperitif
Cocktail culture in the nineties and noughties
may have tilted towards strong sweet-and-sour
flavours, but tastes today are broadening. It’s now
increasingly herbal, bittersweet drinks that are
de rigueur among the cocktail crowd.
Dating back to the 18th and 19th century, aperitifs
have long been a ritual in continental Europe; a
precursor to lunch or dinner, helping Italians and
the French move from work to play. These ‘openers’
are now gaining traction the world over and
Campari – synonymous with the ritual – is seeing
a surge in popularity.
Whether it’s the much Instagrammed Negroni,
dubbed ‘London’s drink of the decade’ by The
Evening Standard’s Richard Godwin, or the
Boulevardier, which is cropping up on cocktail
menus across the Atlantic, one ingredient is
constant: Campari. A growing appreciation for
this distinctive bittersweet red spirit is underway,
as consumers look to discover new flavour profiles
and awaken their palates.
‘The interest in vintage has driven an interest
in bittersweet flavours,’ says Mauro Mahjoub,
of Mauro’s Negroni Club in Munich, Germany.
‘Everybody is pulling away from sweet,’ notes Tonia
Guffey, head bartender at Williamsburg bar Dram,
New York. ‘We get quite a flux of people that are
experimental and they want to go more bitter,’ she
says. ‘The most frequently said thing in our bar is
‘not too sweet,’ for anything.’
Russell Norman’s family of London-based Polpo
restaurants has popularised these early-evening
sippers in the UK, elevating Campari cocktails
to cultish status thanks to the bars dedicated to
Campari and classic Negroni cocktails beneath
the restaurants.
Tony Conigliaro is also witnessing an aperitif
tidal wave, with the Negroni one of 69 Colebrooke
Row’s most popular drinks. ‘It’s had a real surge
in popularity, to the point where bars are now
specialising in different types and customers come
with knowledge about what type of ingredient –
on top of Campari – they’d like their Negroni to
be made with,’ he says.
‘The nuance and specification of what bartenders
are creating and the palates of the people who go
to bars are developing,’ chimes New York-based
cocktail expert and writer Brian Quinn. ‘With
all these kooky Italian amaro names, people
traditionally might have been like, ‘What is
that? I don’t know if I want that’. But now people
understand that it has some great characteristics.’
The food industry, and the way that we eat
now, has a lot to do with this shift in consumer
perception about more unusual flavours or pairings,
explains Tony Conigliaro of London cocktail bar 69
Colebrooke Row. ‘With the increase of restaurants
offering cocktails, people have stopped seeing ‘food’
and ‘drink’ as separate entities: we’re reaching the
point now where a customer will order a cocktail to
accompany a certain dish,’ he says.
opposite PAGE :
Negroni bar at Polpo, Covent Garden, London
CAMPARI FUT URES
4 : 5
Classic redux
In a digital era where trends and ideas oscillate
and contradict one another from one day to the next,
consumers are finding reassurance in tried-andtrusted classics and time-honoured materials and
techniques. In fact, ordering, and understanding
the beauty of a true classic cocktail has become a
source of bragging rights.
Campari’s association with artists – from its
Belle Époque advertising to the 2010 launch of
the Galleria Campari in Milan – has reinforced
its authentic credentials and forged an emotional
connection between the brand and its drinkers.
While its artistic expression has evolved to match
the mood of the prevailing social and cultural
landscape, the Campari recipe has remained
unchanged since its creation by Gaspare Campari
in Novara in 1860.
Campari has been etched into history books as a
base for some of the most famous cocktails around
the world, and is inexorably linked to Milan and its
iconic Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, where in 1867
Gaspare Campari first set up Caffè Campari – his
home, restaurant and a liqueur shop.
Caffè Campari later gave way to the Camparino in
1915, a younger incarnation opened by Gaspare’s
son Davide. The bar gained popularity thanks to
an innovative hydraulic system, which ensured a
continuous flow of soda water from the cellars below,
allowing clients to enjoy a perfectly chilled Campari
and soda. Fast forward to present day and it is still
a hub for aperitif-drinkers from Milan and the rest
of the world.
The International Bartender’s Association (IBA),
which sets the global standard for the profession
and educates members about current and future
trends, ensures that Campari’s rich story is
preserved. This is thanks to its official cocktail
list, which counts the spirit as a vital ingredient
in both Americano and Negroni cocktails.
‘Campari has always been a much loved and
appreciated brand in Brazil,’ says Brazilian
bartender Rogério Rabbit. ‘It has always been
present in classic cocktails: the Americano, Negroni,
Negroni Sbagliato, Garibaldi [Campari Orange] –
and my latest creation, the Negroni São Paulo.’
‘The best cocktail in the world, the Negroni, wouldn’t
be the Negroni without it,’ says Dram’s Tonia Guffey.
‘I think there’s a lot of respect for that cocktail
amongst professionals and just people in general.
You can make a Negroni with any sweet vermouth
and any London dry gin and it’s still going to taste
delicious, but make it with anything other than
Campari and it’s just not the same,’ she explains.
When Mauro Mahjoub opened Mauro’s Negroni
Club in Munich, he proposed 15 variations on the
classic Negroni, a cocktail he views as ‘a family
of drinks’ rather than a standalone cocktail.
‘Sometimes I change the spirit or I play with the
vermouth but it always has the Campari because
without it, it’s not a Negroni,’ he says.
THIS PAGE :
A NEGRONI AT IL MILIONE bar and restaurant, HONG KONG
CAMPARI FUT URES
Contemporary vintage
Cocktails aren’t alone in experiencing a vintage
renaissance. Across the board from bars to fashion,
from grooming products to design, consumers are
embracing a revivalist retro feel, reinventing classic
designs and old-fashioned pastimes for a new age.
The birth era of the Negroni, the 1920s, has
been a particular focus. Recent renovations at
the Grand Hotel et de Milan’s restaurant and bar,
Caruso, evoke vintage glamour with Murano-glass
chandeliers that date back to the 1920s juxtaposed
against bespoke contemporary design pieces by
Dimore Studio.
The 2013 release of Baz Luhrmann’s film, The
Great Gatsby, an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s
1925 novel, inspired several retailers to launch their
own period collections to help shoppers relive the
flamboyance and glamour of the roaring twenties.
Tiffany & Co, the film’s official fine jeweller, gave
its New York flagship an Art Deco makeover to
coincide with the launch of the Great Gatsby
collection. Grand crystal pillars, glass bubbles and
more than 150,000 craft beads adorned the windows
while the exterior of the store featured 45-foot-high
appliqué reminiscent of Art Deco fountains.
Other brands that tapped the Zeitgeist with special
period collections and promotions included Fogal,
Brooks Brothers and New York’s Plaza Hotel.
In London, Harrods hosted its very own Great
Gatsby pop-up cocktail bar.
The trend has continued since. This year, Supreme
New York collaborated with Brooks Brothers on a
seersucker blazer and matching trousers for spring.
The packaging for Gucci’s debut cosmetics collection,
launched this year, takes inspiration from the Art
Deco movement. Meanwhile, Prada’s Autumn 2014
fashion campaign features Art Deco-print fabrics.
Tiffany & Co’s new Parisian flagship on the
Champs-Elysées has emulated the brand’s 1920s
roots, while Aesop’s newly launched 1920s-feel
Parisian signature store on rue du Vieux Colombier
in Saint-Sulpice, is also ‘evocative of far-off and
distant times’. It uses opulent materials such
as bronze, marble, velvet and vintage mirrors
to transport the visitor to a setting that is both
‘curiously contemporary and reassuringly ancien.’
Selfridges’ Personal Shopping space in London
is inspired by glamour icons of the early twentieth
century, and couples classic elegance with
modern luxury. Housed on the second floor of the
department store, it has nine rooms which are
inspired by style icons, such as pop star Grace Jones,
1920s artist and socialite Tamara de Lempicka and
French fashion designer Jeanne Lanvin.
THIS PAGE :
The Great Gatsby Collection by BrookS Brothers
6 : 7
THIS PAGE :
Aesop by Studio Dimore, Paris
8 : 9
Retro-tainment
Hospitality spaces embraced the retro speakeasystyle bar scene in 2013, and this global trend
continues to gather pace around the world.
The decadent and illicit spirit of the Prohibition
era is alive and well at renowned underground
destinations in the US such as New York’s Death
+ Company, Manderley Bar at the McKittrick Hotel
– attached to the immersive theatre production Sleep
No More – and PDT (short for Please Don’t Tell).
In London, new bars such as Steam and Rye and
the Discount Suit Company hark back to bygone
eras (early 1900s and 1920s respectively), with
themed paraphernalia and menus of forgotten
classics. ‘TV shows like Madmen and Boardwalk
Empire have a lot to do with glamourising a
specific era, but the nature of Prohibition and the
kind of bars, stories and cocktails that were born
in that era have always been very romantic,’
explains BYOC Bars’ Nathaniel Shenton. ‘I don’t
think it’s a fad in the same way that tiki drinks
are. Hiding away in a den is almost the essence
of bar culture.’
The secretive spirit and aesthetic continues to
stretch to new territories such as Frankfurt,
where Jewish-style café and bar Maxie Eisen
transports visitors back to Al Capone’s Chicago.
In São Paulo, Brazil, hidden behind the glass
door of a townhouse on the Alameda Jaú, B.Bar
serves up classic cocktails such as the Negroni to
punters who come to enjoy live music, vegetarian
cooking and the taxidermy that lines the walls.
Over in Buenos Aires, Argentina, secret bars
Frank’s and The Harrison Speakeasy also serve
covert cocktails behind unmarked doors. ‘It’s a
small, strong trend here in Argentina,’ says
Martin Auzmendi. ‘I think in the next few years,
the bars will start to find a way of being original
after years of trying to be a speakeasy. They will
try and find their own identity in the aesthetic
of the bar, the menu and the offer they make.’
Efforts are already underway in Brazil, where
superchef Alex Atala and nightlife guru Facundo
Guerra have partnered to restore São Paulo’s Riviera
bar, a cultish socialist drinking den in the 1950s,
1960s and 1970s, which closed its doors in 2006.
‘The secrecy of Prohibition speakeasies is
attractive,’ adds Tony Conigliaro. ‘People like
to feel that they are in the know and somewhere
exclusive. The design of a speakeasy – the dim
light, jazz music and their intimate feel remain
timeless I think.’
opposite page :
BYOC, Bring Your Own Cocktail bar, London
CAMPARI FUT URES
10 : 11
Classic 2.0
As consumers increasingly seek out drinking
occasions that generate authentic, enjoyable and
intense experiences that appeal to all the senses,
bartenders are using unusual ingredients and riffs
on old classics to satisfy new appetites.
‘All classics will be reviewed and reinterpreted and
adapting to each season,’ says Rogério Rabbit. ‘I use
all techniques without any shame. What matters to
me is getting the best end result, whatever it may be.’
‘We change classical drinks in order to have a new
drink similar to the original but with our own
touch,’ says Chiara Beretta, bartender at Rita
cocktail bar in Milan, Italy. ‘The same is happening
with the Negroni and Negroni Sbagliato [a bubbly
twist on the Negroni, made with sparkling wine
instead of gin]. Every cocktail bar now has its
own twist,’ she says.
‘I try to use the classics as a base and then I’ll
vary it from there with whatever cool product or
ingredient that I’m interested in at the time,’
agrees Dram’s Tonia Guffey.
Other bartenders are adding a new dimension to
cocktail drinking with barrel ageing and pre-mixed
bottles. ‘Any important bar has its own barrel to
age drinks – a lot of bars are making smoky
Negronis,’ says Martin Auzmendi. ‘They generally
make it in front of the customer. Some others might
smoke the vermouth before – but mostly it’s about
playing in the moment with smoke and the wood,’
he says. ‘The barrel-aged Negroni is something a
lot of people throw on the list,’ adds Brian Quinn.
Elsewhere, bartenders are doing away with
fruit altogether. In London’s East End, Ryan
Chetiyawardana’s White Lyan bar invites drinkers
to sup on a layered Negroni, which uses sprayed
‘layered zests’ instead of perishable citrus fruit.
Chetiyawardana prefers to keep the drinks in
coolers and prepare them with the citrus flavour
already infused in the cocktail. ‘It’s about control,’
he explains. ‘It’s about the consumers, and letting
them have a dialogue with what they are consuming.
You can choose your level of interaction.’
THIS PAGE :
The European bar, Warwick San Francisco Hotel,
San Francisco
CAMPARI FUT URES
Adam Wilson, manager at The European bar
and lounge at the Warwick San Francisco hotel,
has created his own take on the Boulevardier:
The Duke. It uses rye whiskey, Campari and
vermouth in equal parts, but absinthe also goes
into the mix. ‘It really elevates it and makes it
a much, much brighter drink,’ he says.
Glassware is another tool being used to reimagine
how classic cocktails are served, with vintage
glassware gracing bars around the world. ‘A lot of
vintage glassware is disappearing from the markets
because every bartender is buying it up. It’s a big
trend at the moment,’ says Mauro Mahjoub, who
has over 160 cocktails on his menu but is rooted
in the classics. ‘The bar is a laboratory. We always
need to create something, to offer our guests more
choice, but we should never forget the classic and
the origin,’ he says. ‘I might do cuisine-led cocktails
or something molecular but I never stop using the
classic as a base.’
THIS PAGE :
photography for Imbibe magazine for Negroni week, New York
12 : 13
THIS PAGE :
The Thomas and Fagiani’s Bar at The
Thomas, Napa Valley, California
14 : 15
Future classic
With the rise of an unhurried speakeasy style in
bars across the world, theatrical cocktail-flipping
or ‘flair bartending’ has given way to a more
considered style among mixologists. But as the
speakeasy concept evolves, bartenders are betting
on a new golden age for classic cocktails, with
simpler drinks, delicate flavours and homemade
ingredients paired with classic spirits such as
Campari leading the way. Chiara Beretta says,
‘For our new drinks, we are using a lot of home-made
products: flavoured syrups, sodas, aromatic sugar
and spices. We give ‘the classic’ a modern touch
by mixing what happens in the kitchens into our
everyday job.’
‘It’s a competitive industry at the moment and
people are waking up to the fact that you’ve got to
do more than just make good drinks to keep people
in your bars,’ says Nathaniel Shenton. ‘We’re looking
to provide an experience rather than just drinks.
That experience is heightened by a focus on creating
more unique products,’ he says, ‘and the whole
home-made thing is becoming big, that’s certainly
where our biggest focus is. When something that is
hand-picked and you know exactly where it’s come
from, how old or how fresh it is, it’s only going to
make something more enjoyable.’
Bartenders are responding to a desire for hyperprovenance and seasonality from consumers who
want to know exactly what has gone into their
Negroni and where the lemon that garnished
the cocktail was picked. ‘Cocktail drinkers want
to know more about provenance every day, says
Sebastian Sulpizio, head barman at the Clubhouse,
a private member’s club in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
‘As cocktail culture becomes a thing, they want to
be knowledgeable and savvy. It’s cool to know about
these things,’ he says.
‘With the internet, this information is more
accessible, and increasingly people are seeking
new experiences,’ says Rogério Rabbit. And as
consumers and bartenders continue to seek out
these facts, brands with a history to tell will
continue to fascinate. ‘The history behind Campari,
it’s something which awakens interest in all people,’
says Mauro Mahjoub.
THIS PAGE :
Negroni at Soul Gastrolounge, Charlotte, NC
Photography by Justin Smith of Native Design Co.
CAMPARI FUT URES
Timeless classic
As mixologists bring new incarnations of the
classics to the bar, the IBA’s cocktail list ensures
that the provenance and authenticity of brands
like Campari are not forgotten by drinkers. ‘I think
Campari is wonderful, and what they have that a
lot of spirit companies don’t have is a signature
drink that’s associated with them that can’t be
associated with anyone else,’ says Tonia Guffey
at Dram. ‘They have the Negroni. Anywhere in
the world that someone orders a Negroni and
doesn’t get Campari, it’s sacrilegious.’
Consumers are more discerning than ever about
the provenance and quality of their drinks.
Quality cocktail ingredients and strong heritage
pique their interest and are key drivers of
consumption. Likewise, it is the quality of Campari,
which has remained loyal to its original recipe, and
its inherent versatility that has allowed the brand
to continually reinvent itself and remain a timeless
classic that is enjoyed all over the world. Classics
are classics for a reason. Their history and heritage
endures – whether you’re a drinker in Brooklyn or
Buenos Aires.
‘History and heritage behind a drink is very
important in Argentina,’ says Martin Auzmendi.
‘We’re a country with not such a big history so we
like stories. To drink something that has a story
going back over 100 years, in cocktails and in
drinks, people respect that, they like brands
that have a story to tell.’
Looking back at these stories and the rich history
of cocktails, Tony Conigliaro of 69 Colebrooke Row
sums up why only a handful of recipes have lasted:
the structure of a good classic transcends the trends
and tastes of an era. He says, ‘we can look at it the
way a fashion designer looks at their craft: trends
will go in and out of fashion, but true style
is timeless.’
THIS PAGE :
Negroni at the Easy Bistro & Bar, Chattanooga, Tennessee
16 : 17
Resources
: London Evening Standard: Spirit of the age: why the negroni is London’s drink of the decade; 8 May 2014
: Gruppo Campari History
: International Bartenders Association: IBA Official Cocktails
: The Telegraph: Thinking Drinkers: the art of the aperitif; 24 October 2013
: Dimore Studio: Caruso Fuori, Milan
: Tiffany & Co: Jewels star in The Great Gatsby; The Tiffany Windows Pay Tribute to ‘The Great Gatsby’
: Vogue magazine: Harrods launches Great Gatsby Cocktail Bar; 17 April 2013
: Brooks Brothers: The Great Gatsby Collection
: The Plaza: The Great Gatsby
: Fogal: Fogal proudly presents – The Great Gatsby hosiery collection; 13 May 2013
: Brooks Brothers/Supreme seersucker blazer; 28 April 2014
: Women’s Wear Daily: Gucci Gearing up to Launch Cosmetics, 30 May 2014
: Style.com: Prada Fall 2104: Ready to Wear; 20 February 2014
: Tiffany & Co: The New Tiffany Store on the Champs-Elysées; 30 April 2014
: Aesop Saint-Sulpice store
: Selfridges: Selfridges revolutionises the personal shopping experience; 20 August 2012
: Time Out São Paulo: Regenerating São Paulo: Facundo Guerra interview
CAMPARI FUT URES

campari : : the rise of the contemporary classic

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