'I mix, entertain, host and teach'

Award-winning bartender "" sorry, mixologist "" Sam Jeveons speaks to Rrishi Raote about the many sides of his profession.

Award-winning British mixologists Sam Jeveons, Angus Winchester and Pete Kendall comprise Alconomics, a consultancy firm that provides quality bartender training and consultancy services.

Jeveons was in India recently as a judge for the Belvedere International Bartender Competition, hosted by Moët Hennessy. Thirty Indian bartenders competed to make the best cocktails, and three winners from Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi will go to Hong Kong and London to enter the world of international mixologists. We met Jeveons at Shangrila Hotel.

Where do Indian bartenders learn their skills?

There's an emerging infrastructure of bartending training academies in India. People are understanding that you can create and forge a career doing this kind of work.

I read a line on your website about the "evolution of martinis". Where does evolution come into a classic drink?

The martini is touching 160 years in terms of its recipe. But drinking trends and tastes change.

So the martini transformed from the classic stirred vodka or gin cocktail to, say, the cosmopolitan. And nowadays we have the fruit martini, or fruitini. This mirrors the change in society, in drinking culture.

How have drinks been changed by Indian fruits, Indian spices, Indian bartenders?

When I was in Mumbai (to judge this competition) I saw some amazing cocktails, and I knew exactly where the influences came from. The "capital" of cocktails is still London, but an emerging creative epicentre is Australia.

India is placed between Australia and England and can pick and choose. It's the best of both worlds. You can see the bartenders marrying it with their own infusions, their own spices, the flavours of India, and coming up with their own creations.

Do you think a bartender should be a good talker?

Definitely. It's a classic cliche, but you do get people who come in on their own, they look like they're going to burst into tears, and you have to be the shoulder to cry on.

If the bartender's got bad body language, bad posture, or a frown on their face, that person influences the entire room. So a bartender has to be social, personable, presentable.

In London you get some destination bars, where people come just for the bartender. It's all about reading and understanding people.

What is a good bar space? When do you know that a bar is well designed?

As a bartender, when you don't have to walk too far. The bartender needs to be stationed in front of the icebox, and you need everything around him. Otherwise you get tired, you're bending down, your back hurts.

In offices, people place a lot of emphasis on staff ergonomics. People forget about it in bars and kitchens.

What kind of food should there be in a bar?

It depends on your concept. Ninety per cent of all outlets in Asia still focus on food rather than drinks, and it's like pushing a very big rock uphill trying to change this concept. Bars and operators try and be everything to everyone. That's very difficult to achieve "" you should specialise.

What goes well with cocktails in Indian food?

There's a big trend at the moment called the tapastini, which is basically a martini designed with certain spices and sherries, that goes very well with Spanish tapas, spicy food, sausages. With Indian food, you have so many big spices involved that a mouthful would kill and overpower the drink.

What is a mixologist? Why a mix-ologist?

Anyone can make a drink, and they call themselves a bartender. I mix drinks, I entertain, host and teach. It's the modern, professional bartender, and the word now for that is mixologist.

How many drinks have you invented? How do you name them?

A lot, 20-30. Most bartenders are looking to invent the new cosmopolitan. When you create a name, you want it to grab universal attention. You want to create something simple but very good, something that can be transformed and transferred globally.

I think nowadays it's very difficult to produce a cocktail that will have that length and legacy, because times have changed. But that's basically what brands "" and bartenders "" are looking to achieve.