FROM THE BARLIST JOURNAL
Bartender of The Week
In Tallinn, the story of cocktails doesn’t begin with glamour. It begins with systems. After Estonia, from where Erik Tammeleht comes, regained independence in the early 1990s, the hospitality industry had to reorganise quickly. Training replaced tradition, and professional standards became the backbone of the craft, largely shaped by the Estonian Bartenders Association. In this […]
August 3, 2026
Partnership
Some bars are defined by their drinks. Others by their atmosphere. At Connaught Bar, it is service that holds everything together. Tucked within The Connaught in London, the bar has, over time, established itself as a reference point for what modern classic bartending can look like when precision and ritual are treated as inseparable. This […]
August 1, 2026
Partnership
By the time Gohar Gasparyan stepped onto the World Cocktail Championship stage in 2024, Armenia was not expected to win. Not because of a lack of talent, but because the country’s cocktail culture was still finding its footing. Unlike established markets, where bartending is shaped by decades of accumulated technique, Armenia’s scene was newer, more […]
July 27, 2026
Partnership
A pastrami sandwich shop is not where most people expect to find one of the world’s most influential cocktail bars. Yet behind the unassuming façade of Pastrami Bar, a discreet doorway opens into Paradiso, a space that has redefined how cocktails can be experienced. In Barcelona, where innovation in hospitality has become part of the […]
July 25, 2026
Bars and Cocktails
The Negroni has travelled further than most cocktails because it is easy to recognise but difficult to exhaust. Its structure is fixed enough to be remembered, yet open enough to be interpreted. That balance explains why bars across the world continue to return to it, not only as a drink, but as a framework for […]
July 22, 2026
Partnership
In Havana, the environment Alex Sánchez came up in, cocktails are not rediscovered. They are remembered. Walk into El Floridita or La Bodeguita del Medio and you’re not entering a bar in the usual sense; you’re stepping into a system that has barely changed. The Daiquiri still follows its line. The Mojito still holds its […]
July 20, 2026
Partnership
Walk into Sips and the first thing that becomes apparent is the absence of the expected. There is no traditional bar counter acting as a barrier, no hierarchy between bartender and guest. Instead, the room opens up, almost like a stage, where drinks are assembled in full view and the act of making a cocktail […]
July 18, 2026
Partnership
In Buenos Aires, bartending is rarely quiet. Service moves fast, conversations overlap, and the energy of the room shapes every interaction. For Román Granitto, this environment was not a challenge to manage but a system to understand. Control, in this context, is learned through movement rather than imposed on it. His early development came through […]
July 13, 2026
Partnership
There is a certain stillness inside Handshake Speakeasy that feels almost out of place in Mexico City. Not silence, but control. While much of the city’s bar scene thrives on energy and movement, Handshake operates with a different tempo, one built around precision, repetition, and a refusal to leave anything to chance. That approach has […]
July 11, 2026
