From the Barlist Journal
Renowned international hospitality consultant, founder of Barpartners, and IBA Vice President of Classic Mixology, bringing over 25 years of luxury hotel bar operations.
Originally from Brittany, France, with a background rooted in classic French hospitality training, Serge Guillou has dedicated over 25 years to the pinnacle of luxury hotel bar management, concept design, and high-end beverage operations. He built his prestigious reputation spearheading elite bar openings and premium beverage structures for iconic deluxe hotel properties, including the Conrad, Le Méridien (now Hilton Grand'Place), and Dolce La Hulpe in Brussels.
Driven by an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to share his deep technical knowledge, Serge launched Barpartners, a premier consulting agency specializing in bespoke corporate cocktail experiences, operational bar audits, custom hospitality concepts, and professional training workshops. Highly respected on the international stage, Serge serves on the global executive board of the International Bartenders Association (IBA) as Vice President-Classic. His contributions to Barlist focus on operational excellence, high-level menu architecture, and upholding the strict technical disciplines of classic global bartending.
Explore Serge's latest stories, guides, and cocktail-focused pieces published on Barlist.
Partnership
Tiki has never been a single drink, but in this case the name points to one specific modern cocktail. The IBA Tiki is not a broad label for tropical classics such as the Mai Tai or the Zombie. It is a defined drink connected to the International Bartenders Association, Cuban bartending culture, and a recent […]
September 17, 2026
Cocktails
The Garnish arrives at the end of preparation, yet it often leads the guest’s first impression. Before the drink reaches the palate, the eye registers colour and form while the nose encounters aroma rising from the glass. Garnish therefore belongs to the sensory language of the cocktail. It can clarify identity, prepare expectations, and complete […]
September 15, 2026
Partnership
Within the historic walled city of Cartagena, Alquímico occupies a restored three-storey colonial building that has, since its opening in 2016, evolved into one of the most structurally complex cocktail operations in the world. What appears as a high-energy nightlife destination is, in practice, a fully integrated system combining agriculture, production, and service at scale, […]
September 12, 2026
Partnership
The shift from a standard Margarita to a Grand Margarita happens in a single substitution, but the change is immediate in the glass. Where most builds rely on lighter orange liqueurs, this version is structured around Grand Marnier, introducing a deeper, more weighted profile that alters how the drink is perceived from the first sip. […]
September 10, 2026
Partnership
Sam Chatterji’s work sits inside that transition. His early career was not defined by a single venue, but by movement across training, service, and education. Instead of focusing only on bar programs, he became closely involved in building structure, developing training systems, mentoring bartenders, and connecting local talent to global standards. In a market where […]
September 7, 2026
Partnership
Volume comes first. Not just music, but movement, conversation, the rhythm of a room that rarely settles. At Tres Monos in Buenos Aires, energy is not an accessory to the experience; it is the structure that holds everything together. What appears spontaneous is, in reality, tightly controlled, with every drink, every gesture, and every interaction […]
September 5, 2026
Partnership
When Jörg Meyer introduced the Gin Basil Smash at Le Lion in Hamburg in 2008, it wasn’t framed as a revival or a twist on a known template. It first appeared under the name “Gin Pesto,” before settling into the name by which it became internationally known. The idea was direct: make a drink where […]
September 3, 2026
Partnership
Flavour is where the many decisions behind a cocktail become perceptible. Ingredients, aroma, temperature, and texture arrive as a single impression, even though they reach the senses through different pathways. For the bartender, flavour is not a decorative layer added at the end. It is the organising structure through which the drink becomes intelligible. Everyday […]
September 1, 2026
Partnership
Long before the spotlight, Filipino bartending was already everywhere – just not always visible. Hotels across Mariano Gil Jr. were filled with professionals trained to deliver flawless service. Drinks were executed with precision, guests were handled with care, and standards were high. But beyond those walls, recognition on the global stage remained limited. The work […]
August 31, 2026
Partnership
The first impression inside Line Athens is not visual, but aromatic. Fermentation is at work here, quietly shaping the room long before a drink reaches the table. In Athens, where bar culture has steadily evolved into one of Europe’s most dynamic scenes, Line has carved out a distinct position by building its identity around process, […]
August 29, 2026
Partnership
Despite its title, the French Martini shares little with the classic Martini beyond its glassware. It contains no vermouth and does not follow the spirit-forward logic associated with traditional stirred cocktails. Instead, it belongs to a category that emerged in the late twentieth century, where the Martini name became a signifier of style rather than […]
August 27, 2026
Partnership
Before Yolanda Gregg won the title, there’s a kind of work that rarely gets noticed.It happens in service, in repetition, in the small decisions that don’t look like decisions at all. Drinks are made without hesitation, measurements don’t shift, and nothing needs to be corrected mid-process. For Yolanda Gregg, that kind of control became the […]
August 24, 2026
Bar Of The Week
Space is the first thing that defines Moebius Milano. Not just size, but how it is used. Set within an expansive industrial interior in Milan, the venue unfolds as a layered environment where bar, dining room, and social space operate simultaneously. It does not follow the familiar rhythm of a cocktail bar. Instead, it moves […]
August 22, 2026
Cocktail of The Week
The story begins with Fernet-Branca, created in Milan by Bernardino Branca in 1845. Originally Fernandito developed as a medicinal preparation, Fernet was formulated from a blend of herbs, roots, and spices. Its intense bitterness and high alcohol content positioned it as a digestif rather than a casual mixed drink. Italian migration to Argentina in the […]
August 20, 2026
Partnership
A bar is encountered as a sequence rather than a single moment. The arrival, the welcome, the first reading of the room, the menu, the drink and the departure all contribute to an impression that extends beyond what is in the glass. Experience is the form created by those elements together. It is broader than […]
August 18, 2026
Partnership
Before Boban Lazarević won the title, before the stage lights, there was repetition. In Belgrade, bartending doesn’t always begin behind a busy counter. For many, it begins in a classroom. Inside Bar Central Belgrade, run by the Bartenders Association of Serbia, drinks are broken down long before they are served. Recipes are practised until they […]
August 17, 2026
Partnership
Energy carries the room at Jigger and Pony. Not noise, not spectacle, but a steady, deliberate rhythm shaped by people who understand that a bar lives or dies by how it makes guests feel. Set within Amara Singapore in Singapore, the bar has built its reputation not on a single defining drink or concept, but […]
August 15, 2026
Partnership
Despite its name, the Espresso Martini does not belong to the Martini family. It contains no vermouth and shares none of the structural logic associated with classic stirred cocktails. Its identity is instead rooted in the late 20th-century shift toward ingredient-driven mixing, where fresh components and immediate preparation replaced pre-batched simplicity. The drink initially appeared […]
August 13, 2026
Partnership
There’s a certain kind of bar where nothing feels dramatic. The lighting is steady, the service is measured, and the drinks arrive exactly as expected. Linards Grundmanis learned the craft in Riga; many hotel bars operate this way, not as stages for creativity, but as systems built on reliability. Before competitions, before recognition, his work […]
August 10, 2026
Partnership
Morning light reaches the front room first. At Tayēr + Elementary, that matters. Doors open early, coffee is poured, and the pace feels closer to a neighbourhood café than a late-night cocktail destination. By the time evening settles over London, the same address reveals a second rhythm behind it. The space shifts, the drinks change, […]
August 8, 2026
Partnership
The classic Daiquiri, associated with Cuba in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, is defined by restraint. Rum, fresh lime, and sugar create a precise equilibrium where each component is clearly legible. Donn Beach’s (known as Don’s Special Daiquiri)version begins with this structure but shifts its direction. Passion fruit introduces a broader tropical acidity, […]
August 6, 2026
Partnership
Dilution begins as soon as ice and liquid exchange heat, but its importance extends far beyond the simple addition of water. It changes alcoholic strength, temperature, aroma, sweetness, bitterness and texture, helping separate ingredients become a coherent drink. Because the process is usually invisible, it can be mistaken for a side effect of chilling. In […]
August 4, 2026
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
A bar, a storm, and a glass of dark rum over ginger beer. The image has become inseparable from Bermuda, where the Dark ’N’ Stormy is less a cocktail than a national signature. Unlike many mixed drinks shaped by evolving bar culture, this one is anchored to a single producer, a specific island, and a […]
July 30, 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
Partnership
A liqueur conceived in monastic silence, distilled from a guarded manuscript and shaped by alpine botanicals, rarely finds itself at the centre of a tropical drink. Yet in early 2000s San Francisco, that is precisely what happened. The Chartreuse Swizzle, created by Marcovaldo Dionysos, made its first menu appearance in 2003 at Harry Denton’s Starlight […]
July 23, 2026
Partnership
Craft in bartending is sometimes presented as a recent movement, but the habits it describes are much older than the modern language surrounding them. Careful preparation, command of tools, responsible handling of ingredients and consistency during service have long distinguished serious bar work. Craft is therefore best understood not as a fashion or visual style, […]
July 21, 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
Long before the codification of classic cocktails in printed manuals or the emergence of international bar standards, there existed a drink in eastern Cuba that combined rum, honey, lime, and water in a form both practical and symbolic. The Canchánchara is not a product of bar culture in the conventional sense. It predates it. Its […]
July 16, 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
Partnership
In 1980s London, as the city’s cocktail culture began to re-emerge after decades of decline, a new style of drink appeared that would quietly redefine how fruit could function in a modern cocktail. The Bramble, created in 1984 by Dick Bradsell at Fred’s Club in Soho, was not conceived as a reinterpretation of a classic, […]
July 9, 2026
Partnership
Balance is one of the central ideas in bartending, yet it is rarely experienced as a single flavour or technique. It is recognised through the way a drink holds together: strength does not suppress aroma, sweetness does not obscure acidity, bitterness remains purposeful, and water gives the ingredients room to unfold. For the bartender, balance […]
July 7, 2026
Cocktail of The Week
During the 1920s, under the restrictions of Prohibition, American drinkers and bartenders became used to cocktails that corrected, softened, or disguised rough spirits. Among them, the Bee’s Knees stands out for one reason: it did not disappear when better spirits returned. Instead, it moved beyond its Prohibition association, becoming one of the clearest demonstrations of […]
July 2, 2026
