Q: When and where did you learn to make the first cocktail in life?
Right. After I was graduated from the university, I found my first job as a bartender in restaurant at my hometown while I was 22 years old. It’s in Fukuora, the southern part of Japan. Not a big city though. In terms of population, there is around one and half million people or a bit more now. For the restaurant, it is a jazz restaurant bar called Blue Note with headquarters in New York but now it is already closed down. So I have been working as a bartender since then so it has been around twenty three years.
Despite the long time, there’s still so many things I have to learn right now. The more I work the deeper I realise I have so much that I did not know. For example, there are new cocktail mixology methods with brand-new ingredients evolving from time to time in the industry.
Q: How did you managed to reach the position of a Bartender-in-chief?
To be honest, after years, I still do not think I have achieved something great. Instead, I’m still on the way to learn. Still, there are some friends asking how I made it to this position since day one. I would say the keypoints are: Study Hard. Keep the curiosity. Never get satisfied with the status quo.
And it is always important to be a professional bartender. By professional I mean it is to enjoy the adventure of your work life, either as a bartender or any other position, and keep digging in and discovering the truth. Perhaps you cannot find the truth out forever but keep trying and moving forward despite running into failure sometimes.
Plus, I’m working with closely with other staff both in Japan and Hong Kong. I always believe it is one of my duties not only to improve myself but let the staff around grow up together. I discovered that the young bartenders in Hong Kong have a huge passion for alcohol and mixology for so long but don’t know how to learn and grow in an effective way. And I found myself excited to take up the responsibility to let them do well in their positions and actualise their potentials. So it’s not just about the individual but nurture the new generations. This is certainly my motivation of work.
Q: What do you think are the key elements to progress as a World Champion award bartender?
In my perspective, the first important thing is to find a good teacher. Otherwise it will be difficult to get to somewhere you want to be in the career. If you are looking for winning a champion award, I’d suggest you looking for seniors who used to be a champion or while nearly-champion bartender to work with. But do notice that sometimes it’s difficult for the teacher to explain exactly the skills and techniques. So I always tell my colleagues to be proactive and steal everything from me. I don’t have any secret. If you ask me any question then I will answer everything.
Another hint is to keep practice and practice. It is necessary not to stop. Just continue doing.
Even if you have successfully created a famous cocktail that is looking and tasting good, I’d say you shall never think about stopping there. Try to think about the improvement and find out the better solutions. For example, looking for a better combination of ingredients and flavour. This is very important for winning a competition.
Ultimately speaking, competition is about being outcompeted with some other bartenders. Obviously someone win and somebody lose. In my opinion, to win a competition hinges on how much you make an effort. If you do it much harder than the others do, you will have a higher chance to win though there is no guarantee as always. But at least you have the confidence because you did try it hard and work way more than others. So this is also the key point for winning a competition, especially when you are on the stage. You know, it is very nervous at some point of time. But if you have a confidence. You’d be able to calm yourself and perform well.
Q: How do you get the inspiration to create a new cocktail?
To be honest, the spark does come up suddenly sometimes when I was just working or walking around during my leisure time. Like I might see something spicy on the shop or restaurant then immediately think this kind of spicy material can be mixed as a new ingredient onto the existing ones to create the right spicy flavor, either it be the chilli or ginger.
I would say this is like a hobby of experiencing and brainstorming, even after work. When I’m just off-work for the day, I would still think and imagine what kind of things is a new to me for making new cocktails. Like when I go to the restaurant or a coffee shop I would sort out what kind of taste for the food I am having would be a perfect match with whisky or gin as a brand-new cocktail.
And once I get an idea I would come back and try to mix it. Then sometimes of course. Oh it’s no good but sometimes. Wow it’s really good then. After all I would keep those ideas in my mind or in a notebook.
And when some customer came into my bar and tell me they want this and that kinds of flavours. I would also put them all in my mind then make the new cocktail for that specific customer. Some may ask me directly to use a particular ingredients to make a special cocktail. After that I would start calculating the portion of this ingredient and come to mix them together and see how it finally tastes. Sometimes it really works and goes beyond my expectation. Frankly speaking, this is not just my creation but a combination of each other. Customer and I make the new cocktail together.
Q: What’s the most important bartending philosophy? Why do you think it is that important?
When I’m making cocktail I’m always thinking about who drinks it. If two of their customers are ordering and I make the same Martini for them, it may then not suit for two people, for every person has a different palate and different preference. So I’m always thinking about what is the best cocktail for that specific person. So even if it is martini or Gin Tonic, I have to control the ratio. And I’m always controlling the ratio across the time: whether it is in evening or midnight or almost in the morning. Or like the time during dinner or before dinner. Human palate is a quite sensitive but we can feel the differences. So if I’m making gin and tonic in the evening I will make it more refreshing. But, in the midnight, if the customers have already drunk some alcohols or wine before, then I will make the gin and tonic a bit stronger.
When I was making cocktails I didn’t use any kinds of cup measurement. I’m using hand measure. It’s a handy measure when I put the ingredient and spirits together. The way I do it is to pay attention to the thickness of the liquid. I’m always trying to keep the same thickness then I can count like number one two three and then this becomes like 30ml or 20ml. It is like I have my own measurement. This is my style.
Because as I said every customer has a different preference and different palate. So if the same measurement is used for every customer, then that cocktail itself will just always be the same for the different person or the same person across different days. But everybody is changing so how to adjust the pace is the most important.
Q: What do you think is the biggest challenge to manage a bar in Hong Kong?
The biggest challenge is it is the first experience being a bartender outside Japan. From the beginning I was almost doing the same thing as I was in Japan to serve the customers and manage the team. But it did not work because of the different cultures. I remember everybody was gone back then. My colleagues said it was too hard for them. Then I realised I was too selfish because I used the Japanese way in Hong Kong, which is a completely different place here. I then started learning the Hong Kong culture and what the customers and colleagues expect of a bartender as well as a bar. During my second year here, I encountered a very good colleague who told me about the local culture very softly. By then I learned from her about the culture quite a lot. And now I am able to manage well by also taken into account the difference.
除了跟愛好者接觸以外，我們協會在今年2月1日在X Space Coworking Space舉辦了首個SMWS香港及澳門的品酒會，並吸引了多名在本地及亞太區具有影響力的威士忌愛好者交流，並一同品嚐了四瓶SMWS威士忌，包括一瓶二十五年的Single Malt及兩款來自同一酒廠的威士忌。當中該兩款酒更因為風格差異太大而被劃分為兩個SMWS的編號。談到威士忌的編號，SMWS為每一款出售的威士忌分配了兩組數字：第一個號碼代表協會從創會至今第一次選用的第幾家酒廠；第二個號碼則代表第幾桶酒。如135.6，意思是第135間酒廠的第6桶酒。
Kelvin：在談這個身份前，先講一下Quaich吧。Quaich的意思是蘇格蘭古老時飲酒用的杯，以前是用木造的，而現時的大多用金屬或石頭等材料去製造。The Keepers of Quaich這個組織不是「太老」，於1980年代成立，目的是表揚為蘇格蘭威士忌行業有貢獻的人士。所謂貢獻，不僅僅是銷售，同時還包括教育及推廣等的付出。亦因為這個堅實的價值觀，使這個組織在行業內備受高度重視。
「我會推薦一些輕年份或是比較舊的日威，沒有年份的酒酒精感太重，初嚐沒有人能忍受這麼重的酒精感。如果有客人從未飲過威，我預備了一枝日威(Suntory Whisky Excellence (1979年已停產))和一枝蘇威(The Balvenie 21 Year Old PortWood)給他們感受，根據他們的口味再作推薦。
美國係無分級制，只有分區制 – American Viticultural Areas (AVA) 。
AVA制度是由美國酒類、煙草和武器管理局（the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau ，簡稱TTB）借鑑原產地概念的基礎上， 在1978 年根據不同氣候和地理條件，制定了符合自身需求的美國法定葡萄種植區（American Viticultural Areas），並於 1983 年正式生效。
AVA 制度只對被命名地域的地理位置和範圍進行定義，不涉及對葡萄品種、種植、釀造方式等進行規範。 TTB規定，在酒標上標明命名的產區需達到兩個要求： 一、85%的葡萄必須來自標明的產地； 二、品種葡萄酒必須使用最少75%標明的品種葡萄釀成。 除此之外，沒有其它嚴格的限制。如果葡 萄酒業者在酒標上增加信息，必須遵守基本規則的精確性。
標單一葡萄園( Single Vineyard )的酒必須使用最少95%產於該葡萄園的葡萄釀成。若使用“Estate Bottled”這個詞，酒莊和葡萄園必須在標明的AVA產區內，業者必須擁有或控制所標的葡萄園。 凡在酒標中標有採收年份的，則所用葡萄的95%應是這一年探收的。
此外，各州法律會增加一些要求，如加州( California )規定標明加州( California )的葡萄酒必須是100%使用加州( California )葡萄釀成。俄勒岡州 (Oregon )法律規定標明俄勒岡 (Oregon )任何產地的酒必須100%使用所標產區的葡萄釀成。
AVA 範圍可以很小，也可以很大，從數百公頃到上百萬公頃不等。一些大範圍的AVA 會包含數個次AVA 產區。 例如，加州 AVA 包含著名的納帕谷 AVA、洛迪 AVA 和索諾瑪縣 AVA 等次 AVA 產區，而納帕谷 AVA 又包括盧瑟福（Rutherford）和鹿躍區（Stags Leap District）等 AVA。 AVA 並不是等級劃分，只是對地理位置的劃分。
