Tony: Do you remember the first drink you ever made and the feeling that you had from that?
Alex: The first drink I ever made was a Kahula Kiss, a mixture of kahula, amaretto with a double cream float and a a coffee bean garnish. The feeling was one of "what a very nice looking drink I made, aren't I very clever".
Tony: Where and when was this?
Alex: A bar/restaurant in Oxford called Baedekers in 1988/89. I had been Quasie bartending before that but it was my first cocktail bar.
Tony: I am presuming that at some point after this you came to London to bartend?
Alex: I came to London in 1990 to work in Coconut Grove. It's no longer around - in fact it burnt down about six months after I started work there.
Tony: What was the scene like at this time. What cocktail bars were there?
Alex: Funnily enough London was a little thin on the ground for cocktail bars. Back in those days, with the exception of the big hotels - not that I ever went to any of them and god knows what drinks they were making - us other bartenders were coping with the eighties hangover so we were making Pina Coladas, blended Daquiris, Iced Teas, Brandy Alexanders and the like. We were still serving a lot of Mexican beers, glasses of chardonnay and just beginning to mix vodka with cranberry juice.
As for bars; apart from Coconut Grove and its sister Peppermint Park in Covent Garden, there was Zanzibar, where Dick Bradsell learnt his trade, Bar Royale in Camden, where Wayne Collins worked, Maxwells in Covent Garden and later on Roadhouse and PJ's.
Tony: Where were you in the midst of this?
Alex: I was at the Grove until 1991 and then moved to Smollenskys, which used to reside on Dover Street, where I learnt the art of making loads of drinks very very quickly as they had the busiest happy hour I have ever known... ever. But it was still very much stick stuff in a blender and see what we got at the end, which generally was a variation of a colada, my all time favourite being the Baileys Banana Colada.
After that I worked at Caspers in Hanover Square, probably most famous for its in house telephone exchange where you could ring people on other tables and arrange to meet them for games of cards or coffee mornings I suppose. Let's just say the most requested table was number 69. It was not the most high end of cocktail bars, but we certainly banged them out at a fair rate, and I did learn the art of making a good rum swizzle there. Then, in 1993, a few sorry souls washed up on the shores of Planet Hollywood including myself, Doug and Richard from LAB and Townhouse, Kevin Jackson and Tadgh Ryan among others.
Tony: How have you seen the scene evolve since that period?
Alex: To put it into perspective here are a few things we didn't know about then; mixology, martinis made with anything but gin or vodka, kumquats, fruit purees, double straining, more than one flavour of Absolut, using mint in drinks, flaming oranges as garnishes, cosmos, trade magazines, etc. Then Atlantic changed the London bar scene for good. Aside from the great bartenders who worked there, it created the 'style' bar and introduced Londoners to the 'new cocktail revolution', and when the bartenders moved on they continued to raise the bar around the country. I remember being at Atlantic when Dale DeGroff flamed an orange and also when John Beach started calling us 'mixologists'.
Tony: Was there anything in any way shape or form from back then that you still wish was still around now? Is there any thing that you consider worse now?
Alex: I think the scene now is much better than it was then, the bartenders are more career focused and the punters more savvy. The only thing that I don't like nowadays is the 'velvet rope' culture that has evolved. I
understand how bar owners and managers want to keep there clientele exclusive, but a couple of well trained door guys vetting potential drinkers before they walk in is better than some clipboard fascist with a guest list and an agenda. Hey, but that's just me and my 'everyone's welcome, just behave yourselves' philosophy.