The last episode, elevated+local, concerns the great ability of Deniseea Head to combine elevated experiences with a local and approachable way, creating a grand encounter in her own cocktail activations. And she has been doing so since the creation of her companies, Chicken and Champagne and Good Trouble, through which she uses spirits and cocktails to tell stories about Black and American history and Activism. 

According to Deniseea “Local bars are more connected to the city… They are the heartbeat of the community”. Thanks to that unique positioning, they can make elevated experiences more inviting and approachable. Ingredients can do the same too, since “You can make a great cocktail anywhere. The space doesn’t dictate what you put in a glass”. And ingredients are the focus of her Grand Encounter cocktail, the Grand Jam, creating specially for The Grand Encounter Behind the Bar: a simple cocktail inspired by NOLA’s local drink scene and made of both superior ingredients and ingredients that come straight from your kitchen, mixed up through an easy technique. Nothing but the Grand Encounter between Local and Elevated. 

Enjoy the episode, and don’t forget to celebrate the end of the year with a Grand Jam cocktail at home!

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The episode, modern+classic, sees Watanabe discussing the importance of classic drinks, as an essential element for contemporary bartending, just like Grand Marnier combines past, present and future in its recipe. As Takuma remembers his upbringing: “Classics are very important to me: my father worked at an hotel bar in Japan and I used to drink their cocktails and feel like wow, this is history”.

Follow Velasquez and Watanabe to embark on a journey that will take you from Japan to the United States, whilst exploring tradition that from the Far East have now been exported everywhere in the world like ice carving, and never forgetting how yesterday and tomorrow are intertwined: as Watanabe states,  “If you can’t make good classics, you can’t go further with signature drinks”.

Last step before flying to Episode 3: tasting Takuma’s Orangetini, his own twist on a classic Martini (well, of course!).  

The post Episode 2 – CLASSIC+MODERN with Takuma Watanabe  appeared first on Campari Academy.

The Grand Encounter: Behind the Bar is the new mini-series created by Grand Marnier, launching today and delving into the occasions, very often surprising an unexpected, that can happen in the bar industry. A series of three episodes, each depicting the encounter of two apparently different worlds that merge into one, just like the iconic combination of cognac and bitter orange does in Grand Marnier.

In each episode, world-renowned bartender and bar entrepreneur Carina Soto Velasquez will host an industry leading contributor, sharing their ideas and opinions about hospitality and their conception of bartending: The Grand Encounter: Behind the Bar will describe the creativity that sparkles from the collision of different worlds, ranging from historical notes to technical details, all while including personal stories and useful suggestions for other bartenders.

Coming from Canada and USA, the three guests will each feature their local heritage and their specific talents and interpretation of hospitality, bringing The Grand Encounter: Behind the Bar to life and tackling the most important and relevant themes for the bartending community.

Hugo Togni (bar manager and co-owner of Bar Pompette, Toronto), Takuma Watanabe (founder and owner of Martiny’s and L’Americana, New York) and Deniseea Head (founder of Chicken&Champagne and Good Trouble, New Orleans) will take you on a grand journey, thanks to their Grand Encounters.

Stay tuned for more.

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In this episode paris+world, Togni showcases his French origins, which he shares with Grand Marnier, to analyze the impact they had on him and on the rest of the cocktail world. Being unapologetically Parisian, Grand Marnier holds pride in the identity it discloses in every bottle, but how does this intertwine with the bartending industry?

Watch as Velasquez and Togni describe the importance of Parisian culture, its quirks and (very few) downsides, from flavorsome cuisine to unique joie de vivre. Togni shares his ideas, roots and philosophy that allowed him to perfectly fit in a different country, bringing the deep value of Parisian hospitality with him. Don’t miss his Margarita Suzette, a take on a classic Margarita that combines the original recipe with a Parisian gastronomic staple: the Crepe Suzette.

Enjoy the first episode and stay tuned for the next one!

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Carina Soto Velasquez will be our exceptional host. Originally from Colombia, Carina moved to France in 2004, pursuing a student career in sociology.

Her first encounter with bartending came out of necessity, but quicker than expected she realized it was her passion and mission: in 2011, Carina launched Candelaria, a Mexican joint hiding a top-class speakeasy in the heart of Paris’ 3^rd arrondissement, which in little time became a staple of the local nightlife, consistently figuring among the best bars in the world. That was Carina’s first entrepreneurial success, paving the way to Quixotic Projects, the group she co-owns and to this day accounts for other globally renowned venues such as Le Mary Celeste and Hero in Paris.

Carina also regularly embarks in educational and mentoring programs to push the bartending community to new heights. 

The first Grand Encounter will involve Hugo Togni, bar manager and co-owner of Bar Pompette in Toronto, Canada.

Established during the challenging times of 2021, Bar Pompette is situated in Toronto’s Little Italy and it is both Hugo’s playground and main stage, with exquisite craftmanship and forerunning recipes regularly on display.

Born in the French border region of Alsace, famous for its wines and gastronomic scene, Togni grew up in a hospitality-oriented family, and went through education in culinary school: his first gigs saw him involved in the kitchen of Michelin-starred restaurants, before tuning to the bar in Strasbourg and eventually move to Canada.

His relationship with France, similarly to Grand Marnier’s, will be the centerpiece of his episode paris+world.

The second episode will take you to New York, where Carina will have her Grand Encounter with Takuma Watanabe.

Born and bred in Japan, Takuma grew up under the precious mentorship of Shuzo Nagumo, laddering up to successes in world-famous competitions and an irrefusable job offer from New York Angel’s Share then-manager Shingo Gokan. After eight years spent as a bar manager at the historical speakeasy, Takuma, a movie-enthusiast and thorough researcher, opened up his own venue in 2022: Martiny’s in Gramercy, where he showcases his Japanese, highly attentive to detail upbringing and combines it with spotless hospitality and delicious contemporary cocktails, made of ultimate respect for ingredients and unparalleled balance.

Takuma’s episode classic+modern will focus on the neverending relationship between past and present in the bartending industry. 

Finally, our third episode will feature California born-and-raised Deniseea Head, founder of Chicken&Champagne and Good Trouble in one of the world’s cocktail capitals, New Orleans.

Deniseea landed in the Big Easy after relocating to New York, where she arrived searching for inspiration and future in the fashion industry she got previously successfully educated in. Once in New Orleans, she dove into the bartending scene, managing to brilliantly combine exquisite recipes with cultural and historical storytelling that contribute to both the bartending and the Black communities.

Her approach to local roots and high-profile flavor experience will shine in the second episode, elevated+local. 

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