![]() ![]() ![]() You can take a fruit or vegetable and use the skin, the seeds, the pulp, the water, the juice and you get so much more because of the freshness of the ingredients.” It’s the weather, it’s the terroir, it’s the way that farmers are treating the fruits and you can see the results in cocktails because you can create layers of flavour. Even in your local grocery store, you’ll find locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables every day. We’re not a country with a big tradition of cocktails or spirits but seasonality is really important. “Seasonality plays a main role now in our bars. “We need to make the most of the abundance, work with the seasons and make the most of the freshness of ingredients – I think that’s true for the whole Mediterranean area,” says Vasilis Kyritsis, co-owner of The Clumsies and Line. And this tradition of understanding the best way to use the land, the climate and its produce can still be found today. Its dry hot summers and mild wet winters are ideal conditions for growing many crops that have been farmed in the country since antiquity. The secret behind the quality of Greece’s ingredients is its climate. You can use them as a garnish or even in a drink as a fatwash and make people understand these tastes in new ways.” “If you’re working as a bartender and if you have passion and you love what you’re doing, then why not use all these products with so much history? We have olive oil, cherry tomatoes, peaches with kumquats, citruses like tangerines but also so many different cheeses from goats or sheep. “So many of our ingredients, our wines and our cheeses and different foods have their roots in ancient history,” says Miliotis. Tomato, and particularly tomato water, is commonly seen, as are olives, but it’s not just obvious ingredients that shine. The result is that many menus across Athens have a distinctly Mediterranean feel. I know I speak for many colleagues and guests when I say that these days the rich variety of cocktail bars will offer you pretty much any type of serve you want in Athens.” “We are blessed for this and it’s a factor that positively affects our taste and skills when it comes to creating a recipe. “The quality of our raw ingredients is great, and this gives us a significant advantage when it comes to mixing,” says Stelios Papadopoulos, co-owner of Barro Negro. Part necessity, part identity, Greek bartenders have a rich bounty of fresh ingredients to pull from and it’s not just the variety but the quality too. All over the world, people are using local ingredients, but with our climate we have so many options and we can approach local ingredients in so many ways. We don’t have lapsang tea but we have a lot of chamomile and sage. “We’re a small country but our logistics aren’t the best, so we have to find amazing tastes that are near to us. We have so many Protected Designation of Origin products – vegetables, fruits, wines – and people are making their own homemade wines and beers using the fresh ingredients that we have. We have this Mediterranean taste profile that the teams behind bars are trying to showcase to the world. “It’s not about having a bar with a lab, it’s about the taste. “In every bar in the city, not just the ones in the 50 Best but neighbourhood bars and even dive bars, there is a feeling that they owe the same high standards to the customer,” says Giannis Miliotis, bartender at To Lokali and global brand ambassador for Greek spirit brand, Axia. But there are things more important than international plaudits, feeling and identity carry far more weight, and Athens has those in spades.įor a city with so much history, a surprising amount of importance is placed on looking ahead and no place is that more evident than in the city’s bars. That’s the same number as Barcelona and Dubai and more than the Asia Pacific cocktail capitals of Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore. But the Greek capital now has three spots on the latest edition of The World’s 50 Best Bars. It’s always been a great food town but a decade ago, to visitors it served as a steppingstone to the islands rather than a destination. Athens isn’t the most obvious candidate for an internationally significant cocktail city. ![]()
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