I’ve been thinking a lot about collaborations of late. The other week I was in Adelaide, speaking at the Distillers SA conference and talking about what distillers might learn from the best bars in the world.
That’s because the bar and spirits industries face similar challenges:
- the cost of goods is always going up;
- competition has never been more fierce;
- and every day is a fight for the attention of consumers who have a myriad of ways to spend their time.
And just as you can often get good quality cocktails from the local corner pub these days, the standard of craft spirits has never been higher. That means it is harder to compete on quality than ever before, whether you’re a bar or a distillery.
And when it comes to competing on price? Well, indie Aussie distilleries can’t match the pricing that the largest spirits companies in the world can offer, and nor can indie bars compete with the big groups and pub chains.
So where does that leave indie bars and distilleries?
Well, the best bars in the world have worked out how to capture attention and create a feeling in people, two topics I talk about on this week’s episode of Drinks At Work. Put simply, they mean something to people, they create memories, feelings, emotions. They are more than just drinks.
I was in Hong Kong earlier this month for the drinkapalooza that is The World’s 50 Best Bars, and had the chance to speak to some smart and interesting people from bars that, let’s be honest, I might never actually make it to in person — bars like Himkok in Oslo, which is where my guest on this episode, Paul Aguilar Voza, is the R&D Manager.
Himkok has been around since 2015, and has picked up numerous accolades along the way. Himkok is the Norwegian word for moonshine, and the venue is part bar, part distillery and part tap cocktail joint, as Paul talks about here. He talks about their menu development process — it takes between eight months and a year for their menus to come to life — and about how they’ve structured the bar and their roster for high volume but innovative cocktails.