I was lucky enough to meet Russell Norman, the founder of Polpo restaurants in London and author of several books on Venice, before my trip to visit The Hotel Heureka to interview Justus. Our conversation led to a discussion of the Aperol Spritz and how it conquered the world. He said some Venetians were rebelling
I don’t want to give away anything about our next guest. All I’ll tell you is that Justus Hoffstaedter is now creating cocktails at the Hotel Heureka in Venice, but the how and why he got here is the sweetest of stories. It all starts with wanting to manage a castle – other than that,
It was Italy that changed everything for our next guest. Upon arriving on the Amalfi Coast, Sara Stode knew she had to return to her original love of art. (Or was it that sip of Limoncello?) Moving to London, a city where she knew no one, she found solace in the trendy bars of Hoxton and
Inspired by Sara Stode’s love for Italy and her drawing for the already iconic Bar Swift in London, the cocktail of the week is the Sgroppino – a venetian favorite. Move over Bellini and Aperol Spritz – summer is coming and with that the Sgroppino!
Last year this time, I was sipping Pomadas in a cave overlooking the Mediterranean on Menorca. This year, it was the Aperol Spritz overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice. No matter how glorious that sounds, I get just as excited for the bars in London to update their menus with their summer-only concoctions. Today, we’re
If our next guest had not saved a horse from being destroyed, we would not be sitting in Gelbes Haus in Nuremberg, Germany listening to her recount her life story. Sigi Klein needed to earn a little extra cash to provide for this lucky horse, so she returned to her old love of bartending. Not
The families of all the great innovators have thought they might be barking up the wrong tree, even the family of our guest today. From four generations of cognac makers, Fanny Fougerat decided to break with tradition and do her own thing. She kept it pure and simple, adding no sugar or caramel to her
Traveling through India in the 19th Century, Lady Charlotte Fitzrovia fell under the spell of the dashing gangster Vijay Kapur, who loved her and left her. It was the job of today’s guests to tell that passionate love story in every cocktail. Sandy Kaur & Mario Romano may be from different backgrounds, but they came