You’ve probably heard of Michelin star chefs rustling up pure magic in front of wide-eyed food patrons, grabbing headlines and eyeballs. Bartending comes a close second, as mixing myriad flavours in fine taste demands a mandate developing precision, presentation skills and discerning tastebuds to win over the acceptance of seasoned tipple-lovers. Bengaluru boy and bartender Rohan Matmary from the Garden City plunged into the arena out of pure curiosity and a love for mixing just about anything! And here he is, soaking up all the praise that’s coming his way due to his experimental ways. The 25-year-old IHM graduate and his collaborator musician Sonam Kalra are this season’s winning pair of the India leg for the World’s Most Experimental Bartender 2018 competition. We get chatty with Rohan for more, just as he prepares to compete against other market winners on a trip to the Experimental Bartender Academy in Scotland...
“It was a very innovative idea to try, and I was lucky to have a musician collaborator like Sonam who has a mind of her own, which is a great thing and it really helped us. The competition was themed lot about music and the beauty of its uniqueness,” begins Rohan, who shares, “I used cranberries, tangerines, pomegranates, hibiscus all these ingredients which actually carried value towards Sonam’s message in her songs. The message individually signifying each of the elements of her song with each of the ingredients. And those ingredients were put in to make a cocktail. The whole ingredient list and how it was pair ed with each and every element was what gave us an edge over the others. It was fun to work in a different environment. For instance, usually most of the bar-tending activities take place at cocktail bars, but this one happened in a theatre.” All set to take on the world in the forthcoming finale, the duo is equipped and “Now, that we have discovered what our flaws are through the national round, it should happen sometime in November end,” states the alumnus of IHM, Bengaluru, who went on to do a couple of courses in bartending soon after.
“Been in the bar-tending industry for the past five years. I’ve always dreamt of representing India, and I hope I do justice to the opportunity.”
Speaking about his support system, Rohan says, it’s always his parents that he banks on. “ I think my parents have been immensely supportive about my decision to become a bar-tending, provided I do all it takes to emerge as one of the best.”
A true-blue bartender by nature, most of Rohan’s downtime is spent doing just what he loves: Bar-tending. “On a lazy off day, I like whipping out unique variants for my loved ones. That aside, I also love watching a lot of documentaries and reading up about bar-tending whenever time permits.”
The winning cocktail rustled up by city boy Rohan and his singing partner Sonam was titled, ‘Zarra’, an Urdu word meaning ‘particle’. Zarra revolved around the message - that regardless of its proportion in the recipe, each ingredient is equally important and contributes towards creating the right balance and it is when all these disparate elements come together that we have perfect equilibrium.
Zarra starts with the award winning Glenfiddich 12-year-old, infused with cranberry, tiny tangerines, egg white and sage infusion, hibiscus, and rhubarb which resonated well with the fruity and floral notes of the Glenfiddich 12-year-old single malt whisky.
“It was a very innovative idea to try, and I was lucky to have a musician collaborator like Sonam who has a mind of her own, which is a great thing and it really helped us. The competition was themed around music and the beauty of its uniqueness,” begins Rohan, who shares, “I used cranberries, tangerines, pomegranates, hibiscus all these ingredients which actually carried value and struck a chord with the message Sonam conveyed through her songs.
Each of the elements of her song synced with the ingredients we picked. And those ingredients were put in to make a cocktail. The whole ingredient list and how it was paired with each and every element was what gave us an edge over the others.”
It was fun to work in a different environment believes Rohan. “For instance, usually, most of the bar-tending activities take place at cocktail bars, but this one happened in a theatre.”
All set to take on the world in the forthcoming finale, the duo is equipped. “Now, that we have discovered what our flaws are through the national round, we are looking forward to give our best. The event should happen sometime towards the end of November,” states the alumnus of ITM IHM, Bengaluru, who went on to do courses in bartending soon after.
“I’ve been in the bar-tending industry for the past five years. I’ve always wanted to represent India, and I hope I do justice to the opportunity,” he adds.
Speaking about his support system, Rohan says, it’s always his parents that he banks on. “My parents have been immensely supportive about my decision to take up bar-tending, just that they wanted me to do all it takes to emerge as one of the best.”
A true-blue bartender by nature, most of Rohan’s downtime is spent doing just what he loves: Bar-tending. “On an off day, I like whipping out unique variants for my loved ones, and bar tending! I also love watching a lot of documentaries and reading up about bar-tending whenever time permits.”
