Welcome to this new edition of Jigger Daily, your newsletter dedicated entirely to bars and bartenders!

On the menu this month (among other things!):

• 🍸 Obviously some bar openings
• 🏆 A bunch of bartender competitions
• 🧪 Mixo techniques
• 🍹 The latest cocktail trends
• 🏅 Top lists and awards galore
• 🚰 Some responsible drinking tips
• 📚 Some bubbles
• 🍊 The real story of the Negroni (or not)

And soooo much more!

🍹 On the Bar Scene

Terroir

For over ten years, the Moonshiner has proudly championed the speakeasy bar scene in Paris. To celebrate its new menu paying tribute to French terroir, Davide Piccone Casa, its bar manager, told us about how it all came together, as well as what’s changing (the classics on the menu and an expanded whisky selection, etc.) – Read more

Openings

• Arnaud Scotty, after several months as bar manager of Le Syndicat, has launched his own bar, Harmony. Located at 14 avenue Trudaine in Paris (9th), it’s open Wednesday to Saturday, from 8 pm to 6 am – Source
• Marine Lamour (formerly with Agence Faux Rêveur and PWP, among others) and James Drury (formerly with Pernod Ricard) also opened a new cocktail bar, this time in Marseille: Paloma – Source
• Lyon now has a brand-new spot to enjoy tiki cocktails: The Pineapple Room (21 rue Juliette Récamier, in the 6th). At the helm: Valentin Disson, former head bartender at L’Antiquaire – Source
• In Spain, Paradiso, the Barcelona bar ranked #1 by the 50 Best Bars 2022, has unveiled a new venue in Pacha in Ibiza – Source
• Meanwhile, Shingo Gokan has officially opened his first bar in Europe, Devil’s Cut in Madrid. Its menu pays particular homage to Sherry, which greatly influenced his career as a bartender – Source

World's Most Iconic Bars

For something more timeless, Punch shared a list of the World’s Most Iconic Bars. Among those featured are the American Bar (London), Boadas (Barcelona), Harry’s New York Bar (Paris), the Bar Hemingway at the Ritz in Paris, and El Floridita in Havana – Source

📈 Trends

Yuzu, adaptogens and RTD

According to Allara Global (a bartender training platform), here are a few of the leading trends currently shaping the US bar scene: Asian-inspired flavors (with ingredients like yuzu, matcha, shiso, and lemongrass increasingly showing up in cocktails), growing popularity of low-ABV or zero-proof recipes, the use of adaptogens (e.g. rhodiola, ginseng, ...), and the adoption of RTDs or pre-batching in venues facing staffing challenges (or simply for speedier service) – Source

Top Cocktails in the USA

CGA by NIQ has revealed its Cocktail Sales Tracker results, indicating that the Margarita remains the most consumed cocktail in most US states. However, the Mojito has now overtaken it in overall sales in Nevada. The other most popular options across the Atlantic include the Spritz, the Espresso Martini, and the Moscow Mule – Source

Top Cocktails in the UK

Closer to home, another survey from The Whisky Masters, this time based on Google searches in 20 British cities, shows that the Aperol Spritz is the most searched cocktail in the UK (notably in London). It’s followed by the Pornstar Martini and the Negroni – Source

Millennials

According to IWSR, the US non-alcoholic drinks market has doubled since April 2023, with a 20% year-on-year volume increase, mainly driven by Millennials (aka Generation Y) who accounted for 61% of non-alcohol beer consumers as of April 2024 (versus 45% a year earlier). However, it’s worth noting that this rise seems to coexist with the opposite trend since, at the same time, that generation is also consuming more strong spirits than others – Source

Alcohol consumption

Finally, according to CGA’s REACH report on alcohol consumption trends across 38 countries, 37% of consumers say they drink less alcohol than a year ago, versus 13% who drink more. The main reasons cited: health concerns (68%) and budget (50%). Even so, despite this dynamic, 26% of respondents still say they plan to go out to bars and restaurants more often in the next three months, which is more than twice as many as those who plan to go out less (12%) – Source

🏆 Competitions

Results

• Rémy Martin welcomed 24 participants to Cognac for the global final of its Bartender Talent Academy. Norwegian Marek Novak (Grand Hotel Oslo) took first place, followed by Chinese Ellen Xu (Chimney, Hangzhou) and Benelux’s Matthis Verhaeghe (Bar Ran, Bruges) – Source
• The Giffard West Cup 2024, whose international final was held in Angers on September 24 and 25, was won by Konstantyn Wulf (Italy), followed by Stefi Fletcher (Ireland) and Anthony Sebaaly (Lebanon) – Source
• Valentin Pérès from Fat Cat and kodomo bars in Toulouse took top honors at the French final of the Stauning Drinks Kollektive contest. He represented France in the global final in Copenhagen in September, which was ultimately won by the local contender, Logan Campbell Jones Wandel – Source
• Jameson announced the winners of its Jameson Black Barrel Bartender Series 2024. At the end of the final in Cork, Ireland, from September 3 to 5, Vladimir Reitenbakh (Kazakhstan), Josh Black (UK), and Rohan Matmary (Malaysia) were named champions – Source
• Jules Daudin (Danico, Paris) won the House of Suntory DOJO 2024 on Tuesday, October 1st. He’ll be heading to Tokyo this November! – Source
• The Nc’Nean Creations competition, mentioned in BarNews #03, announced its results recently: Norbert Drozdowski (Stein’s, Padstow) came in first, followed by Carrie Smith (Hoot The Redeemer, Edinburgh) and Merlin Boesch (The Door, Karlsruhe) – Source
• Lilou Dalla-Libera (Groom, Lyon) took home the Monin Cup France, followed by Marie Koeller (Code Bar, Strasbourg) and Nicolas Jouniau (Genever Bar, Lille). She’ll represent France at the international final on December 3 and 4 in Bourges – Source
• Finally, Keegan McGregor (Canada) won the title of World Class Global Bartender of the Year 2024 at the international final of the Diageo competition, which took place in mid-September in Shanghai – Source

Coming up

• Angostura has launched its Global Cocktail Challenge 2024, which is open to French bartenders. To enter, simply submit a twist on the brand’s iconic Queen’s Park Swizzle. The best applications will be selected for the French final, taking place Monday, November 4 in Paris – Source
• Passoã (Lucas Bols) has revived its international contest focused on the Pornstar Martini. Open to participants from 9 countries, including France, it offers a prize of €1000. Entries are open until October 31 – Source
• Mathieu Teisseire is holding its international final on Thursday, October 10 in Paris, featuring Maxence Piattelli as the French contender! – Source
• Meanwhile, Bartenders Society announced that its international final will be held at the Aquarium de Paris on November 18. It will be preceded by the France final the day before, at the same venue – Source

🏅 Awards

50 Best Bars

As we await the global announcement of the 50 Best Bars (October 22), Bar Leone (Hong Kong) has already been crowned Best Bar in Asia for the 9th edition of the Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024. It’s the first time a newly opened establishment (summer 2023) has earned the top spot. Zest (Seoul) and Jigger & Pony (Singapore) round out the top three, while Coa (Hong Kong), triple reigning champion, slips to 4th place. Singapore dominates the rankings with 11 bars (including Atlas, which picked up the Legend of the List and Best Bar Design awards), followed by Hong Kong with 9 – Source

On the individual side, Iain McPherson, owner of Panda & Sons in Edinburgh, won the Bartenders’ Bartender Award 2024, succeeding GN Chan (Double Chicken Please) as the title holder – Source

Danico crowned at the Spirited Awards 2024!

If you missed it this summer, here’s a reminder: the Paris bar Danico won the title of Best International Restaurant Bar at the Spirited Awards 2024 by the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation! – Full results

Pinnacle

The Pinnacle Guide revealed its second set of PINs this Wednesday, October 2. For the very first time, one bar was deemed Exceptional (i.e. 3 PINs all to itself): Lyaness in London – Source

Top 500 Bars

The Top 500 Bars ranking has also begun revealing its new list, including bars ranked between 150th and 300th place. Several French bars feature on the list: Combat (166th; Paris), Bisou (172nd; Paris), Bar Hemingway (217th; Paris), Bar 1802 (271st; Paris), and Abstract Bistrot (274th; Lyon). The final ranking will be presented on November 10 – Source

50 Best Toilets

If you need even more rankings—and don’t mind the more offbeat ones—Danil Nevsky announced on Instagram the upcoming launch of a voting site designed to reward the best… bar toilets! Stay tuned! (or not) – Source

🍸 Cocktails & Techniques

Dirty Martini 2.0

Punch Drink shared a neat technique to “simply” twist the classic Dirty Martini recipe. It involves a fatwash, infusing one liter of vodka with 40g of olive oil, then freezing everything to remove the fat from the liquid. Worth a try! – See

Pseudo Citrus and Quick Mojito

If you found the Super Juice technique interesting, Steve The Bartender has shared another method on his YouTube channel that you might want to experiment with to compare results. Developed by Brian Tasch and called Pseudo Citrus, it yields over 500 ml of juice from just 3–4 lemons, simply by using the zest, sugar, citric and malic acids, and salt – See

Another proposed “hack” is a technique for quickly making a large amount of mojitos without sacrificing quality. The key is to prepare a fresh mint syrup in advance by briefly blanching the mint in boiling water, cooling it in ice water, then blending it with water and sugar before straining – See

Syrup Calculator (and more)

Jeffrey Morgenthaler has adapted his universal syrup calculator—originally shared in Excel form—into an online version accessible from both PC and mobile. As a reminder, it helps you pinpoint the precise amounts needed for perfect 2:1 or 1:1 syrups, including those made with honey or maple syrup as the base – See

In the same vein, he’s also posted a Batch Cocktail Calculator and others – See

Cryo Concentration

Iain McPherson (Panda & Sons) shared a video demonstrating his Cryo Concentration technique, which involves slowly freezing fruit juice to remove water in several passes (each time lowering the freezer’s temperature), ending up with a concentrate – See

Ghost Ice

For clear ice aficionados, The Educated Barfly posted a video focused on Ghost Ice, a fairly basic directional-freezing system (basically a “pro” version of the cooler + silicone molds setup) but effective for making numerous pure ice cubes without resorting to more complex (and expensive) equipment – See

Training

The Art of Shaking, the online training platform from Simone Caporale, has released a new module called TAOS Paradiso Edition, in collaboration with Giacomo Giannotti of Paradiso (#1 of the 50 Best Bars 2022). Top-notch content ahead! – Source

📺 To Watch, Read or Listen

Prevention

The Scotch Whisky Association has launched a new version of its Made to be Measured awareness campaign. It aims to inform Scottish consumers about the amount of alcohol in drinks, with an official recommendation in the UK not to exceed 14 units per week – Source

Motion Cocktails

For fans of cool digital creations, the motion designer Simon Sjöö produced an animation of a cocktail repeatedly transforming—with plenty of fluidity—by a swimming pool 👌 – See

Flavor Chart

Because it’s not always easy to communicate about aromatic bitters, The Bitter Truth posted an interesting communication tool listing its many references, grouped into several categories (Aromatic, Fruit, Savory), detailing their flavor profiles and possible pairings (types of spirits and specific cocktails) – Source

Bubbles

For anyone looking to go deeper into on-tap cocktails and CO₂ in particular, the now-defunct London bar Crossroads has published its first book, Bubbles: A Guide to Carbonated Cocktails – Source

The invention of the Negroni (or not)

Wrapping up this edition on a light note, TikToker boobieklapper posted a short video attempting to explain how the Negroni was invented. If you’re not too strict on cocktail history, her version is fairly plausible 😅 (and if you like the format, she’s also done one for the G&T and the Dirty Martini) – See

📅 Agenda

Viva Agave!

Viva Agave!, the first French festival dedicated to Mexican spirits (not just agave) is back for its 3rd edition on October 6 and 7 (this weekend). It’s at the Hôtel 1K in Paris – Details

Masterclass

Looking to discover a spirit off the beaten path? Mezcal Brothers is hosting a masterclass on Monday, October 21 at 3 pm at BABEL Belleville (Paris 20) about MAH – Spirit of the Forest, an Indian eau-de-vie made from mahua flowers, with its founders in attendance. If interested, RSVP to [email protected] (Note: session reserved for industry professionals only)

Marseille Cocktail Tour

If you happen to be in Marseille this week, from yesterday through Friday, it’s the Marseille Cocktail Tour. Six venues are taking part: Le Caribou, Vice et Versa, Coquetel Club, Le Carry Nation, Copperbay, Le Directoire – Source

TOTC 2025

Finally, the Tales of The Cocktail Foundation has opened seminar submissions for its 2025 edition, to be held in July in New Orleans as always. Proposals must be submitted by November 21 – Source

💌 That's all folks!

That’s it for this new edition!

As always, if you enjoyed this newsletter, don’t hesitate to share it with your colleagues, friends, etc.!

On that note, have a great shift!