Cocktails in Copenhagen

When Noma was named the world’s best restaurant, it helped cement Copenhagen’s reputation as a culinary hot spot. However, it’s not just diners who are flocking to the Danish capital. Drinkers are discovering that there’s more to the city than Tuborg or Carlsberg beer. For anyone who appreciates well-made cocktails, Copenhagen is enjoying a golden age – thanks in large part to a band of rival British bartenders.

Paul Muldowney, originally from Newcastle, worked at several bars in London before moving to New York, where he split his time between journalism and bartending at private parties. In 2005 he moved to Copenhagen and opened a bar called The Office. This was followed last November by another bar, The Union, which looks like a Prohibition-era speakeasy, including an unmarked door with a buzzer to gain entry. All the drinks, such as the Dapper and the Drugstore Cowboy, take their names from 1920s slang.

“I’ve paid attention to every single detail,” says Muldowney. “We’ve got silver cocktail sticks and a tin ceiling from New York; ceiling fans from London; antique maps from France; bar stools from Tokyo. One of the house rules is that the music played is only from the 1920s to the 1940s.”

One of Copenhagen’s earliest cocktail pioneers was Gromit Eduardsen from Wolverhampton. He came to Denmark in 2000, following a stint as a “ski bum” in Austria, where he met his Danish wife. (He took her surname when they married but his first name is his own invention.) After building his reputation at various venues around town he launched a cocktail bar at the Hotel Fox. This was followed by a shortlived tiki bar and then, in 2008, he opened 1105 with his Danish business partner, Morten Drastrup. It quickly became one of the city’s most popular bars and is packed most nights of the week.

Despite the proximity and traditional dominance of the Carlsberg brewery, an average weekend at 1105 will see cocktails account for 85 to 93 per cent of sales. “Those figures put a smile on my face,” Eduardsen says. “We’ve had Friday nights where only three per cent of our sales were beer or soda. Ten years ago I came to this town and there wasn’t a cocktail to be seen, other than frozen daiquiris. Now I’m selling Manhattans, Sazeracs, Mint Juleps, champagne cocktails ...”

One of the bestsellers at 1105 is the house cocktail, the Number 4. “It’s basically a 1920s recipe called the Bee’s Knees that we’ve updated with black pepper and cardamom,” Eduardsen says.

Working alongside Eduardsen is Hardeep Singh Rehal, also from Wolverhampton, although growing up he spent time in Denmark. Last year his Cucumber Yum Yum, a blend of British gin and Danish aquavit with raspberries and cucumber, won first prize at the Danish Cocktail Championships. The drink’s bright red colour is at odds with its cool cucumber taste, a trick that was inspired by a dish at Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck restaurant in Berkshire.

It’s not just the range of drinks on offer that is surprising in Copenhagen, but the quality. Patrons at 1105 can get a Ramos Gin Fizz, for example, that rivals anything you’ll find in New Orleans, the city where it was created. A blend of gin, orange flower water and egg white, the drink is shaken up until it resembles a meringue in a glass.

Chris Doig from Forfar in Scotland began his career in Melbourne, Australia, before coming to Copenhagen. Like several of his peers, he came for romantic reasons but stayed for professional ones. “When I arrived here Copenhagen was nice but still behind in so many ways in terms of service and quality. The attitude of the staff in the industry was: ‘We are studying, this is not our real job.’ On my first day at a very well-known café in central Copenhagen, the full-time barista couldn’t even steam the milk. I had to show her how.”

He now works at Umami, a trendy Japanese restaurant, where he whips up Asian-influenced drinks (such as a Saketini made with gin and lemongrass-infused sake). Another Scot, Adeline Shepherd, created and co-owns one of the most beautiful bars in town, Ruby. What’s more, her Danish partner, Rasmus Lomborg, spent many years as a bar manager in Britain before returning to Denmark.

While there are some wholly Danish cocktail bars, notably K Bar and the Oak Room, the British invasion has brought new vigour to the city. As with the city’s best new restaurants, this is largely the result of people with a passion for what they do using classic techniques and experimenting with 21st-century tastes. However, being foreign seems to be the secret ingredient in the mix. (It’s interesting to note that the man behind Noma, René Redzepi, is half-Macedonian.)

“Being foreign adds the novelty factor,” says Paul Muldowney. “The Danes feel it’s something special. Plus they love speaking English.”

Chris Doig agrees: “Charisma is important in any host or bartender and by nature the Scandinavians are very laid-back and can be quiet. That’s why guys like Paul, Gromit and myself can impress the public with some presence and wit, but also our genuine skill in what we do.”

........................

Details

Ruby: Ruby is at its best soon after it opens (4pm, Monday-Saturday), when the bartenders still have time to chat. Nybrogade 10; www.rby.dk

1105: Be warned that 1105’s popularity means it can be packed around midnight. What to drink? A Copenhagen, of course. Kristen Bernikows Gade 4; www.1105.dk

Umami: The perfect place to get some mid-evening sustenance ... and a Gin & Leaf (Plymouth gin with ginger, sake and lemongrass). Store Kongensgade 59; www.restaurantumami.dk

The Union: As befits a speakeasy, Union doesn’t like to shout about its location. Look for the unmarked black door with the gold buzzer. 19 Store Strandstræde; www.theunionbar.dk