One is the cocktail I hate making the most,
and that's a strawberry daiquiri.
Actually,
most drinks with strawberry in it,
I think,
suck.
Hi,
I'm Ryan Chathier-Wardner,
or Mr. Lion,
and I'm a bartender based in London.
My favorite cocktail,
both to make and I think as a just definitive,
like,
piece of craft,
is the martini.
I think there's something so special about
something that's kind of endlessly variable.
Everybody has their own take on it.
Cooking for people,
hospitality is an act of love,
but being able to make somebody a martini,
there's something so special about it,
and it's the,
you know,
ultimate aperitif.
I describe it as kind of one of life's perfect moments.
Sharing a martini ahead of dinner,
like,
it doesn't get better than that.
The reasons you go into a bar are incredibly varied.
It might be for a celebration,
it might be that you've had a long day with
a big group of friends or an intimate date,
and it's being able to try and think
on what's exciting in that moment.
One of the things that was most fascinating to me was,
how can you control something and make
that fit for that particular moment?
And the beauty of a cocktail is you can control everything.
You know, cocktails are really for everyone,
and they should be something that more people
encounter and more people get to interact with,
because everybody needs a little bit more
of a dose of happiness in their daily lives.
How do we find ways to kind of bring a wider,
more diverse collective of people to the table?
How do we find ways of integrating
some of the knowledge that they bring?
You know,
none of us want to kind of rest on our laurels.
None of us want to kind of think that we know all the answers.
You know,
the point is to be able to kind of be pushed and to be challenged,
and for everybody to start looking at things differently,
and the best place to do that is across the table.
Perfect.
Thank you.
