Why water is this French bartender’s must-have ingredient, and the minimal-drinks trend
- Remy Savage, head bartender from The Artesian at The Langham, London, studied philosophy but realised it wouldn’t earn him a living
- Originally from Lyons, he talks about working in Oxford and Paris, and the day the BBC got him to make cocktails for Oprah and Reese Witherspoon
What was the first alcoholic drink you had? “When I was around nine, I tried pastis, which has a strong aniseed flavour, very French. It tasted disgusting! I love it now but it’s not for everyone. It’s like absinthe, fennel, licorice. There’s a tradition where you have a small glass of wine and water it down. I wasn’t like that; I just went for the hard stuff.”
When did you start mixing drinks? “When I was 17, I worked in an Irish pub in Lyons, to pay for my studies. It was my Irish father’s friend’s pub, where my father played the music, my sister made the food and I made the drinks. I worked there for four years. I studied philosophy and when I graduated, I realised there were no jobs in that, and figured if I’m going to keep doing this, I need to get good at making drinks.
“I moved to Oxford [in Britain] to work in cocktail bars there. I did a bit of teaching chess. I was part of an association that was teaching chess to students of Latin American Studies at the University of Oxford. It was the world’s weakest department in chess but it was fun.
“In 2012, I moved to Paris for over five years and worked at Little Red Door. I fudged a bit on my CV to say I was more knowledgeable than I was and it worked. I got a job there as a bartender and, after about six months, I became head bartender. [During Savage’s time there, Little Red Door ranked 11th on the World’s 50 Best Bars 2017 list].”
You took part in several competitions, too. “One was the world’s most imaginative bartender where you make absurd drinks. One was with gin and paper. When you open an old book and you get that distinctive smell? Paper was made from wood, and as wood develops over time, there are some particles and flavour molecules that break and open up. That’s why an old bookshop smells like an old bookshop. I tried to deconstruct and replicate what an old book would taste like – with vanillin, vanilla, freshly cut grass, Scotch whisky and gentian root.”
