BAR ROOM BUDDIES: IN THE HANDS OF THE GODS

Well, it has been a hell of a week.

About 5 hours sleep in total and more units of alcohol than is good for any man.

It ended, as all celebrations should, with a party.

But, this was no ordinary party. This was a party at which the cream of the world’s cocktail crowd got together and mixed for each other in the Bartender’s equivalent of a jam session.

So, Ted “ Dr Cocktail” Haigh mixed for Robert “ Drinkboy.com” Hess. Gary Regan mixed for Charles Vexenat (winner of the Theme Bartender of The Year Award)



Julio “Ambassador of Tequila” Bermejo mixed for Cocktail guru, Henry Besant and Nick Strangeway mixed for me.







It was in Cocktail terms as if Lennon, Dylan, Zappa and had all walked into a room, picked up their guitars and begun to jam.

The cocktails flowed, heck I even tried to mix a few myself which were politely put aside by the great and the good without any outward sign from my polite companions about how disgusting they were.






And then, as if to confirm the comparison with the great jam sessions, God walked in. In this case, not Clapton, but Dick Bradsell, a cocktail maker of such repute that he had the others lining up to make him drinks and for them to make him drinks in return.



I made my own contribution to the evening with a BBQ of Jerk chicken wings and tandoori lamb chops, but, in truth, it was about the spirit of the evening and the spirits of the evening.



And, by God they flowed and they flowed until about 5am this morning when I fell out of a taxi and into bed for an all too brief sleep.

So, that was the end of London Bar Week. What can I tell you? Well, I can tell you that I am officially in detox for a week or more until I dry out. I can tell you that I have some amazing memories and some fantastic stories to tell. I can tell you how grateful I am to nick Strangeway for organising it and helping me part of this world for an all too brief moment.

But, most of all, I can tell you about my new friends, the weird, glorious, charming and downright dangerous people I have come to know in the last week. I am certain I shall know many of them for the rest of my days and my life is never going to be quite the same again.