A true Bolognese, owner of the Drink Factory school in Bologna, he tells us about his journey from his beginnings to the media success he had thanks to his manuals on international cocktails. In his latest book he reveals his empirical knowledge in the field of mixing.
Hi Federico, can you tell us a little about yourself, how did this journey in the bar world begin?
I approached the world of bars when I was very young, around twenty years ago, with a training course. Having had my first experiences in the clubs of Bologna, a few years later I decided to throw myself headlong into the world of training. Today, first of all, I am an entrepreneur, I manage a business and everything that concerns it; then at the same time I am also a trainer for my own company, we are a small company made up of only five people, so I often find myself having to willingly follow some more courses and develop their contents.
How did the idea for Drink Factory come about in 2003?
I was lucky enough to have been involved in a bartender school, I gave them a hand in training courses, and from there I became passionate about it until I wanted to realize the dream of opening my own school. I was very young, I was only 23-24 years old, I didn't even know what I was getting into, but this was mine Drink Factory caught on immediately. Imagine that at the beginning I didn't have a physical location and I was worried about advertising myself, I rented hotel rooms to be able to carry out my courses. After less than a year of organized courses, I set aside the first money to build my first physical location with offices and bar stations, and with the bar itself of course. The game has outgrown me in the space of a few years, to the point that I now have two facilities with different employees and collaborators.
How are the courses structured? And how do you help your students enter the world of work?
We have two types of basic courses: American Bar, a 35-hour course, very effective because it provides basic theoretical and practical knowledge for those who want to undertake this profession. AND American Bar XL, a 100-hour course, we can define it as the extended version of the previous one. For advanced courses, however, we have a super innovative proposal with the Advanced Mixing courses where we learn to work on classic twists, a real path on home made preparations and arriving at courses on fermentations. In the last year we also developed various proposals for online courses and masterclasses, which we immediately understood to be both an excellent way of learning and a complement to training.
Then no training course makes you become a complete barman, a course is a "the" to be able to start then at the bar you put the actual work into practice, it is the experiences that then lead you to become a barman together with the skills natural, and we cannot teach those. We offer very practical courses and are always available to answer questions. We help our students through a network of channels for job offers and we hope that they always find a place to grow professionally.
What is your advice for the new generations who want to approach the world of bartending? Is a preparation course essential?
Taking a course today is essential, now no one will take you to work without a qualification in any sector. It is the minimum wage required, a course obviously represents the beginning of a path towards the profession, then there are a thousand variations that influence: from job opportunities to the professionals you meet.
How important is research and training in a sector like mixology for you?
The research is not just theoretical, looking for sources or balances; For me, research also means travelling, experiencing first-hand the various realities that represent the world of bars. Study is essential, but we must also develop a critical level and the ability to internalize knowledge. This is a world in constant evolution, a classic drink is a classic drink, but this does not mean that it cannot change over the years and improve. Over time everything is perfected, also thinking about the raw materials used, twenty years ago finding limes was almost impossible, you could find them at the fruit and vegetable market at night while now maybe you can find them at the Pakistani shop near your house. I always recommend training courses, because in the space of a few days they allow the barman to assimilate new knowledge and updates to improve himself and learn about the latest developments in the sector.
Since 2006 you have been the author of several successful books with Hoepli editore, how did this collaboration come about?
It was an opportunity, you could say I was in the right place at the right time. At the time I had met a publishing company that was supposed to write cocktail manuals for Hoepli. They asked me if I was interested in collaborating, given my experience in courses, I accepted and wrote my first manual on IBA cocktails in 2006, which was based on the 2004 IBA list. The IBA list had been stagnant for 10 years, but after my first manual I was lucky, the list has been changed three times over the last few years, and so with each change I had the opportunity to publish a new book.
What innovations are there in your latest book compared to the previous ones?
In my latest book World Cocktails, I wanted to adopt a simple and clear style, I wanted to write a book for everyone, which could be suitable for professionals but also for simple amateurs. The cover proposal proposed by the illustrator is also innovative, the predominant red and blue attract attention, but not only that, the stylized glasses in the background represent a tribute to the books of the past, the classicism that never goes out of fashion. For me it's all already written in the classics: combinations, structures and reasoning. When I build my own cocktail I start from the history of a classic and evolve it by looking for combinations with other ingredients or raw materials that create unique flavours.
You have included two very interesting paragraphs, one concerns the great excluded and the other your signatures, which cocktails are these?
The book contains 8 of my signature cocktails, I wanted to include them to make the public but also professionals understand the versatility that drinks can take on, even starting from a simple classic. The choice is not random, I wanted to show various types of cocktails to give a practical and functional example. It is not the first time that I have included some of my signatures in one of my manuals, but the real innovation that I wanted to give in this manual lies in the balances that I wanted to bring back alongside the classic IBA recipe. Classic balancing often doesn't make everyone agree, balancing is fundamental, not everyone has the same raw materials or products, therefore a review on the subject of balance is always welcome. I have also included 32 cocktail recipes that are not IBA precisely to make it clear that not only are international cocktails important, they are certainly a point of reference, but there are many other cocktails, which even if not recognised, have their importance . These are world-class drinks like the Gin and tonic, which is not present in the list, but this does not detract from its value at all.
We often talk about twist on classic and signature, what is the difference between the two terms?
From my point of view these are two different things. A twist on classic It's when you take a classic and, as the word itself says, "you go around it", modifying its structure by inserting, removing or otherwise modifying its ingredients or applying a certain technique. A signature, on the other hand, represents "your signature", it is a very personal cocktail that does not necessarily have to start from a classic. A signature talks about the barman who creates it, his place or his experiences. Then sometimes, the two terms overlap and can mean the same thing, but for me the signature is something that becomes famous and recognizable as a trademark.
In your opinion, what are the characteristics that a drink must have to become part of the IBA coding?
First of all, it must be a drink that has become known to the public and is often requested at the bar, but not only that, for example it is important that it is easily replicable by any barman, with few ingredients and with a striking, non-trivial flavour. IBA drinks are also based on the world market, so we shouldn't be surprised if some cocktails on the list aren't very well known in Italy.
You were also the protagonist of the television program Aperitivi all'italiana on the Gambero Rosso channel, how was this experience?
Let's talk about 2011. It was a different experience than usual, also because it was the first time I entered a television studio. The gigantic cameras pointed at you and the voice of the director off-screen were certainly intimidating and Gambero Rosso was such a huge reality at the time. The first impact was strange and I was excited, I was on a television schedule and I would be broadcast on real television, but within a short time I realized that speaking in front of a camera was not so different from speaking to an audience of 20 people as I was used to doing. Then again, social media wasn't as influential as it is today, so I'm not saying that that experience went unnoticed because it wasn't like that and many bartenders met me there, but if it had been today I'm sure it would have had greater media coverage.
This year you created a new project called Drinking.me, what is it?
It's a new project that I can't talk about yet. However, I can say that this year I dedicate it to Drinking.me, which is a project that concerns mixing and will be available in autumn. In the months to come I will reveal more information, for now there is a page on the internet that invites you to register and that I invite you to follow to stay updated.
What's your favorite cocktail?
Not one in particular, let's say I like very simple drinks like Americano and Gin and tonic, depending on the moment or mood. I have recently rediscovered the Dry Martini, perhaps because the more I go on the more I appreciate decisive and simple things, and making a Dry Martini well requires a lot of attention!
Clelia Mumolo
