On Monday, June 23 at La Posteria on Via Sacchi in Milan, the Belvedere Vodka masterclass was held. Yet another masterclass you'll say, but think again, this time the seminarists were real hotshots: Agostino Perrone, Erick Lorincz, Tony Conigliaro and the ever-present Dario Comini.
The location really deserves it, with space for the audience and a great set-up of the speakers' stand. On both sides, elevated spaces dedicated to the bar for the preparation of drinks and booths for vodka tastings.
From 2 p.m. Agostino and Erik began to entertain the attendees talking mainly about Vodka Martini and capturing attention thanks to the complicity between colleagues, stuffing the exposition with references to London bars of excellence and the past-present relationship of life behind the counter, with an unfailing parenthesis on James Bond, his predilection for cocktails and its creator Ian Fleming.
Erik then gives way to Tony, and Agostino acts as his sidekick to translate step by step the passionate explanation of his working method, which goes through an in-depth study of the drinks, for the combination of flavors in a very close union between the sensations one wants to recreate and the raw materials used. This immense work has led Tony to found the Drink Factory, a scientific laboratory where real studies are carried out but where scientists are not to be found, but only bartenders who then experiment in the field with the studies of the laboratory in order to train themselves at 360°.
After a short break, it is Dario's turn to delight the audience with his engaging oral expression in an exciting explanation of how to make four cocktails with Belvedere Vodka: starting from the history of Tibetan and Nepalese bells, to tips on how to use fresh and dried roots and herbs, from the properties of nitrogen canisters to extract flavors, to the use of boiled and sanitized pebbles, from the cocktail inspired by the TV series Dexter to the attention to small accompanying sides, all perfectly in compliance with the strict HACCP labels.
Throughout the four-hour seminar, the very efficient Drinkable guys went back and forth among the audience, always intent on asking questions caught by sincere interest, to offer samples of the cocktails so masterfully explained at the counter by the seminarists, all strictly based on Belvedere Vodka!
