How Monica Berg Takes Mixology ‘One Step Further’
When Monica Berg speaks about her experience behind a bar, everyone pays attention. As co-owner of London’s Tayēr + Elementary with partner Alex Kratena, her words have a heft that other bartenders are keen to absorb. Hosting a Johnnie Walker Black Label masterclass at Mumbai’s Masque, she rules the room.
On Tayēr + Elementary
For those who haven’t had a chance to visit, she explains the ethos of both her bars, which are connected physically as well as conceptually. Elementary, like its name, is fun, genuine and dynamic, open five days a week. It welcomes standing guests, pets, even rowdy groups. No wonder there’s a strong community around this bar after six years of serving unpretentious reliability. Here, 80 percent of guests are looking to enjoy a flavourful moment — they may not be deeply into mixology. Their pre-batched drinks are popular, some — like the yuzu margarita slushy — needing to be batched daily!
The experimental Tayēr, which means ‘workshop’ in Spanish, goes by the watchwords vibrant, innovative, adventurous, collaborative and focused; “a bar where you go to try something different,” in Berg’s words. With two back-to-back bar stations serving a limited number of patrons, it gives cocktail lab rather than regular bar vibes. Its 16-cocktail menu is expressly created with the purpose of being new and delicious, changes every day and, over a two-week period, is completely different. Open from Thursday to Saturday, it’s a by-invitation-only space. “You just need to be nice to be asked though!” Monica mock cautions.
At both, their steps of service are based on their background in fine dining and five-star establishments. However, it is their innovations that have set them apart: from being on point with the tiny cocktail trend, to pivoting in the pandemic by bottling and selling ready-to-drink cocktails through retail (now a whole other business vertical that’s gained traction in its own right). No frills, no fuss — garnishes got the chop once it became clear they weren’t missed. They don’t name their drinks at Tayēr, just mention the main flavours so that guests know exactly what taste they will be served.
On Creativity
While some people espouse that creativity in the bar is an art, Berg believes it’s a craft. In her view (and practice), time should be allocated to being creative, and time should be allocated to making money. For example, Berg doesn’t do any scheduled prep during service. And there’s a separate R&D shift — an eight-hour day shift for 3-4 members of the team — where they create 8-10 new drinks. Thus, when a new drink is on the menu in Tayēr, there are already two waiting in the wings, ready for their moment on the counter. Berg emphasises that before creativity and mixology, there is organisation, methodology and order.
Using a pyramid, she elucidates how, at the base, there’s the use of existing recipes, then the evolution of something new using the old ideas, then the invention of a new recipe, and then, at the very top of the pyramid, the creation of a completely new concept or technique.
On Bar Design
Berg discusses many technical aspects that can make or break a bar. Things that designers don’t always pay attention to, such as the height of the bar station, in relation to the increasing height of the new generation of bartenders. “Bars have changed because people have changed. And hence bartenders have also changed,” she says, describing in detail what went into designing the elaborate bar stations at Tayēr. Everything is intentional, with each bar having its own design aesthetic… right from the pattern in the drip tray or aprons that reflects across each establishment.
On The DNA of Cocktails
While people often gauge a bartender’s skills based on how many cocktail recipes they can memorise, Berg believes that it’s much more practical to understand how all cocktails fit into seven categories – Sling, Highball, Milk Punch, Punch, Sour, Cobbler and Cocktail. Once you know these, you can play around with ingredients and come up with great combinations. Language is important, she says, be it communication or mixology. “Lexicon is words, and grammar is how we use them. In the same way as we use words, we use ingredients for liquid language,” she says.
Berg peppers her talk with personal anecdotes that shed light on her learning and growth as a bar professional. Having worked in a whisky bar in Norway, she was educated about all the different types of oak casks. She believes that knowledge like that gives you a deeper connection with the spirit and the language to express what you’re tasting to the guests. She explains how a blended Scotch like Johnnie Walker Black Label is a product that is a result of so many people’s efforts and talents – blenders, distillers, etc. How, each time, they manage to blend completely different single malts to create the same familiar taste. “People want that taste, but they also want to make it personal, enjoy it in a cocktail,” she observes about today’s drinkers.
It all boils down to taste, she insists. As someone who participated in Diageo’s prestigious World Class bartending competition in 2013, and having since judged many cocktail-making contests too, she has simple and clear advice for contestants: “Read the brief. Practice serving the drink. Taste your drink.”
On Flavour
In fact, that’s why Berg takes a deep dive into flavour… how the brain interprets it, and how smell, sound, touch, sight, temperature, and texture impact it. She likens mixology to perfumery, and explains that every cocktail, like a heady perfume, has a base note, a heart and a top note. She recommends, “Lock your eyes on one ingredient and use everything else to support that one.” The use of produce, product knowledge, and technology to make old practices more efficient, etc, are all points that she has not only considered in her own business, but is able to impart to attendees at the masterclass. She speaks eloquently about infusions and how flavours can be manipulated using various factors such as low or high ABV, fat or sugar, and even the shape of the glassware.
A new development that she’s excited about is that most coffee consumers now like their coffee cold. “Today, 70 percent of coffee drinks are being sold cold. This opens a huge world for us!” she says, the perfect segue into presenting her first Johnnie Walker Black Label cocktail for the night – Espresso Dust. This Old Fashioned-style drink with fruity and warm cacao coffee notes is inspired by the popular pour-over. The base note is Johnnie Walker Black Label, at the heart is passion fruit, and the filler is coffee. There’s also an accord of aromatics of the scent of leather and tea to enhance the floral notes. “The leather is a bit of unexpected funk that is similar to the oak element in the whisky. It’s easy to drink, can be served to a mainstream audience, but has a lot of things underneath that can make you proud as a bartender,” Berg concludes.
The next cocktail, The Citrus Step, blends neroli and ginger ale, highlighting crisp carbonation akin to the Japanese Highball style. Wild Ember, she says, is a personal fave of hers and something to satisfy the contemporary whisky drinker. The oak moss snuggles with the Johnnie Walker Black Label giving the drink richness and indulgence, while the kick of the habanero piques our tastebuds pleasantly. Berg admits she has doubled the habanero in her recipe for us as well as her guest shift at Masque Lab that follows the Masterclass! Nectar Bloom is to break the myth that whisky cocktails are always heavy and intense. Green cardamom plays with the fruitiness of the nectarine, while Fino Sherry makes it lighter too.
Next Level Guest Shift
At her bar takeover at Masque Lab nearby, barely an hour after the intensive masterclass, she brings energy and efficiency, embodying exactly what she professes is her bartending style! Paired with deliciously different hors d’oeuvres, all four drinks she’s created for the night are being well received by Mumbai’s bar owners and bartenders in an atmosphere that oozes brilliance and bonhomie. As a bartender who has led the way forward towards modern cocktails, better methods, safer workplaces, and an overall positive impetus, her constant aim is not merely to excel herself but to make the room smarter. We could definitely say that about the Johnnie Walker Black Label experiences she’s led: They’ve taken us ‘one step further’ in our understanding of mixology culture indeed.
