Lush Life

Was it the flair, the fans, the fame - a mixture of all three - that made our guest today watch Tom Cruise in Cocktail and say “I want to do that”? Yes...and Vincenzo Sibilia is wowing them in Chelsea’s only speakeasy, but you need to know the password to see him in action. ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide, I rebranded after the fi...

From a family full of fisherman comes our next guest, Tiago Serrão. His rapid rise from Bar-back to Bar Manager shows an innate knack for, not only conceiving creative cocktails, but also, chatting up the customers. ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide, I rebranded after the first season. Although I reference Best Sips – it’s Lush Life...

One is from India and the other Spain, but together they have conquered the Doha cocktail scene. Thor de Mendoza, Venue Manager, and Gary Jones, Bartender, of the Hunters Room & Grill at the new Westin Doha Hotel & Spa have drawn local and foreign crowds to their happy hour, thanks to their creative cocktail & mocktail menu. ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lu...

From life guarding on an Italian beach, to bartending at one of the most iconic bars in London is not a logical career step unless you are Riccardo Vecchio. It was sink or swim and, thankfully for us, he’s safe behind the bar at Brown’s Hotel. ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide, I rebranded after the first season. Although I referenc...

No one drinks vermouth on its own, do they? As UK Brand Ambassador for Belsazar Vermouth, our guest today, Fliss Gransden, is on a mission to right that wrong. Not only does it taste fantastic, but its low alcohol content means you could drink it all night! ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide, I rebranded after the first season. Altho...

You go to Paris for the food and wine, but do you ever ask if there are French products in your cocktails? Well, under the tutelage of Soizic le Mercier, the team of the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand is promoting a whole new type of cocktail making in the City of Lights. ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide, I rebranded after the fir...

We think we all know the legend of the Odyssey after reading Homer. Today we meet a modern day Odysseus whose journey from the Philippines took a different turn and landed him in the world of Mai Tai's, Pineapple and Bamboo.   ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide, I rebranded after the first season. Although I reference Best Sips...

“Remember, gentlemen, it’s not just France we are fighting for, it’s Champagne!” was Winston Churchill’s cri de guerre .  Only gentlemen…what about the ladies? Didn’t he know that, throughout history, women were responsible for making some of the great Champagne houses of France famous? Virginie Taittinger, our guest today, is one of those women! ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Befo...

One man in London is tasked with keeping famed actress Gertrude Fogg’s legacy aflame. That man, Filippo Previero joins us today directly from Mr. Fogg’s Tavern in olde New Row, Covent Garden, to explain how her gift to the neighborhood has been charming punters for more than a century. (wink, wink) ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide,...

If it hadn’t been for a Mr. Bearsley in 1692, what the heck would we be drinking with our Stilton? Thank goodness, he had the foresight to create Taylor’s and that the world would catch on to the merits of Port. The Head of PR for Taylor’s, Ana Margarida Morgado, let’s us know what they’ve been up to for the past 324 years. ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, ther...

Spending years in the hallowed libraries of Oxford pouring over the ins and outs of Quantum Mechanics might lead you to drink! It certainly happened to George Economides. One stag do in Sifnos and his whole world changed from investigating particles in a box to those in a glass. Harking back to his native land of Greece, our guest today is reviving the local spirit, Mastiha, and introducing it to...

How many times does this happen to you? You are walking down the street dressed in a sari, a man stops you, asks who you are, tells you your bar is his favorite in America and wants to open one in India? Well, it happened to Anne Frey owner of 1 Tippling Place and she is here to tell us more. ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide, I reb...

When it’s all about the food, how do you make the drinks stand out? Zahav Restaurant and its chef Michael Solomonov have been winning award after award since opening its doors, including finalist for "Outstanding Chef" at the James Beard Awards. As Bar Manager of one of the busiest eateries in the country, it’s Jeff Bartash's job to find out. ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there...

Paddington Bear is not the only thing that emerged from the “darkest Peru.” Thankfully, the spirit on everyone’s lips at the moments has made it across the border as well. As the 100th anniversary of the invention of the Pisco Sour is upon us this year, Fabiano Latham is determined to educate everyone on the merits of the most Peruvian of beverages. I met Fabiano for drinks at his former haunt, Ch...

Cyprus has loads to offer its citizens and visitors alike: lovely beaches, hot sun, great food, and architectural wonders. Still, for a country that has been around since the 10th millennium BC, you couldn’t find a good cocktail anywhere. Thank goodness for Dinos Constantinides – he has literally upped the bar for everyone in town. ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Li...

I know I will be toasting to Nicci Stringfellow, the UK Casa Herradura Brand Ambassador on Mexican Independence Day this Friday. In fact, I might just be proclaiming a Grito de Nicci, not the historic Grito de Dolores , the battle cry of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the priest who kicked off the entire revolution! ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best S...

You would think that following in the footsteps of Auguste Escoffier, Henry Braddock and César Ritz would be daunting, well, not for Anna Sebastian. Under her watchful eye as its Senior Bar Manager, The Savoy’s Beaufort Bar has continued to flourish since the day it opened in 2010. ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide, I rebranded afte...

Take one Englishman and add an Italian to make a fantastic bar minutes from London Bridge. These two are remaking the area into the next cocktail destination. ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide, I rebranded after the first season. Although I reference Best Sips – it’s Lush Life through and through – the same great guests, the same mu...

How can an 18th Century cartoonist be the inspiration for modern day mixology? Sam Mitchell has found a way and lucky for us we get to sample his artistic creations? ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide, I rebranded after the first season. Although I reference Best Sips – it’s Lush Life through and through – the same great guests, the...

How does one man get from the Seychelles to war-torn Cyprus back again to write THE book on Seychelles’ Cocktails without a phone, ipad or wireless?  ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide, I rebranded after the first season. Although I reference Best Sips – it’s Lush Life through and through – the same great guests, the same music,...

New Orleans, the birthplace of so many cocktails, is a really, really long way from London. Saying that, you can still sip that Sazerac without hopping a plane across the pond, thanks to Ian McIntyre. Why NOLA? Why London? He revealed all when he sat down with me over a Hurricane or two. ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide, I rebrande...

Prohibition gripped New York in the 20s, but there was one place you could always get a drink if you knew those in the know. The 21 Club’s Mark Tubridy lets us in on the secret that got you into one of the oldest drinking establishments in the Big Apple. ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide, I rebranded after the first season. Although...

I sit down with James Trevaskis, of my local 11 Cadogan Gardens - an intimate hotel that is the toast of Chelsea . Truffle Martinis, homemade Eau de Vie, anything is possible when James Trevaskis is behind the bar, His ingenuity is what brings them into 11 Cadogan Gardens - find out how he got here and the thought process behind the drinks he creates. ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused!...

Of course, it would take a suave Italian to understand the suavest of drinks. Whether Gin or Vodka, Alessandro Palazzi of Dukes London shakes, stirs and shapes every Martini served at Ian Fleming’s favorite bar in London. ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide, I rebranded after the first season. Although I reference Best Sips – it’s Lus...

What’s a Frenchman doing overseeing the most American Bar in London? Benoit Prevost has been making Manhattans for 23 years at The Stafford Hotel.  He reveals what’s kept him here all this time. ---- Hello everyone - Don't get confused! Before there was Lush Life, there was Best Sips Worldwide, I rebranded after the first season. Although I reference Best Sips – it’s Lush Life through and thr...