"Cocktails are equations in many ways" - Inside Scottish bar that won Michelin's exceptional cocktail award
A Scottish bar was awarded a prestigious award at this year’s Michelin ceremony in Dublin. Rosalind Erskine visited to find out more about their drinks and ethos.
Among the chefs, stars and a famous face at this year’s Michelin ceremony in Dublin, a Glasgow cocktail bar and small plates restaurant was awarded a special accolade - the exceptional cocktails award.
Sebb’s in Glasgow had, a week earlier, been announced as the recipient of one of the new Michelin Bib Gourmands - one of four new additions in Scotland to this list of ‘good quality, good value cooking’.
The team were then surprised to be invited to the ceremony, which was held in the convention centre in Dublin on Monday 9 February. It was manager Alasdair Shaw who attended, to be presented with the Michelin exceptional cocktails award on the night.
“I’ve no idea how it came about to be honest,” laughed Mr Shaw when we visited a week after the ceremony. “It came out of the blue. Sebb’s drinks programme has always been about matching drinks with the food but really driving the cocktail side of it.
“We have a more limited wine and beer selection compared to the rest of our venues (Scoop Restaurant Group who own Sebb’s also own Ox & Finch, Margo and Ka Pao in Glasgow). Our aim was to be a high volume cocktail bar.
“But we had no idea at all (that the award was coming). We knew Michelin had been in, as we’d been put into the Guide, and we had an inkling we were going to get a Bib Gourmand but that’s more down to the stature of the company we’re in and the quality of the food. Never in a million years did we think there was going to be a drinks awards. When we got the invite it was panic stations to try and figure out what it was all about.”
While the award was for Sebb’s cocktail programme and drinks in general, the Michelin inspectors singled out a couple of favourites - the Miso and Malt old fashioned and My Sherry Amour, which is a pun on a Stevie Wonder song take on a sherry daiquiri meets a French martini served with a shard of white chocolate. Mr Shaw called this: “a lot of fun and really delicious cocktail that takes a French martini to the next level.”
On the old fashioned, one of the Michelin inspectors said: “During my visit to Sebb’s, I opted for the ‘Miso and Malt Old Fashioned’. A take on the classic bourbon-based cocktail, this creative version was round and buttery, a wonderfully smooth drink with the miso pairing harmoniously with the whisky. There was a subtle hint of passion fruit added too, for a little freshness.
“While this particular cocktail is no longer on the menu, that only goes to show the constant evolution and invention being pushed by Alasdair Shaw behind the Sebb’s bar. There will be more bespoke drinks and twists on the classics still to come, and I can’t wait to try them.”
Mr Shaw explained the inspiration behind the Miso and Malt old fashioned, which is now back on the menu after getting such attention. He said: “The Miso and Malt old fashioned has been on the menu since day one and has typically been the most celebrated cocktail that we’ve done. It’s a blend of brown butter washed bourbon that’s infused with miso, a bit of passionfruit, a Guinness reduction and some chocolate bitters.
“It started as a cocktail for a different venue and it was originally going to be a miso shortbread old fashioned but I tried to make shortbread syrup and I ended up making pastry. We just didn’t have the equipment to do it. I knew that when we were opening here we were going to have Guinness on tap and Gunniess has a lot of wastage (from clearing the lines). Reducing this waste was one of the inspirations along with the brown butter miso whisky, which has a lovely saltiness and saltiness. A Gunniess reduction adds a sugary element to the cocktail and the passion fruit adds some brightness. It started off as a different thing entirely, as most drinks do”
The cocktail creation is a whole team effort, including the chefs, as Mr Shaw explained: “We are so collaborative when we write the menus, and we use the chefs and food elements. It was great to have this as a team effort, but it was my baby at the start.”
Mr Shaw studied maths at university, and said that “cocktails are equations in many ways, and it’s all about balance and finding the right solution in that. There’s a lot of mathematics in the back of house side of things. It helps me a lot as a manager, to understand the specs, batching and scalability of it all. Now I remember formulas for cocktails rather than algebra.”
As for the Scottish cocktail scene, this award for Sebb’s comes in the same month as five cocktail bars being named in the Top 50 in the UK including Panda & Sons in Edinburgh, which is regularly regarded as one of the best in the world.
Mr Shaw said that customers' tastes and the general drinks scene in Scotland has changed dramatically in recent years, but that bar managers and teams are collaborative. “I think the cocktails scene in Scotland is the best it has been in a long time. Because Scotland is such a village at times, we’re all in communication with each other so there’s a strong sense of community but we’re also naturally competitive so we’ll collaborate but we’ll push each other forward.”
As we head into spring, Mr Shaw is developing new, lighter, longer drinks for the Sebb’s menu, fully aware that they sold 18,000 margaritas last year. This is a bar you can come to for award-winning, eye catching seasonal drinks or just your favourite classic. Cheers to that.
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