GQ South Africa – September 2019

Photogra

Phy by

aart Verri

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‘I learnta lot of lessons

about working as a team

and working as a bar

instead of by yourself’

relationshipbetweena barand

a restaurant,andhowa barandthe

brandworks.SoI spentsometime

learning,andI thought,“Thisis

great,butit’snotforme– I want

togetbackintobartending.”

Aftercomingtothisrealisation,

I startedseeinga therapistand

gettingmyshitinorder.Andslowly

butsurelyI startedunpackingmy

life,mychildhood,whoI am.Then

I waspoachedbyDenzelHeathand

myclosefriendDominicWalsh,to

jointheteamat Mootee,inJoburg,

asa sweatequitypartner.

GQ:Whatwasthatlike

• startingyourown
  placefromscratch?
  DC:Thebaritselfwas100%
  bartenderowned,andit’sthefirst
  barinSAtohavethat,soallthe
  capitalcomesfrombartenders
  themselves.Wedidthatbecausewe
  wantedcompletecreativecontrol.
  Weranthebar,andI washandling
  allthephotographyandsomeof
  thesocialmedia,andthenwewere
  nominatedbytheSpiritedAwards
  foroneofthetop 10 newbars
  aroundtheworld.AndI thought,
  “Great,we’regoingtomaketop
  50.”ThenI realisedI wasburning
  outagain.Wemadeit totheTop
  10,butI stillwasn’thappy.I had
  nomoney– weputeverythingin
  thebusiness– andI wasstruggling
  financially;I wasfightingwithmy
  girlfriend;I wasn’tina goodspace.
  AtonepointI remembersittingin
  thebaraftera busynight,I wasby
  myselfpackingupanddoingthe
  cashups,andI thought,“Thisis
  it,I havenothingelsetoofferthis
  world.”AndI triedtohangmyself
  inthebar.
  A fewsecondslater,thenoose
  broke.I landedonthefloor,looked
  upandthought,“Whatthehell
  amI doing?”I didn’tknowwhat
  I wasdoinginlife.I hadnogiftsto
  give,myrelationshipwasintatters,
  I didn’tknowhowtodealwith
  people.AndI wasdoinga lotof
  thingstosuppresstheseemotions,
  butallI wasdoingwasmaking
  thingsworse.I neededtoleave.So
  I leftandgotoutoftheindustryfor
  a bitandpursuedphotography.
  I lovedphotography.It feltnew.
  It waschallenging.I didn’tfeel
  I wasgoodatit soI couldn’thave
  anegoaboutit,I couldstartthis

wholejourneyalloveragain.

Depressionis actuallyquite

commonamongstbartenders

becauseoftheenvironment.We

needtobreakdownthestigma.

GQ:Whatajourney.How

didyouendupatMix,the

cocktailbaratMesh?

DC:Theyapproachedmeto

consult.Meshwasn’thappywith

thestandardofthebaratMix.

Meshhasbeena members-only

clubfora while,andtheyrecently

openedthedoorstothepublic

after4pm.I fellinlovewiththe

peopleandworkingwiththe

GM,KobusvanZylandfounder,

JonathonMeyer;they’vebeen

enormouslygoodmentors.I’ve

learntmoreinthelastfewmonths

thanI haveinmyentirecareer.

GQ:What’sdifferent

aboutworkinginaspace

likethisforyou?

DC:Thedialogueinthebartending

andcocktailindustryis very

different;it’sallaboutbartenders,

andmixology,andshakers,and

stirring,andanideaofwhat

a cocktailis meanttobe.Here,the

spaceis diverse,andJonathonand

Kobushaveloadsofexperience

indifferentindustries– it’sa more

laid-back,dynamicoperation.The

bartendingworldis veryhighenergy,

andit’sverymuchaboutcreativity

andpumpingouta product.What

I learntcomingbackis thatyou

don’thavetodeliverthemost

amazingproductto 50000 people

a month.Youcandeliversomething

that’sreallywellarticulated,that’s

expressiveandcreativewithoutthe

pressureofperfection.

GQ:Howhasthat

affectedhowyoucreate

experiencesatMix?

DC:Wedon’tmakethespiritthe

centre;wemakethewholeidea

aroundthedrinkthemainfocus.

Everythingis asseasonaland

sustainableaspossible.Wewant

tomakesurethedrinkcomesout

niceandfast,andconsistent,and

thatit tastesgreat,andthatthe

bartenderlovesservingit toyou.

GQ:Howdoesthat

translateintohowyou

createcocktails?

DC:There’sa simplicityofflavour

fromproduce,that’sonethingthe

Frenchgetright.Thereasontheir

breadis sodeliciousis thatthere’sno

intervention;it’sallnatural.I think

a lotofthatis inspiredbycooking

andhowtheyapproachflavour.In

SouthAfrica,wehavesomeofthe

bestproduceintheworld,andwe

needtoshowcasethat.Wewantthe

samethingfromourcocktails;we

wanttodeliverthebestthatSAhas

togiveandcomplementthatwith

a spirit.Andtrytochangepeople’s

perceptionsandsaythata cocktail

doesn’thavetobetheseingredients;

it couldbeloadsofthings.Mostly,

I thinkbartendersusespiritsforthe

wrongreasons.They’lluseit because

it’sa rarerum,buttheywon’treally

knowwhythey’reusingit.

GQ:Iftherewasonedrink

onthenewMixmenuwe

hadtotry,whatwoulditbe?

DC:TheCapeCola.Yearsagoin

Russia,I wasexperimentingwith

a colarecipe.I wantedtodeliver

a colarepresentativeofSA,butas

drinkableasa Coca-Cola,soI used

rooibos,whichweacidadjustwith

citricacidandtartaricacidtogiveit

thatsparkle,andforthesweetness

weaddcaramel.Thecarameladds

a dimensiontothecola.Andwe

carbonatethat.ThenweaddD’ussé

cognac,a VSOP,whichweinfuse

withapples,andweaddthattothe

cola.Weadda spritzofrosewater

andthena protea.Thecombination

worksoutasa verysimplistic

butdeliciousdrink.

• Nkosiyati khumalo

people can’t smell, so I thought,

“This is something I could work

with.” Though the nights working at

the bar got late; the environment got

tougher; people were doing things

they shouldn’t be doing. And I was

in this, I wouldn’t say a downward

spiral, but I was just veering off on

the wrong path. So I left Orphanage

and ended up working at Bascule.

I worked there for a bit, and I loved

it and I learnt a lot, but there were

limitations on your creativity, and

what you could and couldn’t do.

Bascule is a very specific brand,

and they didn’t need someone like

me, they needed someone who was

more classic. Around that time,

House of Machines had opened up

and Nick Koumbarakis was running

it. I got a job there as an assistant

bartender to Nick. He taught me

how to make a drink with precision,

and that every single drink needs

to be served as if it were your last

drink, and every guest you serve

needs to be served as if they were

your first – which is something that

I try to instil in my bartenders today.

After Nick left, I became

head bartender. I made quite an

impression, and the owners gave me

the opportunity to try something

else at their newly-opened bar,

Outrage of Modesty. Soon I

developed a bit of an ego. I thought

I was the shit, because at that point,

outwardly, I was the shit. I was

constantly travelling; I was one of

the first to do guest shifts overseas,

my social media was on point.

Outrage wasn’t like any other

cocktail bar, and the head bartender,

Luke Whearty, taught me that

drinks can be something other than

just a cocktail. He taught me how

to use interesting equipment that,

until then, had only been used in

Michelin-starred kitchens.

GQ: Where to next?

DC: I was burning out quite a lot,

and I didn’t realise it, but I was

suffering from bad anxiety. I wasn’t

in a good space. My anxiety was so

bad that I would hate going to work.

I’d shout at my team. I wouldn’t

motivate them. I couldn’t deal with

the pressure. I had this massive

nervous breakdown and eventually

took some time off. Later, I went

to work at Beam Suntory, where

I learnt about capital, and the

Head online to see wHat devin’s been concocting

at mix – and read tHe full interview at

gq.co.za september 2019 /^29