As told to Sujata Jha Photographs by Rashbehari Das

He didn’t go to a bar school or to a hotel management institute and yet he has made his mark in the liquid world of bartending. Nick Hawkins, bar manager at the Tapas Bar at Zara, is tall, blue-eyed and makes an impression the moment he steps behind the bar.

The youthful 30-year-old has many years of bartending behind him. He began his career at 17 working at local bars in the UK. His career took off after stints as a bartender at the Living Room in Manchester and Maloney’s Bar in North-West England, rated one of the best flair bars in Britain.

He came to India about five years ago and first worked as a bar consultant to Red Light, a standalone bar in Mumbai. He worked with Richard Greenwood, a highly reputed flair bartender to design the bar’s wine and spirit list and train the bartenders. Later he became the bar development manager at Olive Bar, Mumbai, where he catered to celebrities like Preity Zinta and Sanjay Dutt.

He continued his mixology at Wink, the bar at the Taj President Hotel, Mumbai, and then continued with the Taj Group at their hotels in Goa and Chennai. He soon became a familiar figure at Distil in the Taj Connemara, Chennai, where he prepared a new wine and cocktail menu and concocted fruit-based cocktails.

What’s his favourite cocktail? He grins and says, “I just drink beer”. But he enjoys concocting unusual creations like Honey and Basil Daiquiri. “I like cocktails with a fruity base and fresh ingredients. I love using spices like pepper, vanilla and cardamom and fruits like passion fruit, strawberry and raspberry.”

After his short tryst with Zara, Chennai, he has come to rock Zara, Calcutta. Says Hawkins: “I love Calcutta. I think the crowd is really cool”.

LYCHEE AND GINGER MARTINI

Glass Martini glass

Ingredients 60ml gin 30ml lychee purée 3 thin slices of ginger 1 inch of lemon grass chopped into small pieces 10ml sugar syrup

Method
Take the lemon grass and ginger together and muddle (press with a muddler, a small wooden pestle) to extract the juice. Add sugar syrup and lychee syrup to the extracted juice. Put these in the cocktail shaker filled with ice and gin. Shake for 10 seconds and double strain them into the Martini glass. Garnish with half a lychee and an inch of lemon grass and serve ice cold.

SPANISH SANGRIA

Glass Hurricane glass

Ingredients Chopped fruits: pineapple, pomegranate, sweet lime and orange 30ml brandy 80ml red wine Topped with a touch of Mirinda

Method
Put the chopped fruit into the Hurricane glass. Fill the glass with crushed ice and add brandy to it. Add red wine and top up with Mirinda. Garnish with sweet lime and orange and serve.

CHINA MORNING GLORY

Glass Tall Collins glass

Ingredients 60ml ginger infused vodka 45ml peach purée 10 fresh mint leaves 15ml lime juice Topped with ginger beer 15ml sugar syrup

Method
Mix the vodka, peach purée, lime juice and sugar syrup together. Add the mint leaves to it. Put these into the Collins glass. Add crushed ice up to fill up three-quarters of the glass. Stir these ingredients in the glass. Top it up with ginger beer. Garnish with fresh ginger slices.