Mathew Lepcha, senior captain at ITC Sonar’s nightclub, Dublin, and West View — Bar & Grill just loves his liqueurs. And his concoctions — as fascinating like slices of apple soaked in Blue Curacao floating in a pitcher of Sangria — are a big draw at the nightclub.

A Kurseong boy, Lepcha was clueless about what he should do with his life after graduating in commerce from Kurseong College. A suggestion from a family friend landed him in Darjeeling’s Food Craft Institute for a one-year diploma in food and beverage in 1995.

“I came to Calcutta for training at Taj Bengal and part of my training was at the hotel’s bar, The Junction. Here, I attended cocktail-making sessions for the first time,” says Lepcha. But his first hands-on experience happened at the bar of the now defunct Golden Harvest and China Valley restaurants when the manager posted him behind the bar.

He then joined London Pub, the nightclub at the Quality Inn Golden Park hotel in 2001, as senior bartender and was made assistant bar manager the following year. “I mastered the art of making drinks with speed here and learnt about different liqueurs,” smiles Lepcha. Between 2005 and 2007 Lepcha worked as assistant bar manager at Prince of Cal at Sourav’s: The Food Pavilion, Starstruck Retro Lounge and popular nightclub Venom after which he moved to ITC Sonar. A major milestone was winning a cocktail-making competition at The Junction.

“Most of my training in world-class bartending happened at ITC Sonar,” says Lepcha. Recently, he also attended a 20-day advanced wine-training programme at ITC Maurya in New Delhi. He believes that a bar is a great place to interact with people and to learn about the latest bar trends in the world.

Melon Mystic

Ingredients:

• 60ml vanilla vodka • 15ml cherry liqueur • ¼ grilled muskmelon • 30ml runny honey

Method:

Muddle the grilled muskmelon (without the peels) in a shaker. Add the ice cubes and pour in the vanilla vodka and runny honey. Shake vigorously and strain in a chilled martini glass. Add the cherry liqueur and finish with a slice of grilled muskmelon as garnish.

Blanc Vino Sangria

Ingredients:

• 1 bottle chilled Sauvignon Blanc •150ml Tio Pepe • 60ml Blue Curacao • 2 ripe plums, sliced • 1 ripe orange, sliced • ½ piece of red apple, sliced • 1 clean glass pitcher

Method:

Put all the ingredients in the glass pitcher except the slices of apple and the Blue Curacao, and refrigerate for around 30 minutes. Simultaneously, soak the apple slices in Blue Curacao for 30 minutes. Serve chilled in a wine glass with the Blue Curacao-soaked apple slices.

Wild West

Ingredients:

• 60ml Tequila Blanco • 30ml Cachaca l5ml Campari • 3 pieces Californian grapes (de-seeded) • ½ tsp freshly squeezed lime juice • orange peel

Method:
Muddle the Californian grapes in a shaker. Add ice cubes, Tequila, Cachaca and the lime juice. Shake the ingredients and strain in a chilled Campari rinsed Margarita glass. Garnish with orange peel.

Compiled by Lubna Salim; photographs by Subhendu Chaki