PROFILE
“
I ENDED
UP LOVING ( BARTENDING ) MORE THAN I
WAS ENJOYING UNIVERSITY .
”
— PIPPA GUY ON BARTENDING
advocacy at U . K . -based liquor company William Grant & Sons . Ada " Coley " Coleman , considered the world ' s first celebrity bartender , was hired in 1899 at Claridge ' s but was so popular and skilled that she became senior bartender at The Savoy in 1903 , where she reigned until she retired in 1926 .
Gender equity hasn ' t inspired Guy . " To be honest , that sort of never really occurred to me ," she says . " I was in my first year , and I just started working part-time at a bar around the corner to earn a bit more money on the side . Then I ended up loving it more than I was enjoying university ."
By the time she graduated from Leeds University , she had been promoted to bar supervisor , and after 10 months traveling in Southeast Asia and Australia , Guy returned to Leeds . She was hired at Oporto , a bar with a reputation for churning out excellent mixologists . There , as bar manager , she met Declan McGurk , bar manager of the American Bar , in town to teach a whiskey seminar . " She impressed me from the moment I met her ," McGurk says . " She has a great presence behind the bar ."
McGurk suggested she come to the American Bar . " I remember thinking that I ' d just apply for it on a bit of a whim , not actually expecting that I ' d actually get a job ," Guy says . " I had to move everything in my life to London , so that was a bit of a shock ."
SERVER TO SENIOR That was two years ago . Guy was hired as a server , something she ' d never done . In 2016 , she was promoted to junior bartender , and then in September , McGurk interviewed her for senior bartender . " He grilled me pretty hard in the interview on how I felt I was working and this and that and another , and then at the end , he told me that he ' d actually signed off all the papers two days before and had given me the job ," Guy says . " I started crying , and I cried for about 10 minutes . He ' s been incredibly supportive , he and Erik ( Lorincz , head bartender ). Erik ' s been really good about giving me his time for training and development as well ."
Guy became the first woman to wear the specially tailored white jacket worn by the bar ' s senior bartenders ( the tradition started after Coleman retired ).
" While numbers show that we are getting closer to gender equality in the bar and cocktail industry , men still tend to dominate , especially in the high-profile positions ,” Voissey says . “ As a benchmark establishment for the industry , the American Bar offers such such a ( renowned ) stage ."
In mid-February , Guy and another senior bartender , Giannis Sitanos , turned the Gorilla Bar in Thessaloniki , Greece , into an American Bar outpost for the evening . She and Lorincz will travel in April to Singapore to take over the Manhattan Bar .
Guy and her colleagues are finalizing the American Bar ' s new menu , which also will debut in April . Inspiration comes from the bar ' s collection of Terry O ' Neill photographs . " One of my drinks on the next menu is a twist on white port and tonic ," says Guy . " I like using port in drinks a lot ."
Throughout its history , American Bar senior bartenders have created cocktails that became classics , including Coleman ' s Hanky Panky . Guy ' s yet-to-berevealed port and tonic cocktail might be next .
54 hotelsmag . com April 2018