Class magazine Summer 2023

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INSIDE CLASS


We front our Summer issue with Ian Burrell, who took the gong for Outstanding Contribution at the Class Bar Awards this year. To think he’s been a bartender and educator for 35 years - this kind of commitment, longevity and stamina is something to behold - and celebrate. Mathematicians and beauticians among you will note that a lifetime of rum can do wonders.

There are moments that feel defining and the Class Bar Awards 2023 was one of them. Not the show – as lovely as it all was – but the shift. Many of the bartenders who climbed the stage that night seem to represent the birth of a new generation. In Class Summer Edition, we bring you the stories behind each of the 21 winners. 

We have lots more liquid nutrition too. We choose five mezcals to widen your horizons, explore the worlds of sake and genever. Historian David Wondrich makes his debut in this issue too and explains how modern American whiskey doesn’t really taste much like it did a century or more ago.

There’s science from our two professors – Charles Spence talks edible weeds and Shane Eaton reveals news of a new piece of bar-lab tech.

Meanwhile, in mixed drinks Monica Berg, Anistatia Miller and Jared Brown all bring us seasonal tipples, while Jake O’Brien Murphy analyses the way cocktail appearance has become so homogenous.

Related article:

Tyler Zielinski looks into the trend of cheese cocktails, I report back on a day with Salvatore Calabrese and his catacomb of vintage spirits, while Clinton Cawood digs into three classics that range in fame.

And, as ever, there’s much, much more.