Thou shalt mix the perfect cocktail
Prohibicja Bar on ulica Podwale in Warsaw hosted the Polish bartending industry's equivalent of a guru in the form of well-known mixologist and enologist Zdzislaw Nowicki. The occasion was the launch of Nowicki's recently published book, "Nowe vademecum barmana" (The bartender's new vade mecum), which is set to become a hot commodity, not only for bartenders but also for anyone who thinks there's more to civilized life than a shot of vodka.
"This book is our bible," said Ryszard Berent, president of the Polish Bartenders Association (SPB). "And for many young people it is a guide for life." According to Berent, who was once his pupil, Nowicki is a giant among Polish gourmands.
Nowicki has been teaching Polish bartenders for almost 40 years. "I was asked to train bartenders in 1961," Nowicki said. But there was no book he could teach from, so he decided to write a short pamphlet, which has gone through about 18 printings so far. "This book (the vade mecum) is the second edition, but it is significantly expanded," Nowicki said."A discipline such as mixology has a lot of new trends now, and I wanted to present them."
But Nowicki also has more refined goals, which he has pursued by teaching, writing and establishing the SBP in 1990. Nowicki said that his book and the association a member of the International Bartenders Association since 1994 are meant to teach people how to properly appreciate alcohol. His thoughtfulness and skill have made Nowicki the only person in Poland who has the right to license bartenders.
Since the SPB's inception, Nowicki has trained about 2,000 professional bartenders. They receive a diploma with an English certification that gives them international range.
"There are about 30,000 bars in Poland," Nowicki said. "Let's say that each of them employs two bartenders." Out of the 60,000 bartenders putting paper umbrellas into layered drinks throughout the country, only 2,000 are certified professionals trained by Nowicki. The remaining 58,000 are "just liquor pourers," Nowicki said.
The two bartenders demonstrating their skills at the book launch were certainly not liquor pourers. Jerzy Czapla and Ryszard Luszczak, both past Nowicki students, are specialists in "free-style" bartending, which combines drink preparation with dancing, shaker-juggling and sometimes setting bottles alight a la Tom Cruise in "Cocktail." It is easier when disco music is playing.
"The truth is that free style is basically about bartending," Czapla said. "And all the tricks are just there to encourage people to stay by the bar."
"It is a disco style (of bartendering)," Luszczak said. "And it is very good for giving shows at parties."
Luszczak's love affair with bartending began when he completed a Zakopane bartending course in 1997. Now, he is the president of the SPB's free-style section and current National Bartenders Competition champion. He boogied and poured his way to the top drop by drop, winning the No. 3 spot two years ago and the No. 2 spot last year before grabbing the grape leaf laurel this year. When SPB and Unicom Bols Group Polska organized the International Bartender Competition "Shakers '99," Luszczak, the only Pole entered, came in eighth.
"A lot of people are interested in free style," Luszczak said. The section, established three months ago, has so far attracted about 20 bartenders.
While the behind-the-bar acrobatics of free style are not easy and not for the bashful preparing a good drink should now be stress-free, thanks to Nowicki's book.
"I hope that my book will reach them all (professionals and amateurs)," Nowicki said. Certainly the book's 1,600 recepies are bound to yield one or two that amateurs can use to impress their guests at home.
