He is one of the world’s most recognisable mixologists, and was running one of the industry’s flagship bars. But even he was not immune to the economy and Salvatore at Fifty closed last year as the members club and casino was wound up.

Ian Cameron caught up with Salvatore Calabrese to find out exactly what happened and what The Maestro is up to next.

How did it feel when you found out Salvatore’s would be closing?
You never want to accept it is happening. I even spoke to the landlord about taking it all over – the whole site, not just the bar – but the rent was more than £2m a year! The weekend it happened we finished at 4am on Sunday morning. Later that day I went with my bar manager and assistant bar manager to clear out our possessions. I shed a tear. We all did.

The thing that upset me was I didn’t have control. The bar on its own was profitable you see – that last Saturday night we took £19,000. And it was very upsetting to tell staff that had been with me a long time.

What are your best memories of the bar?
To see your personal icons come in and ask for me was just amazing – De Niro, Stallone, Bruce Willis, Jay-Z and Beyoncé, football teams, rugby teams. I could write a book about my customers, but I never would – what goes on in a bar is secret!

It was always my bar – I designed it, thought about how to make people feel comfortable psychologically as well as physically. That was why the bar was down the left rather than at the end, why the bar stools were just the right height for the bar, why they had only had one armrest each so people could talk to one another. Everything was in reach of the bartender – just one step left, right or behind. I even designed my own sinks there. When the bar was installed I was furious the builders had installed a drip tray along the entire length. I said: ‘My bartenders don’t drip’ and made them fill it with stone.

So even The Maestro can relate to the many bars which have closed or have struggled?
If you close it doesn’t make you less of a man. No one is invincible – I cut my wages and asked my managers to do the same. When staff left I didn’t replace them and we all covered them. I was careful about breakages – a single glass can waste the profits of three drinks. We looked at ordering and stock control, same as everyone else.

What have you been up to since?
I’ve been doing lots of consultancy work – creating cocktails and working with various drinks brands, and giving cocktail masterclasses – even for royalty. I’ve been able to do some travelling, and I’m working with Manchester United and Lily Allen soon. It all keeps me busy but, you know, it’s not the same.

So you’re basically looking to open another bar?
I think I need a new ‘home’. It’s not the money – I have enough people behind me – it’s finding the right site. I could go back to Fifty, but do I want to do that? (If only I could pick up the bar and take it somewhere else...) My next step has to be somewhere quite special. I’d quite like my own club. I’m obviously looking at Mayfair again but the licence is the problem – having a bar in a casino meant you could stay open later.

Whatever I do it’s not going to be small – I’ve the opportunity to work with a real iconic brand – it’s one of the top five in the world. It would be called ‘Salvatore at...’ But do I want that? I don’t know. Above all, it needs to be me standing on my own.
 

Salvatore Calabrese

Name-drop from your phone, who’s in your address book?
Elton John, Michael Schumacher, Jay-Z.

Which drink do you wish you’d invented?
The Negroni – designed around how the customer wanted his Americano, which tells you all you need to know about being a bartender.

What do you drink at home?
I drink wine at home – my wife will tell you I’m lazy. Sometimes she has to make her own G&T!

Pet hate in bars?
When you are made to feel like you are doing the bartender a favour by ordering a drink.

Top tip for bartenders?
Everyone talks about mixology, which is fantastic. But no one talks about what makes a great host. A bartender is creative like a chef, and knowledgeable like a sommelier, but above all he is on display. There’s not enough smiling around – where’s the love? And it’s not a place for prima donnas. I’ve been in the business for 43 years and if anyone should be a prima donna it’s me!

Salvatore is on the committee of the London Cocktail Summit.
 

As microdistillers go, you’d be hard-pressed to find a smaller operation than Sacred Gin. And, in one way, the brand has just got even smaller with the introduction of a new range of distilled botanicals – in 20cl bottles – that bartenders can use to blend their own gin, flavoured vodka or even absinthe.

Ian Hart, the City trader-turned-distiller who runs Sacred Gin from his home in Highgate, north London, has bottled some 28 individual botanical distillates covering a wide range of fruits, spices, herbs and roots.

As well as traditional gin botanicals, from juniper and various citrus distillates, cardamom, angelica and orris root, the range covers more unorthodox additions, such as wormwood, vanilla, fennel and cubeb. (The only omission is a frankincense distillate, relating to the single botanical that really differentiates Sacred Gin from its competition, but Ian understandably doesn’t want to make it too easy to replicate his own USP).

All of the distillates, which will be launched at Bar.10, are vacuum distilled at low temperature, using a variety of fresh and dried botanicals, on equipment Ian has set up in a makeshift ‘lab’ at his home, which is licensed to distil spirits. Producing each of the distillates mimics exactly the approach he takes in distilling and blending Sacred Gin, which is a blend of 12 botanicals.
Each distillate is priced at just £10, and Ian recommends choosing at least seven distillates to blend from in order to demonstrate the way flavours interact and how complexity is formed in finished gins. A special case containing seven 20cl bottles of distillates is also available for special demonstrations at a cost of £160.

“I love the idea of making all these botanicals available to people – to play with the flavours and assemble their own gins,” he says. “You can really begin to recognise specific flavours that you haven’t been able to put your finger on in existing gins and to understand what those classic gin ingredients actually add.”

Ian Hart is now approaching his third bottling of Sacred Gin, with demand accelerating exponentially. The gin is listed by 50 venues in and around London including Duke’s Hotel, Raymond Blanc’s two Michelin starred restaurant Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons and Fortnum & Masons. It retails at between £26 and £27 per bottle.

Sacred Gin will be exhibiting at Bar.10 at Stand F32.

Two upscale restaurant chains have launched their own spin-off bars. Mexican eatery Wahaca and sushi specialist Itsu recently opened branches containing bars entirely separate from dining areas – contrary to the idea of restaurant bars typically seen as ‘holding areas’ for customers waiting to eat.

In west London, the second floor of Itsu’s Notting Hill branch boasts the Butterfly bar. The area is something of an experiment – you can still eat up there, having carried sushi upstairs from the conveyor belt in ‘bird-cages’, but you can also just come for drinks, and the lounge-style area is distinct from the restaurant downstairs, which is laid out around the sushi conveyor belt.

“It is already attracting customers who have a slightly different purpose for their evening,” says Itsu’s Sophie Chaney, head of restaurant development. “It’s also good for bigger groups.”
She said the concept was somewhat pared down from an original idea of a long cocktail list and resident mixologists, and in fact there are no sake- or shochu-based cocktails on the small list as you might expect, but she said it could herald a stark change for the group. “It is an evolving concept and I really hope we can push it to be a real bar.”

Over in east London, Wahaca’s Canary Wharf branch has a 70-capacity space upstairs from the restaurant serving a variety of tequila and mezcal cocktails from a small range of 100 per cent blue agave spirit brands. Group co-owner Mark Selby said the bar was also something of an experiment but added the opening coincided with a growing number of customers who accept tequila is not just for shooting.

“The decision to open a bar was a reflection of the site – it was a shame not to do anything with it,” he said. “But the conversion we’re seeing after we chat to customers about tequila is making a huge difference, we’re seeing customers returning and drinking tequila and we are adding to our tequila range the whole time.

“We are keeping the group food focused as a whole but we are happy to use the bar as a test-bed and for our bartenders to experiment – adding new cocktails and making their own tequila infusions. We’re already looking at another site which will definitely have a really exciting tequila bar.”

Come to the Tequila Embassy at this year’s Bar.10.