We asked Roman bartender Simone Mina to write an article that somehow related to such a growing phenomenon as mixology, the world of mixing. The result surprised us very pleasantly.
Welcoming the invitation of dear DoctorWine Daniele Cernilli a write on world of bar e of mixing, a question fairly quickly took over in my head: What to write about?
Already putting oneself in the position of writing an article on a topic presupposes that the same is worthy of reflection and that the opinion of the writer is in some way quite significant. However, I want to consider these writings of mine as brief thoughts, food for thought, ” bar talk“.
What to start with? For avoid pedantic technical lucubrations about the world of cocktails (an evil that alas today affligues both the bar and the kitchen) I thought I would start with a topic tangential to the bar, taking my cue from a past editorial by Cernilli.
The editorial in question began with a question: “Are chefs artists?
It is a question that is often asked as much in the kitchen as in the bar (partly because the two environments are perfectly complementary) and it is a question that I, as a former art history student, have asked myself many times as well.
Here’s the answer I gave myself
They are convinced which the work by a barman, by a cook o plus at general by a catering professional is 50 percent made of numbers and 50 percent made of poetry.
I personally believe that an artistic interpretation of these works is possible, the question, however–in my opinion–is where to go to look for this supposed artisticness.
I don’t think you have to search for this artistic aspect with an approach exquisitely visual (a mistake that nowadays has led to the creation of real monsters) but from a more organic point of view. Let me explain.
Relating to a drink or a dish in the same way one does to a painting or a sculpture or an installation has in it a starting error: it considers equal the methods of enjoyment of the work, which instead is absolutely different.
Like the futurists’ “polybita”
If it is true what the Futurists argued, that a drink, (in their case a “Polyhibita“) is like a work of art that is exhausted in the time span of a glass, it is equally true that its artistry lies not so much in the shape of the glass, its decoration or the method of serving (or rather not only), but lies for the most part in the substance contained within it which ingested from user, reacts with the his body, stimulating him to certain feelings.
In this sense, a drink can be considered art, abandoning its mere aesthetic analysis and considering, instead, other factors. In referring to the emotionality of the thing, I am referring precisely to the effect it creates in me. In looking at a work of art, it stimulates emotions in me, reactions at various levels (because art you know, has various levels of reading, it is by its very nature ambiguous).
Similarly, a drink (and the bartender who creates it) will be able to convey emotions to me (on various levels). Emotions that will then go on to affect the appearance of the Of the enjoyment of the conviviality of the place where I drink it.
An unbreakable bond with place
In this sense, a cocktail (meaning by this word the combination of cocktail + bar) being inextricably linked to the place where it is enjoyed (a place in which almost by definition people are meet) can be considered a work of art that combines in itself various aspects of various ways of making art: figurative art, installation art, performance art, and music.
These are all aspects that “work” along with what is the final experience of the user. A user who moreover is immersed in an audience that interacts with him influenced by the same aspects of the thing, equally but on different levels with different or equal final outcomes.
In conclusion, I would say that yes, a drink (or a dish) can be considered art if one considers all these factors and if one ultimately does not detach from their inherent nature, that is, keeping in mind that they are not paintings: a painting I do not eat it, I do not drink it!
This, summarily, is my idea of the issue and my answer to it, ultimately, is my “idea” of the Bar.
Simone Mina will be the one to edit the section dedicated to wine-based cocktails presented within our publication Wines for Summer 2025.
