The Prague Post Online: Tempo: A graduate degree in mixology

December 1st, 2008

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A graduate degree in mixology

A legend on the Prague bar scene, bartender turns his attention toward a new rooftop bar

September 3rd, 2008 issue

MICHAEL HEITMANN/The Prague Post

Known as a showman, Roman Uhlíř teaches aspiring bartenders there is more to it: "The bar is like a stage, a theater. The bartender is not just an actor, but also a doctor."

MICHAEL HEITMANN/The Prague Post

Creating the Charisma was a six-month process. Uhlíř drew on influences from Asian cuisine and trendy chocolate-chili blends.

MICHAEL HEITMANN/The Prague Post

"Sweet, spicy and sexy," Uhlíř says of his latest cocktail creation.

The Doctor Prescribes

Most drinks have just two or three ingredients. Uhlíř says he can diagnose the right cocktail for you once he knows what you had for breakfast:
1. If you like a heavy (cooked) breakfast, you probably like a heavy (but simple) drink. Uhlíř recommends Scotch on the rocks
2. If you had fruit for breakfast, he suggests something fruity, such as a Tequila Sunrise
3. If you like marmalade on your toast, Uhlíř recommends something tropical, like a pina colada or a margarita
4. If you don't eat breakfast, you usually want something light in a drink like a gin and tonic

By Benjamin Cunningham

and Beth Potter

Staff Writers

Bartender Roman Uhlíř’s showmanship draws lots of attention as he effortlessly twirls a bottle in his hand before he pours. But the trickery is merely a sign of something larger.

“You must give people something interesting,” he says. “Otherwise, it’s just a bar.”

Sometimes that means a little sleight of hand, other times a unique recommendation, but most of all it’s the idea of “home service.”

“You don’t just spend your money; your time is much more costly,” he says. “The bar is like a stage, a theater. The bartender is not just an actor, but also a doctor.”

The “medicinal” approach pays dividends. After a start cleaning tables at age 16, Uhlíř now owns and runs the 450-member, 350-bottle Prague Members Club in Karlín, the R.U. Shop catering business and a popular bartending school. He has also penned two books on bartending and has a third on the way about bar management.

His latest venture comes as the in-house bartender at the newly opened Cloud 9 rooftop bar at the Prague Hilton.

Known among the “it” crowd on the Prague bar circuit, Uhlíř was approached by Boris Guerov, service operations manager at the Hilton, to bring his unique touch to the new bar.

“We needed someone to work on it who knows the bar scene here,” Guerov says. “People who are into mixology in the Czech Republic know him.”

Uhlíř’s skills were immediately put to the test as he set out to create nine original drinks for the new bar menu.

How to make a drink

While making a unique cocktail may seem entirely trial and error — and partly it is — for Uhlíř, the process becomes much more involved, almost scientific. If a bartender is part-doctor, then a mixologist must be part-alchemist.

Step one in the process is getting to know your liquor. This includes tasting, of course, but for Uhlíř this also means waking up each morning and smelling new liquors for potential potions — taking wafts from the same bottle daily for up to three months.

“Before I brush my teeth,” he says. “You must commit it to memory. You must get to know it.”

The idea for the Charisma, one of Cloud 9’s special offerings, hatched from Asian food. Then there was the thought of trendy blends of dark chocolate and chili powder in gourmet candies.

“But chocolate is not so good for cocktails,” he said, so he tried one thing then another. Even once he had settled upon blending the flavors of melon, pepper, cranberry and bitters, the first trial drink was “no good.”

“Then I had to play with the levels,” Uhlíř says.

The resulting reddish cocktail is garnished with a red chili pepper on the rim of a martini glass, and has a flavor Uhlíř calls “sweet, spicy and sexy.”

“Rub the pepper on the rim,” he says.

From start to finish, the creation of the Charisma was a six-month process.

“It’s not for everyone, but it’s for those who want to taste something interesting, something different,” he says.

The same mentality seems to permeate all his work with the newly opened Cloud 9. Though open for a number of weeks, Uhlíř was still busy preparing for a Sept. 9 invitation-only grand-opening party, expectations running high, surpassing even the bar’s rooftop location.

“It’s not a beer club,” he says. “It will not be just the best in the Czech Republic, but the best in Europe. It must be.”

Schooling a bartender

While there are limits to the parallels between bartenders and doctors, few would argue that the best of both professions are not born but made. For Uhlíř to become “the best bartender in Prague” has taken a 19-year whirlwind of classes, contests and travel.

“I didn’t even want to work behind a bar; I felt everybody was looking at me,” he says.

Now 38, Uhlíř started working in pubs at 16, graduated from the Velké Meziříčí Hotel school (Moravia), and by 21 was tending bar. He worked for clubs in Strakonice and Trebíč before moving to Prague to work at the Hotel Forum (now the Corinthia Towers Hotel).

In 1995, Absolut Vodka hired him to promote its brand and sent him to a bartending academy in Sweden. From there, his outlook on bartending went global. He traveled to London, where he became interested in British gentlemen’s clubs — the inspiration for his own private club.

In 1997, he finished second in an international cocktail competition. “I asked what I had to do to be first,” Uhlíř says.

Uhlíř met bartenders from all over the world and learned tricks from John Bandy, the consultant who taught Tom Cruise how to throw bottles for the movie Cocktail. He started getting more requests to work with liquor companies, including Johnnie Walker and Sauza Tequila.

“He proved again and again that he is a great bartender, a great entertainer, and what he says he will do, he does,” said Eva Kozierová, brand manager for Sauza Tequila.

Now that the student has become a teacher, Uhlíř’s bartending school attracts aspiring youngsters. On occasion, one can cross paths with potential protégés throwing bottles in Kampa Park.

“It’s very popular. They want to get girls and you can get a better job and do parties if you can spin and throw bottles,” Uhlíř says. “You have to look good.”

Of course, it’s not all just show, and much of the teaching focuses on the basics of customer service. Students must sometimes wonder what it takes to get to where Uhlíř is today.

To start, they should try practicing tricks with bottles for up to eight hours a day, as Uhlíř did, sometimes with their eyes closed. Then move on to making somewhere between 45,000 and 60,000 cocktails in a single year. After that, things get easier, he assures.

Sitting on a high-backed purple felt chair in Cloud 9, Uhlíř no longer needs to practice his bottle tricks. A bottle of Champagne sits on ice next to him and it’s time for the question that everybody wants to ask: What does he drink?

The answer is complicated — sometimes cognac, other times a mixed cocktail, maybe even champagne.

And does Roman Uhlíř, PhD in mixology, ever drink beer?

“Only if I go with my wife riding bicycles or something,” he says.

The writers can be reached at features@praguepost.com

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