Charles Joly Bartender



23.7k Followers, 1,238 Following, 3,069 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Charles Joly (@charlesjoly). Ags laptops & desktops driver download for windows. “This reminds me of perfectly made buttered toast like what my grandmother would make”, reminisces Charles Joly, as we sip on Haig Club Whisky in the warm confines of Gibson. We’re here to try the whisky and see how it fits into cocktails, especially now that it now comes in a 50ml bottle just for that purpose.

Originally from: Chicago
Profession: Bartender
At: Chicago

In 2013, Charles was voted American Bartender of the Year at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards and the same year also won a James Beard award. He was crowned winner of Diageo's World Class competition in July 2014 and the following is from when we caught up with him immediately that win. He has since left The Avery and established his own very successful RTD cocktail line, Crafthouse Cocktails.

Charles Joly July 2014

I've been doing this for a long time. I must have come up with some 500 original drinks, but now I work at a very different venue. My approach at The Aviary is obviously different to what it was at the Drawing Room.

Something I love to make which is simple is a mezcal Corpse Reviver that we called Los Muertos. I don't make my Corpse Reviver to classic specs, in fact I don't make a lot of my classic cocktails to spec, I find they're unbalanced so I tinker with a lot of stuff. I think the Blood & Sand is a muddy cocktail that needs a tiny bit of lemon and I usually double the scotch.

The very first cocktail I ever won a competition with, when I was just starting out, and which I haven't made in forever, was called The Nooner. I don't even know if it's a good cocktail any more, it's been so long since I made one, but it was very popular at the Drawing Room. It's simply bourbon, ginger liqueur, a little bit of maple syrup, freshly grated ginger and orange bitters.

It was just straight forward and if drinks are going to have endurance in the cocktail world then they need to be easily replicable, something like a Penicillin which probably has the best traction of a modern cocktail.

I took the Academy of Fine Spirits and Service, which is a class my mentor, Bridget Albert, started in Chicago. She came from Vegas, having worked under Tony Abou-Ganim there. It was a labour of love for her, it's a 12 week course, every week we would study a different spirit category or wine or beer and she would bring in experts who specialise in this all over the world and at the end you have the test and a cocktail competition. So that started the bug for me.

I pull out this cocktail called The Affiliate every once in a while, I've played with it and brought it back in this competition during the speed round, but The Affiliate originally was aged rum, sherry, Cherry Heering, Angostura and Angostura orange.

One that I made at World Class was Above the Clouds using dry ice. It's pretty beautiful visually as I got glass sphere vessels from a design company. It's a simple cocktail with four ingredients; aged rum (Zacapa), Benedictine, rooibos tea from Rare Tea Cellars and verjus rouge. The ingredients are combined, heated, poured into sphere and I drop dry ice in to it and put the top on. The glass is designed to force out a stream of vapour for aromatic purposes. You can really smell the vanilla and smoky notes combining.

I've been very lucky in my experiences, the reason I've seen the world is because of my job which is one of the best parts to this industry. Most countries have a unique spirit and most often the production of that is surrounded by truly amazing people.

One of my favourite trips was to Jerez, it was incredible. I now use so much sherry in cocktails. The Spanish there have really mastered the art of living. It makes you want to pick up your passport, grab your guitar, drink sherry, eat and sleep.

Charles joly bartender biografia

Firey Oaxaca was magic and it really is mind blowing that they manage to get mezcal out of that place and are all over the world now. The distilleries are mostly corrugated tin roves held up by logs, there's no power or if there is it's the radio running off a car battery for the guys to listen to, the stills are all wood-fired, it is truly ridiculous that any of the gets out of there and I hope it's never ruined because it's an incredible place.

Scotland, particularly the highlands, looks like a movie scene. Hollywood couldn't have put it together better than that. Magical is the right word, it's as if a leprechaun riding a unicorn is going to come round the corner. And Scotch never tasted better.

Then there's Martinique, talk about a gorgeous island, that unbelievable back drop and interesting rums.

I'm often asked what my favourite cocktail is and I always give the same answer - it depends on my mood. I think like a lot of bartenders I don't drink a ton of cocktails when I'm not working, sadly I don't have too much time to go out.

If I'm in the mood from something brown and stirred I'll always reach for a Vieux Carre. I love a Manhattan but for me the Vieux Carre is more interesting, with added depth and complexity. The three ingredient daiquiri, perfectly balanced, is another favourite and I'll happily drink mezcal Corpse Revivers all night.

My Daiquiri recipe depends but mostly 2 oz rum, 1 oz lime, 3/4 oz simple syrup is where I go. Otherwise I sip a lot of old rum on ice, just a couple of cubes and I love sherry. I guess I'm all over the place, an equal opportunity imbiber.

I'd love to take our craft and share it with as many people as possible, that's my one plan for the future. I've shot pitches for shows that would shine light on what we do, that certainly would be amazing if it got off the ground. There hasn't really been a cocktail show that captured the audiences yet. I suppose beverage not yet on the same level as cooking. But for now I'm fully committed at The Avairy and with my own range of bottled cocktails. I also want to expand my reach and my knowledge and just spread the good word, spirits and cocktails.

I think our industry is on the cusp of breaking out to consumers. Even the fact that major food chains are putting fresh Margaritas on the menu is a sign of the change. It means people can differentiate from the awful stuff they were served before. The more people who ask for it, the business will give it to them.

You can see the timeline evolving as people are learning how to eat again. A lot of this goes back to WWII when we learned how to preserve things. The palate was crushed afterwards, bland processed foods like spam and wonder bread came out. Now if you look back even ten years ago, chefs starting talking about seasonality. Wine followed that, before you would have four to six options on a menu, two white, two red. Then came the craft beer rise and now here we are. Inevitably we'll take the same path.

The Nooner
Glass: Coupette
Garnish: Flame an orange peel and float on top
Method: Combine bourbon, Navan, maple syrup, and ginger in a mixing glass. Add ice and shake well. Double strain the mixture into a chilled glass. Add 3 drops of the bitters.
2 ounces bourbon
1/2 ounce Navan
1/3 ounce maple syrup
1 barspoon fresh grated ginger
Regan's No. 6 Bitters

'The Singapore Sling has stood the test of time and is an enduring classic. Made with the best ingredients & attention to balance, it's future is even brighter.”

The Affiliate
Glass: Old fashioned
Garnish: Orange peel
Method: In a cocktail shaker, combine the rum, sherry, Cherry Heering and both bitters. Add ice to fill. Stir until very cold. Strain into a glass filled with fresh ice and garnish.
1.5 ounces rum,
3/4 ounce fino sherry
3/4 ounce Cherry Heering
3 dashes Angostura bitters
3 dashes Angostura orange bitters

“This reminds me of perfectly made buttered toast like what my grandmother would make”, reminisces Charles Joly, as we sip on Haig Club Whisky in the warm confines of Gibson.

We’re here to try the whisky and see how it fits into cocktails, especially now that it now comes in a 50ml bottle just for that purpose. It’s a refreshing change of pace from the sombre, serious business of appreciating Scottish whiskies.

It is undeniably costly to delve deep into the endlessly fascinating world of liquors and cocktails. The as-yet uninitiated are intimidated. One can picture a nervous drinker, mentally rummaging through all the tasting notes he has ever read. What it tastes like, what it does not taste like, the distillery’s history and critics’ opinions. All this before the drink makes the first pass through the lips. We’re uncomfortably conscious of that as we search for the flavours in the whisky on our tongues.

The spirit turns out to be light, vibrant and a little playful, bringing to mind a playground of little children, a far cry from the sombre mahogany-walled boardroom imagery called up by a 16 year old Lagavulin. Still no taste of toast, though.

Sensing in us the urge to figure out where the ‘buttered toast’ in the Haig Club came from, Charles is quick to reassure. “What’s more personal than taste? I can’t be inside your head telling you what it should taste like.”

Charles Joly Lilac Photos

Yet, the remark doesn’t conjure images of whisky, but brings to mind something else; that it’s easy to overlook the emotional aspect of having a drink. It’s clear that taste has as much to do with the heart as it does the tastebuds.

“What’s more personal than taste? I can’t be inside your head telling you what it should taste like.”

It was Charles’ first visit to Singapore, and he meets with us less than 24 hours after he landed. Despite all that, he is remarkably warm and sprightly. Bar-dapper with a finely checked grey vest over crisp white shirt, he displays neither fatigue nor unease.

Conversation is warm right off the bat, as Charles relates his travels and experiences, including having to make 10 different cocktails in 8 minutes in one phase of the Diageo World Class Bartending competition back in 2014. “There wasn’t a fixed plan…It felt almost like a dance”, Charles said.

Well, that dance had led him all the way across the globe, it seems.

“Give me a bad drink and good service over a good drink and bad service. Anytime.”

Charles is a man of almost ruthless simplicity. While obviously in the know about fancy molecular gastronomy techniques (carbonated mojito pearls and such) behind modern mixology, Charles clearly thinks of bartending as an art that’s beyond merely making drinks.

He illustrates it to us in his refreshingly direct way, “Have you ever had a really shitty time and gone back the next night to some place? The drinks are one part of it, and it’s an important part, that goes without saying…but give me a bad drink and good service over a good drink and bad service. Anytime.”

Charles feels strongly about going down to the core of bartending and elaborates without prompting. “You can make a great cocktail anywhere. It doesn’t take great booze, it doesn’t take fancy equipment. You have a lime, some sugar, booze and a bit of know how to balance it, you can make a great sour. That’s all you need.”

But what makes a great drink in the first place?

“Think of drink as a little gift. No one makes a gift for themselves; it’s very selfish. It’s made with the guest in mind.”

Balance is a key word for Charles, but he reminds us that balance is subjective to the one’s taste. The beauty of getting to know a bartender is that he will understand your taste over a period of time and change the mixes accordingly. Relationships do matter in changing the taste of your drink, but that’s not all there is to it.

“You remember how your [five] senses were being tantalised or disrespected. You don’t remember things, necessarily. You remember feelings much more easily. A great drink in a great environment with a great interaction with the bartender creates a memory.”

Charles Joly Bartender Married

The science vs. art debate in mixology is endless, just like it is for other professions. Molecular mixologists might say that the drink takes centrestage when people come to the bar for something they cannot have at home. After all, you can’t have complex ingredients such as calcium lactate to make carbonated mojito spheres in your home cabinet-bar. Charles, in contrast starts off with a different premise – that innovation cannot be just for innovation’s sake.

“I think it [innovation] is great, I think people should question everything. I don’t think it’s essential. I’m having a daiquri right now, and it’s great. It’s rum, lime and sugar. They’ve gone together for centuries.”

“The great cocktails that have enjoyed enduring popularity, such as the Negroni, the Martinez and the Manhattan, only have 3 or 4 ingredients in them”

The cocktail revival has brought back forgotten ingredients such as the crème de violette and resurrected classic drinks like the once-forgotten Aviation Cocktail(a personal favourite of yours truly). This suits Charles just fine, for he is a man who prefers the classics. He points out that the great cocktails that have enjoyed enduring popularity, such as the Negroni, the Martinez and the Manhattan, only have 3 or 4 ingredients in them. Perhaps it’s not surprising that this comes from a man who would drive a 1967 Jaguar E Type than a brand new Lamborghini anytime. The Jaguar has soul, Charles tells us.

Charles Joly Bartender Biografia

“A machine can make more consistent cocktails than a bartender consistently. Cmotech network & wireless cards driver. Perfect millilitres, perfect dilution, every time more accurately than any of us can, but it has no soul.”

So what’s the secret to world class bartenders? Charles pauses, and smiles. The next line says it all.

Charles Joly Bartender

“The machine doesn’t quite know how to tell you a joke yet.”