Ice balls have been a big hit with bartenders since "Japanese Bartending" became a trend in Western bars. Founder of Belfast's Connoisseur Club Steven Pattison is now selling ice ball makers in Europe.

To produce an ice ball, bartenders have been using silicon ice moulds or carving them off ice blocks (which is very time consuming). About two years ago a Japanese ice ball machine appeared on the market, that doesn't require any external energy source in producing a perfect rounded ice ball.

It hase been showcased at various bar shows, but didn't appear in the mainstream as it's quite expensive. Independent bar consultant Steven Pattison who is also co-founder of the Belfast Connoisseur Club has a penchant for high-quality bar tools. As he was fascinated by the ice ball machine he has now organized distribution set up production and distribution for a similar machine in Europe.

Update 1-4-2010: The original Japanese ice ball machine was first introduced by a company called "Taisin": http://www.taisin-ss.co.jp/html_docs/indexaa.html

This video has been making its rounds on Facebook over the last two days. A Japanese bartender mixes a Daiquiri cocktail with the original formula. The domain name trueoriginals.com appearing at the end of the video, is registered on the name of a certain Robert Wilson, a producer of air foil.

The spirits portfolio in the back shelf does clearly depict though, that this video must have been produced by the Bacardi company. 

After Stan Vadrna, Director of Analog Bar Institut had to cancel his presentation at the BCB 2008 due to job-related circumstances, the European Cocktail Museum is more than glad to announce that he will come to Berlin soon!

The expert for japanese bartending and far eastern libations will give interested bartenders a detailed insight of the history, the production process and the intense varieties of Japan's national spirit Shochu.

The rice-based distillate is one of the three biggest selling spirits in the world and is taking the western hemisphere by a storm. With its varietal aromas and the reduced alcohol content it starts to set trends outside of Japan, Korea or China. 

If you want to know more about the category Shochu and are interested in taking part in this master class with Stan Vadrna, please send an email with reference to Master Class Shochu to bastian@mixology.eu.

Please don't hesitate too long, seats are strictly limited!

Date: 20. Januar 2008 2009

Place: European Cocktail Museum, Schlesische Str. 28, 10997 Berlin

Fee: 80€ (60€ for Mixology subscribers) 

Language: Englisch

11:00: Get Together

11:30 - 13:30: Shochu Master Class (Stan Vadrna)

13:30 - 14:00: Break (snacks & refreshments will be served)

14:00 - 16:30: Blind Tasting Shochu (Stan Vadrna)

16:30 - 17:00: Break (snacks & refreshments will be served)

17:00 - 18:30: Shochu in Cocktails (Bastian Heuser & Stan Vadrna)

ca. 19:00: End, handing out of certificates 

Please be reminded that all events at the European Cocktail Museum are
strictly non-profitable. The fee charged is only to cover the expenses
of our tutors. 

Foto: Red Monkey Group

The first seminar of the European Cocktail Museum finished on June 3rd. We had announced it in our German blog and sold out the available seats in only one week.

Seminars and trainings of the ECM are non-profit projects. The participant's fees cover the speaker's honorarium, traveling costs, catering and course resources. Organisation and facilities are provided by the European Cocktail Museum.

The speaker of our first seminar, that was covering all aspects of Japanese bartending, was Stanislav Vadrna, who has been acting as the training manager for the Slovakian Red Monkey Group in Bratislava over the last couple of years. Stan has been studying the Japanese bartending philosophy and is determined to spread the word about the benefits of Western style bartending can gain, while looking at the work of their Asian colleagues.

The ECM saw 14 participants in its first seminar. They traveled from as far as Kopenhagen, Munich, and Vienna to attend the 20-hour program and to successfully take the final exam:

Chris Doig (Umami, Kopenhagen), Klaus Rainer (Schumann's, München), Torsten Spuhn (Modern Masters, Erfurt), Dietmar Poetscher (Loos Bar, Wien), Mario Kappes (Le Lion, Hamburg), Stefan Schauberger (Ciba Mato, Stuttgart), Aron Buchholz (Liebig Lounge, Magdeburg), Jonas Stein (Schoellmann's, Offenburg), Markus Müller (Japgo, Tuebingen), sowie Matthias Reeder und sein Team (Shochu, Berlin).

It was a pleasure to see the participants sweat due to 30° Celsius and a clear Berlin sky, while learning how to do the hard shake or to listen to their victorious shouts after successfully carving an ice ball!