Now living in Bangor, Hannah Ferris helps look after the cocktail bar at The Merchant hotel in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter, but she was living in Edinburgh and reading French, Spanish and EU studies at university when her interest in the trade was first sparked.

Her first post was behind the bar at The Waverley on St. Mary’s Street, a staple of the city’s pub trade. That was one of the reasons that she really wanted the job, recalls Hannah, who admits that she had to overplay the extent of her previous experience in order to convince the owner to give her the job.

‘I just really wanted to work in hospitality, there was something about it that really attracted me,’ she says. ‘I have enjoyed being around people since I was a kid and working behind the bar attracted me because of the interaction, the ability to talk to everybody. It wasn’t that much about drink at that time, it was the atmosphere that I liked.’

During four or five years spent studying in Edinburgh, Hannah worked in a series of bars around the city. She also took a year out and lived abroad in France and Spain:

‘I didn’t work in bars when I was there, but I went out a lot and I learned a lot about the people there and their drinking culture which I tried to being back home with me, it’s very different to what we have here,’ she says.

By 2014, Hannah was back in Edinburgh and she worked for a time as a supervisor at a pub on the Royal Mile. In 2016, she returned to Northern Ireland and a job at The Dirty Onion in Belfast for which she had been interviewed while still living in Edinburgh. She stayed at the venue for about a year:

‘It was a lot quicker and there was more volume that what I was used to in Edinburgh. In general, I think our culture here revolves around drink a lot more and you have to learn to cope with that, you have to get quicker very fast.’

Hannah moved to The Ivory in Victoria Square in September 2017 – it was her ‘first real cocktail job’, she says. She had learned the basics of mixing cocktails from The Barking Dog’s Michael Conlon during her days at The Dirty Onion, so she wasn’t entirely unprepared for the experience.

From The Ivory she went to The Sagart on Chapel Lane for around a year before the opportunity at The Merchant came up. Now, she and another supervisor, are overseeing the dedicated cocktail bar at the luxury hotel:

‘I’m really loving it,’ she declares. ‘It’s fabulous. ‘At present, we’re looking to update the menu a bit, go down a more modern route with it and it’s really exciting.’

Reflecting on the changing nature of the trade in Belfast, Hannah says that she thinks the standard of bartending here is steadily improving:

‘It’s got a lot better in recent years and is developing a much more global outlook in terms of the drinks being served,’ she remarks. ‘Bartenders are also more knowledgeable, they’re reading up on cocktails and really trying to emulate the best bars around the world. There’s a real drive here to be as good as Dublin, local bartenders are pushing themselves to achieve that and they’re really passionate about it.’

Hannah says that in five years’ time, she’d either like to be managing an exclusive cocktail bar, preferably somewhere outside Belfast, perhaps in France, Spain, London or even Dublin. Or, she’d like to own her own place:

‘It would be quite small and would have a European influence because of the time I spent abroad. It would have a bar and maybe 10 or 11 tables with great cocktails and a selection of wines. That’s what I really want.’

Hannah recommends…

The Lumiere

Ingredients:

30ml Citadelle gin
17.5ml Green Chartreuse
17.5ml St Germain
12.5ml lime juice
3 drops champagne acid

Method:

Add all the ingredients to a shaker with two medium blocks of ice and shake short and sharp to decrease dilution, then add three drops of champagne acid, which is tartaric and lactic acid mixed with water. Enjoy!

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Twenty-four-year-old Ryan McInerney works at the Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort near Ballymena, where he’s a gin bar executive. He’s been at the prestigious venue for the last three years after leaving behind a promising career with aircraft manufacturer, Bombardier, in Belfast.

‘I absolutely hated it, it wasn’t the job for me,’ he told LCN this month.

Until that point, Ryan had no experience of the hospitality sector, but in his quest for a new job, he came across an opportunity for bar work at Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort. He went for the position and was successful, going behind the bar for the first time at the age of 21.

‘I had no experience at all, but I quickly adapted to the job,’ he recalls. ‘I learned how to pour a pint and within a few months, I was going to cocktail masterclasses. I took to it straight away and began to teach myself to make cocktails that weren’t on the menu here.’

Within a year of arriving at Galgorm, Ryan had been appointed bar supervisor. After another six months, he moved up to bar manager and a further six months later, he was appointed gin bar executive. In effect, he’s responsible for everything that happens in the evening gin bar in the Conservatory at Galgorm.

But Ryan’s decision to switch away from a job he hated didn’t just bring him new career opportunities, it also led to romance. Ryan and his girlfriend, Lisa McAllister, met through their jobs at Galgorm and now Lisa works in the gin bar as a manager with Ryan.

‘’She taught me the ropes and I told her everything I could about management,’ he says. ‘It’s worked out really well.’

There has been much positive change since Ryan and Lisa took the reins at the gin bar:

‘A lot of what was in place was good and we’ve kept that, but there were some issues and there were too many projects going on at once,’ says Ryan. ‘What we tried to do was focus just on certain things.’

One of their innovations centres on the introduction of digital menus. There are a staggering 460 gins available at Galgorm’s gin bar and Ryan and Lisa hit on the idea of presenting the guests with their gin options in digital format on an iPad. There are now 17 of the tablets available for customers to browse on in the bar.

‘It’s gone down really well with our customers and it’s something different. Our menu is extensive and this makes it a lot easier for people to find what they’re looking for,’ adds Ryan.

Also, gin flights are about to be introduced to showcase some of the fabulous local gin that is available and there are gin tastings available every day in the Conservatory.

‘The whole gin craze is still growing and we’re currently thinking about changing a few of ours around, just to keep it interesting,’ says Ryan.

‘At the moment, we are very focused on the gin bar’s reputation, we want to be known as the best cocktail bar in Northern Ireland. With this being such a big resort, it can be difficult to stand out and you don’t always have the freedom to  try everything that you might want, there are certain ways we have to do things.’

Ryan is very happy to stay on at Galgorm for as long as he can, but eventually, he says he’d like to own his own bar in Berlin:

‘I’ve been there and I love it. I speak some German and I just loved the freedom of the place. In Northern Ireland, it’s easy to get frown on rather than congratulated. Over there, no-one bats an eye-lid, there’s a great cocktail culture and a great atmosphere. It’s a different world.’

Ryan recommends:

Back in Fashion

Ingredients:

50ml Plantation Pineapple Rum

10ml brown simple syrup

2 dashes of apricot bitters

2 dashes of angostura bitters

Orange peel

Method:

Add the simple syrup, bitters and flamed orange peel into a mixing glass and add ice and the Plantation pineapple rum. Stir for about 20 seconds until its completely chilled and fine strain the mixture into a chilled whiskey glass. Add ice to the glass and garnish with a pineapple leaf and a twist of orange. Enjoy!

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Like many of those who appear in this regular column, Jonny Shaw (26), has worked in the bar trade from a young age.

When he was still at school, he was employed part-time behind the bar at popular Belfast Asian restaurant, Zen. During the two or three years he spent there, he graduated from helper to cocktail mixologist and realised that he was working at a job he loved.

Again, like many of his contemporaries, Jonny also has experience of the hospitality trade outside Northern Ireland. He helped a close friend enhance his hospitality credentials by securing a few shifts at Zen and while he was there, the companion convinced Jonnny, who was 21 at the time, to join him on a working trip to Australia.

Jonny was away for two years. His first year was spent at a hotel in Sydney – ‘100 per cent different from my experience at Zen’, he recalls. The regime was much stricter and he often found himself working in the venue’s restaurant. Then, after completing six months of farm work as a condition of his two-year working visa, Jonny secured a job as head bartender at a bar in Sydney, The Cuban Place.

‘I learned a lot there too,’ he recalls. ‘It was mostly rum drinks, they had 140 different rums behind the bar and this was great experience for me.’

Jonny came back to Northern Ireland around Christmas and spent some time with his family, whom he hadn’t seen for two years. He did a few shifts back at Zen and then he won a local cocktail competition organised by Yelp. That led to him being offered a job behind the bar at Rita’s.

‘I spent about a year there and I loved it, it was probably my favourite job in Belfast up to that time. The cocktails we were doing were amazing and it was a lot of fun.’

After that, he spent about 18 months at east Belfast restaurant, Cyprus Avenue, where he was assistant manager, before an old friend and colleague – Barney O’Kane – invited him to go and work behind the bar at One Goose Entry in Belfast.

‘I loved it there,’ recalls Jonny. ‘We were given the freedom to do the entire cocktail menu ourselves and it was a great experience.’

When Barney left Belfast for a post in Paris, Jonny says the job lost its shine and he was happy to be approached about a new position at Bert’s Jazz Bar in The Merchant hotel where he now works as head bartender.

‘It’s a very cocktail-heavy environment here, but I’m used to that’, he says, ‘and we have a great bunch of staff here.’

Jonny still loves the hospitality trade and he says he’s thankful that he’s been given so many opportunities to develop his skills. He has no intention of moving outside the industry:

‘We are currently focused on making sure that Bert’s is seen as one of the best cocktail bars in Ireland, but long-term, I do fancy the idea of having my own place,’ he tells LCN. ‘I think it would definitely be cocktail orientated, but for now, I’m very happy with things just the way they are.’

Jonny recommends:

Boulevardier: A classic 1920’s concoction from Bert’s menu

Ingredients:

35mls Glendalough Double Barrel Irish whiskey.

17.5mls Campari

15mls sweet vermouth

Method:

Add all the ingredients to a mixing glass, stir until cold and diluted and then strain into a small (5oz) coupe. Garnish with an orange twist and cherry soaked in homemade cherry brandy. Enjoy!

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And cocktails are more popular than they’ve ever been, driven by the creativity and professionalism of a growing cadre of dedicated NI mixologists.

It’s a trend that LCN was keen to acknowledge when we introduced the LCN Mixologist of the Year title some years ago.

And mixologists from all over NI responded, signing up in increasing numbers to pit themselves against their peers during our live judging sessions in Belfast.

All of them are chasing recognition as the LCN Mixologist of the Year, but what else is on offer for those brave enough to take on their contemporaries in a hands-on test of creativity and practical skill? You can expect to gain valuable publicity for you, your venue and the profession; you’ll get a coveted LCN title and a distinctive LCN plaque to mount in your premises; a complementary seat and a place on the podium at NI’s biggest hospitality award and the chance to go head-to-head against your peers and prove your competitive mettle

Just like the rest of the LCN Awards categories, LCN Mixologist of the Year is free to enter. If you work in the trade, if you can mix to order and you’re creative enough to come up with your own stand-out drinks ideas, then we want to hear from you.

Independent and rigorously assessed, the LCN Awards set the bar for hospitality in NI.

Now in their 10^th successful year, we’d like to see you at the Europa Hotel in Belfast on June 7, celebrating with friends and being acknowledged and rewarded for being the best at what you do.

Enter now at lcnawards.com or pick up any recent edition of the magazine for full details and an entry form.

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