Bar Manager at THE LIBERTY Hotel
I was born in the Netherlands in 1965 and even as a little boy I collected bottles of liqueur and put them on the shelf in my bedroom. So my career path was probably clearly defined early on. At the age of 15, I actually prepared my first cocktails behind the bar. A little later, I moved to Spain for six years, where I broadened my knowledge in various bars and discos and finally worked as a bar manager in a Spanish-Dutch bar.
When cocktails became fashionable in Germany, I ventured into self-employment in 1991 and started working as a freelance bartender for various companies in the beverage industry. In 1993, I joined the German Bartenders Union, where I won first prize in a cocktail competition in my very first year. From then on I created new recipes, did promotional tours and mixed drinks at fairs and parties. I had my own mobile cocktail bar built and also travelled abroad to mix cocktails at every opportunity. Along the way, I gave cocktail workshops and demonstrations in collaboration with a large German juice company. At this time I also started working as a brand ambassador for a Dutch liqueur company.
In 2006, at a German wine fair, I came into contact for the first time with a company that produced products for making molecular cocktails. I was immediately excited and saw the possibility for cocktails with a new consistency using molecular gastronomy techniques. So I started experimenting at home to add these molecular cocktails to my range. In 2009, some of these cocktails were published in the German book "Molekulare Partyrezepte".
Since the opening of THE LIBERTYs Hotel, I have been on board with a small interruption as bar manager of the NEW YORK Bar. The NEW YORK Bar is my absolute favourite bar and it gives me great pleasure to mix my creations for the international hotel guests as well as the guests from Bremerhaven and the surrounding area! Although it is a fine art to serve the right drink for everyone, in the end the drink is only a means to an end. It serves as a means of communication between people who don't see each other every day.
My credo is therefore:
