Stories and drinks all the way from Albania

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DRINKS by Sofokli Cali. — SCREENSHOT FROM THE PENINSULA MANILA FACEBOOK PAGE

QUICK — how many Albanians do you know? Thanks to its unstable politics and its history of isolation, probably not many. During a bar takeover at The Peninsula Manila’s The Bar on Oct. 3, we met an Albanian bartender who taught us not only the finer points of a drink, but also a little bit about karma and open borders.

Sofokli Cali is the owner and bartender at Nouvelle Vague in the Albanian Capital of Tirana. The bar was No. 95 on the World’s 50 Best Bars List, and was No. 86 the year before. He took four drink recipes to The Pen, quite good, but all of them telling a story.

For example, there was the English Climber, made with Eden Mill Original Gin, mountain tea, barley, honey, lemon, and sparkling water. Mr. Cali told BusinessWorld, “We have many ingredients which represent us. We have herbs, we have fruits — but mostly I would say that we have heritage.”

The drink, with a hint of bread from the barley and a bittersweet character, stems from food Albanians ate during the Communist Regime which began in 1946, falling only in 1992. “Because they were very poor, for breakfast and for dinner, they would have a piece of bread, mountain tea, with a little bit of sugar and lemon,” he said.

“For us, it’s important to translate this into a fine drink concept,” he said. “We want to not forget the past. We want to represent our country, for the tourists that come — but also for the new generations. It’s not good to forget where we came from and what our parents and grandparents have suffered.”

Through this lens, we began to see the drink menu quite differently. He had the Barbie (Eden Mill White Wine Cask Gin, forest fruits, coconut oils, rue berry, and sparkling water). The drink, deviating from the Pornstar Martini, removes the passionfruit and its accompanying tropical notes and replaces them with fruits found in Albania — this then reads as aspirational, as if the fruits of Albania are at par with whatever else the globe can produce. It was still delightfully fruity though, and we can imagine sipping this on the beach.

He had the Nou Fashion (Eden Mill Bourbon Cask Single Malt Scotch, ginger, lime, blended vermouth, bitters) the name deriving from their bar in Albania. It’s one of their signatures and derives from the Old Fashioned — it tastes like a photorealistic bitter orange.

His final drink, the Deviated Negroni (Eden Mill Red Wine Cask Gin, fortified Kallmet, bitters) once again takes from Albania’s history: it’s symbolic of their relationship with Italy, one that is bittersweet. In various stages of history, Italy has both provided and withdrawn support for Albania, and at one point they even shared a king — after Albania’s was deposed. Albania asserts itself here with local grape variety Kallmet, resulting in a lighter, more refreshing take on the Negroni.

Mr. Cali talked about the increasing number of tourists in Albania, and how that is changing the country’s landscape. “Karma never forgets. We suffered for 46 years. We were isolated, we suffered the civil war, immigration, poverty. Now, karma is paying us off. The world has started to know about Albania.”

More than the economic gains from tourism, he said, “Also for the people, for interaction. Due to isolation, for us, it’s very important to interact with foreigners, of different races. We need that to develop our brain and our fantasy.”

He himself was a migrant, growing up in Greece, which took in many Albanians in several waves of migration; only going back to Albania to finish university. He studied interior and furniture design, but, “The hospitality industry was grabbing me by my long hair.” To him, hospitality is more than service: “Hospitality is making other people happy.”

And stories make other people happy, we suppose. “As much as taste in the drink is important, as much important is the storytelling,” he said.

“You create a fantasy. It’s like watching a movie.” — Joseph L. Garcia