While the history of cocktails dates back to the dawn of time – the Minoan culture, for example, mixed beer with mead and wine three millennia ago – the origin of the modern cocktail can be traced back to the early 19th century. In 1806, a newspaper in Hudson, New York, published the first definition of a cocktail that we have: “a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters” (note the similarity to an Old Fashioned).
But we can probably agree that modern mixology began in 1998, when cocktails entered the kitchen of elBulli and the techniques used in that mythical temple of molecular cuisine began to be applied to mixology, paving the way for bartenders around the world to create new drinks. An icon from that first moment is the Frozen Hot Passion Fruit Whisky Sour, a cocktail that is both hot and cold, topped with a siphon foam and served as a welcome aperitif.
The oft-repeated reference to elBulli – there is always something to link to – is very appropriate in this case, as the founders of Sips, Marc Álvarez and Simone Caporale, were heavily influenced by the Spanish restaurant.
It is no secret that when Simone Caporale and Alex Kratena placed Artesian, the bar at the Langham Hotel in London, in first place on the World’s 50 Best Bars List for four consecutive years (2012-2015), they did so by adopting the techniques, concepts, working protocols and R&D of elBulli. This avant-garde approach was an absolute disruption to the world of cocktails, which until then had been inspired by the past, whether it was the Prohibition Era, the rise of tiki culture or any other nostalgic era. Moreover, back then mixology had not yet explored a connection with solid gastronomy.
Marc Álvarez worked alongside Albert and Ferran Adrià during the golden decade of elBarri, the culinary destination that made Barcelona a point of reference for gourmets from all over the world. Álvarez developed the liquid offerings of the state-of-the-art 41º Experience and each of Albert Adrià’s restaurants, adapting recipes to very different culinary offerings: Japanese at Pakta, Mexican at Niño Viejo and Hoja Santa, traditional tapas at Bodega 1900, avant-garde tapas at Tickets, and experimental haute cuisine at the first Enigma. At that time, Álvarez took his mastery of the most advanced techniques of molecular cuisine applied to cocktails to a new level.
In 2021, anyone following the evolution of the two titans of mixology, Marc and Simone, and reading the news that they had teamed up to open a bar, SIPS, in Barcelona, could have guessed that it was going to be something big, as it turned out. In just two years, the first version of SIPS managed to reach the number one spot in the list of the 50 best bars in the world with a minimalist drinks list, although with some concessions to the dramatics of the tableware. Examples include Primordial, a drink of whisky, Ruby Port and Nashi pear with a hint of cocoa, served in sculptural metal hands which remind of the first tool used to drink, or Krypta, a cocktail served in an olfactory dome to stimulate the sense of smell as well as taste.
In the minimalist style that governs SIPS’ aesthetics, there is the Negroni flavored with bergamot. Without any decoration, it’s served with a spherical ice cube covered with an orange sheet of cocoa butter – reminiscent of an… orange – to avoid uncontrolled dilution in the mixture of vermouth, Campari and gin. It is not a whimsical technical gesture, but the bartender’s way of ensuring that you drink a Negroni exactly the same way – with the same amount of water, adjusted in the mixing glass – from the first sip to the last. Brilliant.
That first SIPS was born with a slogan, Drinkery House, which for a long time went unnoticed or seemed less important than it is today, four years after opening, when SIPS is no longer just the space facing the street. Today, SIPS is also home to ESENCIA, a space within the bar where the first ever liquid omakase tasting menu is served.
SIPS ESENCIA opened in 2024, although Marc Álvarez had been developing the project since at least 2019. Even then, he was planning a liquid tasting menu of small drinks arranged in sequences – an ambitious concept inspired by sophisticated fine dining restaurants. The proposal was – and still is, now that it has become a reality – risky because it proposes a new way of experiencing what a cocktail bar has to offer. At SIPS ESENCIA, guests do not order drinks from a menu imbued with a hedonistic spirit, but in the purest omakase style, put themselves in the hands of the team of bartenders to live a narrative and reflective experience through the drink. Imagine what the tasting menu of the world’s most creative restaurant might be like, transformed into small sips? A revolution in the bar business.
The SIPS ESENCIA menu, offered in a separate room from the SIPS Drinkery House – I won’t tell you how, it’s too much fun – begins with a sequence called Tokyo, consisting of two drinks inspired by the delicate, harmonious and velvety flavors of Japan. It continues with Neu, another pair of small drinks that focus on the importance of ice – Neu means snow in Catalan – in a play on textures – powder and plaque – that we can find in nature.
Next comes Oxid, a sequence dedicated to sherry wines that includes one of the most daring drinks on the menu, the second, which could obey the culinary mantra of “product, product, product!” so often used by chefs from the solid world. The fourth course on the menu, called Folic, is a nod to the acid in tomatoes and the Bloody Mary, and introduces a shift – lots of umami – that prepares the palate for the final pair of drinks, the dessert sequence. This takes its name from theobromine, the popular aromatic molecule found in cocoa, and ends with a memorable liquid version of the Black Forest, which brings the menu to a close.
All this is presented with an essential aesthetic, in carefully chosen containers – miniaturized highball glasses, Bordeaux glasses, bowls, modified Petri dishes… – selected to enhance each drink, along with precise explanations from bartenders who prepare each cocktail in front of the guest. The interior design and music play a significant role in enhancing the overall experience.
Four years after opening SIPS Drinkery House, the à la carte bar has just introduced a new drinks menu, which retains some already iconic drinks, such as Krypta or Mil Fulls, a sweet and vanilla-scented cocktail inspired by Crema Catalana, a typical Catalan dessert related to crème brûlée, where the ice is presented in a dozen slices stacked like a pastry millefeuille, hence the name. Other outstanding drinks are Banana Revenge, a rum, coffee and banana drink that is pure Caribbean; Tommy’s, with tequila, vodka, strawberry, yellow chile and lime; and the latest version of Compressed, a sweetish ode to Jerez.
As for SIPS ESENCIA, it will offer a slightly longer and more complete version of the current menu, including two more sips and reaching fifteen small sips.
Now think of the first Minoan concoctions, the almost Old Fashioned of 1806, about elBulli cocktails… could it be that we are looking at another great chapter in the history of mixology? One that puts cocktail bars on equal footing with the world’s best restaurants by adopting the tasting menu structure to express itself through liquid? I think so, but time will tell, one sip at a time.
SIPS
C/ de Muntaner, 108, Barcelona.
www.sips.barcelona
