GRIOTS REPUBLIC - AN URBAN BLACK TRAVEL MAG - DECEMBER 2016

sador & Drink Magazine Asia Business
Development Manager and owner of
Tailor Bar. Also, Texas-born Yao Lu,
currently the co-owner and bartender
of The Union Trading Company, a
bar that has already been placed #9 in
the Asia’s 50 Best Bars in 2016. Sam
Kuan, owner at Barules Cocktail Club,
has also crafted a special display at Barules
that embraces and educates patrons
on the historical heritage of the
cocktail industry. Another notable is
Puerto Rican native, Macarena Rotger,
Bar manager at Shangri-La Hotels and
Resorts. He arrived in China earlier this
year but wasted no time in creating an
exquisite high end hotel bar program
that is second to none. These trail blazing
taste making pioneers are unapologetically
at the forefront of a tremendous
movement in many different ways,
but all with one goal in mind, to make it
known that “Shanghai is absolutely China’s
top cocktail city right now.” “The
amount of talent, passion and support
here is bar none compared to other cities
in the country,” said Yao.
Shanghai’s cocktail
culture isn’t growing,
it can be seen as more
of an explosion of new
talent and tastes the
likes the world has
never seen.
The shanghai cocktail industry and its
enthusiasts are taking note as fine quality
bar experiences are becoming much
easier to find in this large city. At the
start of this movement there were only
a few craft cocktail bars around for patrons
to go to, but today you can easily
find at least 20 quality bars in Shanghai;
some are run by Master mixologists/
bartenders and worldwide bartending
champions. One can only appreciate
this transition and watch with awe as
the culture replicates, adopts and manifests
its own path, expanding to match
the limitless imagination of the people
creating it.
Bruce Blue Rivera, The Urban Mixologist is an
accomplished Mixologist with over 16 years
of bartending, wine and spirits Experience.
Boasting an impressive resume that’s spans
across 15 countries with many award winning
cocktail recipes to his credit. Bruce “Blue “
Rivera teaches the History and cultural application
of bartending and has been featured
on Spike TV’s Bar Rescue and the Wendy Williams
Show to name a few. To learn More
about The Urban Mixologist Check out www.
TheUrbanMixologist.com