The Spirits Business Review

A great friend of mine, Arno van Eijmeren was featured in the August "Summer Drinks" issues of The Spirits Business magazine. As a creative bartender and the global brand ambassador for De Kuyper in The Netherlands, he was profiled along with some of his favorite summer drinks to stir up. Here's the story:

"After high school and a few years of experience in different businesses, van Eijmeren began his career in the hospitality industry. It is obvious that his passion is in bartending and his ultimate goal is to take the bartender business to a higher level. Throughout the years, Arno has trained more than 3,000 bartenders both in The Netherlands and abroad. Next to his work as global brand ambassador for De Kuyper, Arno has started his own consultant and training company, the Che Group. He develops numerous exciting cocktail recipes for international spirit producers and is the mixologist for De Kuyper Royal Distillers.

In 2007 De Kuyper started a cooperation with Arno van Eijmeren and his company the Che Group at the opening of De Kuyper's new trainings facility De Kuyper Works!, for which Arno developed the training programme with different levels of liqueur, cocktail and bartending work shops.

Arno's favorite cocktail is the Mango Daiquiri."

Here's how you can give Arno's favorite recipe a try at home - no hard pressed experience required!

Mango Daiquiri (pictured above)
2 parts De Kuyper Mango
2 1/2 parts rum
2 parts fresh lime juice
1 part sugar syrup

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain in a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a slice of mango.

The other recipe Arno features is the Mandarin Sour, which we together had the pleasure to serve up for guests - with a few tweaks - at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans this July.

Mandarine Sour
2 parts Mandarine Napoleon
1 part fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon of Angostura Bitters
1/2 fresh egg white (optional - but I certainly prefer it!)

Shake all ingredients with ice cubes and pour into a tumbler glass. Garnish with a lemon wedge and cherry.

Cheers!
SJ