Liam Grogan seems to have as much fun presenting his finished drinks as he does experimenting with their recipes – and that inventive enthusiasm has now been recognised with the award of the Scottish hospitality sector’s top cocktail title, the SLTN Mixologist of the Year.
Presented in association with Absolut vodka and Barnomadics, the award is intended to recognise the bartender who displays the best overall knowledge of the premium spirits category and demonstrates innovation and creativity when making cocktails.
Liam does all that and more, as part of the team at The Absent Ear, a Glasgow cocktail bar as wilfully eccentric and boundary-breaking as the artist from which it draws its inspiration, Vincent Van Gogh.
Described by the award’s judges as a confident mixologist with his finger squarely on the pulse of drinks trends, Liam, as well as being one of several contributors to The Absent Ear’s main cocktail list, also presides over the bar’s Try & Test list – a selection of experimental drinks that changes every week.
“I am absolutely delighted to receive the award for mixologist of the year – it caps off what has been a determined 12 months of hard work at The Absent Ear and feels like a great end to this particular chapter,” said Liam.
“It’s been wonderful to see and feel Glasgow’s drinks community re-establish itself and grow even further after a tough few years, and I’m glad one of the Glaswegian contenders managed to bring this award back to its rightful home!
Paying tribute to his bar, Liam continued: “The Absent Ear is defined by its creativity and allowing the freedom we need to be as creative as possible has very much moulded the bar into what it is today, so it’s been the perfect space for me to challenge myself and develop drinks that fit both my own vision of the style I enjoy creating and also fitting the ‘maximalist’ tag we pride ourselves in at the bar.
“The biggest contributor to winning this award is definitely having spent an entire year surrounded by a mix of wondrously talented bartenders, servers and friends, who have all contributed in creating an environment where we all push each other, and I am happy that my recognition is a direct result of this.
“I can’t wait to get to work living up to the previous recipients of this wonderful accolade – it’s a constant reminder of the hard work that has been put into establishing Scotland on the cocktail map, and I hope to add my own stamp to this too. Slainte!”
Runners-up for the 2022 title were Josh Ramsay, of East Finch, in Edinburgh, a veteran bartender with experience in Scotland and overseas, who launched his own cocktail bar in late 2021, with drinks designed to have a sense of fun; and Liam Scott, of The Ubiquitous Chip, Glasgow, who has presided over the famed restaurant’s growing reputation for cocktails, with a bit of a ‘mad professor’ vibe to the drinks list, as pushing boundaries is very much part of his mission.
