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Vintage Bacardi Ads from Casa Bacardi in Sitges, Spain

A couple weeks ago I was in Sitges, Spain for a quick visit to the Casa Bacardi. Don Facundo, founder of the company, was from Sitges.

In their little visitors' center they had a bunch of vintage ads so I thought I'd share a few of them here.

Barhopping in Barcelona

I'm in Barcelona for the first Bacardi Legacy global cocktail competition taking place tonight. If there is wireless I'll be live-tweeting the event @alcademics.

Last night I again took the opportunity to see some bars in Barcelona. We started at the Dry Martini Bar for the second night in a row. As there was a soccer game on and there are no televisions at the bar, it was mostly empty. Good for us!

  (Dry Martini Bar Barcelona)

Next up was Ohla bar at the Ohla Hotel, which is run by Max La Rocca and his business partner. Max is awesome both as a bartender and as a host, so this was a great, but quick visit. 

(The bar at Ohla.)

The menu looked wonderful and includes things like a smoked Old-Fashioned made with three spirits and three kinds of bitters. 

(Max makes a smoked triple-old fashioned.)

They also created a special menu honoring the event for which I'm in town. Naturally I went for the El Conde, made with Bacardi Superior Rum, Rubarbaro Zucca, Carpano Antica vermouth, and Cynar. Brown, bitter, and stirred? Hells to the yes.

 (Special menu for the Barcardi Legacy Cocktail Competition)

(El Conde cocktail)

We left the bar to go to Boadas and asked Max for the address. He handed us a piece of paper with the addresses of all the other  top cocktail bars in town for just this sort of question. Class act. 

Boadas is a tiny old bar with white jacketed bartenders. It is famous for a style of mixing in which they pour the drink from the shaker/strainer into another glass and back again. This aerates the drink but I don't think it made it very cold, since it spends more time in the air then it does on ice. 

(Boadas in Barcelona)

The bar was in some part of town swamped by soccer fans so the crowd was probably a little off. I had a nice and huge Gin & Tonic but we didn't stay long here.

We then stopped at the casino next to my hotel, the Hotel Des Arts, where we were out until a mere 3AM. An early night in Barcelona. 

A Dry Martini at the Dry Martini Bar in Barcelona

(A tequila shot and a Dry Martini at the Dry Martini Bar in Barcelona.)

The Dry Martini Bar is one of those places on the international cocktail scene in which you must come to worship when in town. This was my first time here. 

I loved the look of the place and all the rules of the staff: Only the most senior bartender (not necessarily the oldest) can make martinis at the bar, and only if he is not present can the next most senior person be allowed to do so. Some of the young guys working here may never get a chance. 

No time to write much now- off for a day in Sitges and Barcelona. Cheers.

(Bartenders at the Dry Martini Bar in Barcelona.)