Taking after his illustrious bartending predecessors such as Ada Coleman, creator of the “Hanky-Panky,” and Harry Craddock, creator of the “White Lady,” the 31-year-old, Slovakia-born Erik Lorincz took the reins as the head bartender of the world-renown American Bar for the October 10, 2010 reopening of The Savoy, the iconic London hotel, after its three year, multi-million dollar restoration.

Unlike those who take it up as a side job, bartending is in Lorincz’s blood. His grandmother, a talented herbalist, taught him how to concoct his own tinctures (solutions of alcohol) and prepare teas at an early age. As a teenager, a Prague cocktail competition magazine advertisement of a bartender posing with a cocktail shaker caught Lorincz’s eye and, within a year’s time, Lorincz relocated to Prague to be schooled in the art and skill of mixology.

After Lorincz bartended in his home country’s capital Bratislava, he traversed the continent to the United Kingdom to learn English. When he abandoned his post as a bar manager, Lorincz fell in the ranks to barback at the renown London Soho club, the Attica, doing menial tasks like collecting glasses, emptying ashtrays and sweeping the floor. Soon thereafter, while working at a Japanese restaurant, he took an interest in the Japanese methods of mixology so he uprooted himself yet again to be mentored by the famous Kazuo Uyeda, author of Cocktail Techniques, in Japan.

He is credited for penning the introduction of and contributing drink recipes to the newest edition of what has often been called the “bartender’s bible,” The Savoy Cocktail Book—due out June or July of 2011. Last year, he out-mixed, out-stirred and out-shook 9,000 bartenders from around the world, winning the five-day Diageo Reserve World Class competition. Lorincz is heralded as the Best Bartender in the World. And rightfully so.

– Jen Verzosa

WHITE LADY
50mL gin
25mL Cointreau
25mL lemon juice
Dash of egg white
Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker, shake well and strain into a martini glass.