This week, Damian sits down with Paul Aguilar, head of R&D at Himkok in Oslo – ranked No. 4 on Europe's 50 Best Bars 2026 – to talk clean Norwegian flavours, high-volume hospitality and how a bar gets noticed in a country where you can't advertise alcohol.

A quick note: this conversation was recorded before The World's 50 Best Bars 2026 was announced. Himkok was No. 14 in the world at the time, the ranking you'll hear mentioned, and it now sits at No. 24 on the 2026 list.

Paul arrived at Himkok almost ten years ago with a degree in marketing and finance and a short-let apartment start-up behind him. He started in the bar's outdoor kitchen before taking over prep and syrups. He explains how Himkok works as several bars in one building: a table-service distillery bar, an outdoor cider bar and an upstairs draft bar that serves groups of 20 to 30 in a couple of minutes. That's 350 guests looked after by a team of around a dozen, plus a barbershop inside the bar.

The on-site distillery produces around 10,000 litres a year of gin, vodka and aquavit for the bar, for RTDs and for Norway's state-run Vinmonopolet. Paul also shares where Norwegian whisky is heading as the category agrees its rules.

On the menu, Himkok keeps things direct. Each drink is named after its main ingredient, so the apple cocktail tastes of apple. Berries, seaweed, vegetables and Norwegian produce lead the way, without fussy garnishes, and the team even competes over who can make the best drink at the lowest cost.

Because Norwegian law stops bars from promoting alcohol, Himkok tells its story through art. Paul walks through the yearly conceptual menus: a photographer, a graphic designer, a fashion show, an album with Sony, and a design-studio menu where a cherry tomato cocktail became a red chair and a raspberry drink became a lamp, all sold at a gallery during Oslo Design Week. Next up is a menu interpreted by a lead dancer from the National Ballet, performed live for around 400 guests.

In this episode:

- From marketing and finance to head of R&D at Himkok

- How one building runs three very different bars, and why the draft bar is the moneymaker

- Distilling gin, vodka and aquavit on site, and the early days of Norwegian whisky

- Why naming a drink after its main ingredient works

- Norway's drinking culture and running a bar under strict licensing

- Getting round alcohol advertising rules by collaborating with artists, designers, musicians and dancers

- Writing a business plan and budget for a cocktail menu, and paying every collaborator

- Why margins matter, and why bars shouldn't be shy about saying so

Mentioned in this episode: Himkok (Oslo), Crowbar (Oslo), Paradiso (Barcelona), Oslo Design Week.

If you enjoyed the episode, follow The Cocktail Academy wherever you listen to podcasts, leave a rating or review, and share the episode with someone who loves great bars, Scandinavian flavours and the stories behind the drinks.

Find Himkok:

- Website: himkok.no

- Instagram: @himkok.oslo

Find Damian and The Cocktail Academy:

- Instagram: @welovecocktails

- TikTok: @welovecocktailsx

- Email: sayhello@thecocktailacademy.com

- Website: www.thecocktailacademy.com

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Ian shares how he created a career championing rum around the world, his philosophy of putting the category before individual brands, and some incredible stories from more than two decades in the industry.

The conversation covers the legendary 17-year-old Wray & Nephew behind The Merchant Hotel’s £750 Mai Tai, Ian’s candid account of creating and ultimately leaving Equiano Rum, and what he learned from the experience.

Ian also reveals what’s next, including Captain Shaddock, his new grapefruit rum liqueur with Foursquare, and Crossfire Hurricane, the Jamaican rum he helped create for The Rolling Stones.

• How Ian became the Global Rum Ambassador
• Why great brand ambassadors need to champion the wider category
• The story behind the rare Wray & Nephew and £750 Mai Tai
• What happened with Equiano Rum and why Ian walked away
• Creating rum with Foursquare and The Rolling Stones

Plus, Ian looks ahead to the 20th anniversary of UK RumFest and the next chapter in his mission to spread the word about rum.

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This week on The Cocktail Academy, two conversations from Tales of the Cocktail 2026 bring together very different perspectives on tequila, bartending, representation and the stories the drinks industry chooses to remember.

First, Damian sits down with Grace González, master distiller and part of the family behind El Mayor Tequila. Grace shares her family's nearly 150-year connection to tequila, what really goes into producing El Mayor, and what it took to establish herself in an industry that hasn't always made space for women.

She explains why Blanco is the expression she reaches for to understand the true character of tequila, the importance of agave, water and the family's multi-generational yeast strain, and offers a nuanced take on the industry's increasingly heated additives debate.

Grace also shares the brilliant story of an early experiment involving 87 Chardonnay barrels that went disastrously wrong — before ultimately becoming El Mayor's first limited-edition Chardonnay-finished tequila.

Then Damian is joined by acclaimed bartender, educator and author Tiffanie Barriere, aka The Drinking Coach.

From helping establish One Flew South as one of America's most celebrated airport bars to consultancy, education and being recognised among the industry's Living Legends, Tiffanie's career has taken her across the drinks world.

But the conversation goes deeper into representation and who gets remembered in cocktail history. Tiffanie discusses her experience as a Black woman in the industry, the Black and brown bartenders whose contributions were rarely documented, and why recovering those stories matters.

It's also part of the thinking behind her book Good Spirits — bringing different people, histories and experiences onto the pages of a modern cocktail book.

Two interviews. Two very different careers. One conversation about agave, family, failure, bartending, representation and who gets written into drinks history.

• The González family's nearly 150-year connection to tequila
• How El Mayor Tequila approaches agave, water, yeast and production
• Grace's perspective on the tequila additives debate
• Becoming a female master distiller in a traditionally male-dominated industry
• How 87 Chardonnay barrels went from expensive mistake to successful limited release
• Tiffanie's journey from bartender to One Flew South, educator and consultant
• What it means to be recognised as a Living Legend at Tales
• Why representation in the drinks industry still matters
• The Black and brown bartenders missing from traditional cocktail histories
• Why Tiffanie wrote Good Spirits
• The importance of documenting the people who helped build cocktail culture

Grace González is part of the multi-generational family behind El Mayor Tequila and works as master distiller on limited editions and innovation projects.

Tiffanie Barriere is an award-winning bartender, educator, consultant and author known as The Drinking Coach. Her career includes nearly a decade at Atlanta's acclaimed One Flew South, and her book Good Spirits explores cocktails through culture, history and representation.

🎙️ The Cocktail Academy explores the people, techniques, history and stories behind the bottle and the bar.

Follow the show wherever you get your podcasts, and if you enjoy the episode, leave a rating or review and share it with someone who'll enjoy it.

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