Bloody foreigners, coming over here, mixing us great drinks! And they're stealing our ingredients, too.
Pietro Didio, the bar manager at Ozone on the 118 floor of the Ritz-Carlton and responsible for their list of re-invigorated classic cocktails, is one of a batch of experts escaping the ill economic wind blowing through Europe.
Over at 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo, Giancarlo Mancino is another Italian expat who has passed through London's trendier bars en route and mixes a mean cocktail. Geordie Willis of Berry Bros & Rudd, centuries-long purveyors of booze to their Britannic majesties, is a London exile who also thinks we have a thing or two to learn about the art of the mixing.
Apparently our bartenders are blending cheap ingredients too haphazardly and as customers we're not fussy enough to send back a lousy drink.
That might sound arrogant, but really these are just people in search of a decent beverage themselves. Didio says he has scoured every bar in Hong Kong looking for a decent Sazerac but just can't find one, which is why he taught the bar captain at Ozone how to prepare one. Full respect to anyone who can make and drink the New Orleans bourbon, absinthe and bitters combo.
A couple of these might numb you to the bar's dizzying altitude.