Firas Youssef sharing his fabulous journey behind the bar

Award winning bartender Firas Youssef who’s currently managing Amelia’s Beirut Bar has achieved global recognition in the bar industry after his phenomenal recreation of the Dry martini cocktail in 2017.

He got titled Winner of the Elit Art of Martini competition in 2017, by presenting a first of its kind Lobster Martini in Beirut, Lebanon. Then he came First runner up globally in the grand Finals in Ibiza, Spain, where he presented his infamous oyster Martini.
He also judged the 2018’s edition of the Competition alongside with Professionals from the industry.

Firas originally studied film making, in the beginning of the interview he stated: “I’m a film maker by choice, a bartender by nature, graduated with a degree in film making and cinema, worked in the field quite a while to soon realize my one true calling is in the world of spirits, and the bar industry is where I truly felt home”.

“Nothing beats getting mentored by the right people, and I got lucky in this regard. It allowed me to understand the bar in full depth, way beyond simply mixing ingredients”.
He added: “As cinema is the manipulation of time and space, Mixology is the manipulation of flavors through time and space”.

He also said that the true talent in bars relies in the ability to understand what the client needs and/or want.

“I often find myself mixing flavors according to the guest’s mood; or even more, sometimes, opposing it”.
He explained: “I believe a Cocktail is an experience, an experience that can enhance your mood’s intensity, or reverse it”.

After a tour behind the bar he was asked to deliver a message of his choice to young ambitious bartenders, he said: “the greatest thing you can learn is to listen, when you listen to a guest you might learn something new and you get an insight of what he actually needs. You add value to his entire experience”.