Q&A With Pippa Guy, Senior Bartender at the World’s Best Bar, Ahead of Aug 24-25 Guest Shift

For 128 years, the American Bar at The Savoy Hotel in London, England has been a magnet for cocktail lovers and history buffs alike. But despite its storied history – be it Ada Coleman's trailblazing tenure as a female bartender there in the 1920s, or the invention of the renowned Hanky Panky cocktail, which the staff still whips up for throngs of eager visitors to this day – the American Bar is by no means stuffy or overly nostalgic. Instead, the elegant lounge secured the coveted top spot on the World's 50 Best Bars list in 2017, thanks to its innovative menu which drew on offbeat London landmarks for inspiration.

The then head bartender Erik Lorincz have since moved on, but the promising current team is headed up by bar supervisor Alice Glayzer and Pippa Guy (pictured above). Guy is the American Bar’s first senior female bartender in over 100 years, and will soon be joined by new head bartender Maxim Schulte, who will be starting at the end of August. Ahead of Guy and Glayzer’s Aug 24-25 guest shift at Beijing’s Equis Bar, the senior bartender told us about building on Coleman’s pioneering legacy, how the American snagged the title of World’s Best Bar, and what Beijing barflies can expect at their Equis visit.

What cocktails from American Bar will you be mixing up for Beijing fans at Equis, and can you tell me about some of the inspirations for these drinks?
What we really want to bring to Beijing is the chance for people to experience the American Bar for themselves without a trip to London. We've purposefully kept the offerings focused around our current menu for 2018: "Every moment tells a story," based on our collection of Terry O'Neil photographs that line the walls of The American Bar. Of course we will be making Hanky Pankys as well, and other concoctions created especially for this trip!

You’re the first senior female bartender here in over 100 years. How does it feel to build on Ada Coleman's legacy in terms of being trailblazing females?
I love my job today the same way I have for the past three years, and inside of work very little has changed day to day. What's been truly overwhelming is the amount of love and support I have received in the last year, which makes me more determined to push myself and the bar I love more and more. It's also given me some awesome opportunities to connect and make friends with other females in hospitality all over the globe, to build a support network. We're super excited, and a touch nervous, for next week as it'll be the first trip to China for both of us. But we look forward to a huge learning curve and to meet many new friends!

Why do you think the American Bar topped the World's Best Bars list in 2017?
The American Bar is steeped in tradition, with each generation learning a little more from those that came before them. The team is a collection of each very different characters, all hardworking and good-humored. I think the bond we have, and the way Declan and Erik have molded us to function as a unit, is unique. I think Declan summed it up best when he said, "No one ever gets to call themselves the world's best bar, we just get the privilege of carrying the plate for a while."

How does it feel to be working at a bar with such an amazing history?
I was petrified my first day at the American Bar. I remember feeling very on show like being on stage, which has always been something I've struggled with. Alice was my trainer and she did an amazing job making me feel welcomed and loved and at home. I think it's my favorite quality of many that Alice brings to the team is her role of "Mum." Although it’s challenging at times to look after the 20 "kids," she really takes care of the ins and outs of each member of the teams' wellbeing and that's something that goes above and beyond her call of duty, so to speak, but really holds true to what we all do in hospitality.

I've been incredibly privileged to watch the bar grow and achieve so much in the last few years. And I guess a big part of that has been the growing it has forced me to do also as a person. It has at times pushed me massively outside of my comfort zone, but that's how we learn and how we grow and I love the bar all the more for challenging me in that way.

What muses or innovations might you use next to try and stay at the top of the 50 Best Bars list?
It's important to all of us to hold our history in the light whilst looking forward at where we can go to next to enhance our guests' experiences, which is one of the subjects we will go into more detail on at our Beijing seminar this week. Declan [McGurk, former American Bar manager] and Erik [Lorincz, former head bartender] made a dynamic duo that have pushed the bar to an amazing place, but its only natural that things change and people move on, and we now get to look forward to welcoming a new chapter of the American Bar under our next head bartender Maxim Schulte, starting at the end of August.

The American Bar guest shift will be held at Equis Aug 24-25. For more information, click here.

Photos: thetimes.co.uk, CNN, courtesy of Equis