Hyper Drinks: Angelos Bafas delivers the cocktail book of the year
Γιαννης Κοροβεσης•Articles
London has been his home for several years now, but Angelos Bafas remains one of the most talented and successful bartenders of his generation. This year he signs Hyper Drinks, a book that doesn’t just stop at 75 cocktail recipes. It manages to open a much broader conversation about the vision, the approach, and the mindset a modern bartender should have. A revelatory book, already sold out in its first print run as these lines are being written, and one that I dare say will almost certainly make the shortlists at this year’s international bar awards.
I first met Angelos nearly a decade ago. If memory serves, it was at the Monin Cup, one of the competitions where he had already begun to stand out. A promising young bartender back then—but with several years of hard-earned experience behind him, unlike today when two or three years seem enough for many to claim “manager” status—he immediately impressed with his creativity, humility, and relentless work ethic.
He didn’t stay long in Greece. A few years later he made the move to London, where his trajectory was inevitably upward: stints at SOMA, the London Hilton and later, heading up the bar programs for the Creative Restaurant Group (Nipperkin, HUMO, Niju, etc.). Somewhere along the way, deeply influenced by the Japanese school of bartending but never losing his Mediterranean temperament, he picked up the nickname “Mr Ungarnished.” A badge of honor, perhaps, reflecting his love for simplicity—in drinks, in technique, and in the unpretentious approach to hospitality itself.
The birth of Hyper Drinks by Angelos Bafas
Bafas often refers to himself as “the guy for the drinks.” But since he is far more than that, this year he decided to write a book. Hyper Drinks was published in English in a sleek, beautifully produced edition, with the full team—editor, photographer, designer—brought on board, alongside his unwavering love for the bar. He describes it as “A record of thoughts, observations, personal anecdotes and recipes made with hyper-seasonal produce and local ingredients, using hyper-simple techniques.”
The result is a book that feels both approachable and polished, modern and tested, deeply rooted in seasonality. It will tickle your brain as much as your palate, challenge the way you think about drinks, and gently provoke you to explore how many cocktails can be built with humble ingredients, while offering some truly unexpected flavor pairings.
Writing the book, he admits, wasn’t exactly “hard” but more of a challenge. Four years of research, trial and error —helped along, ironically, by the extra time the pandemic afforded— until he found the right perspective to bring recipes to life on paper. He stresses how naturally the wild botanicals of Greece “speak” to the ones he has discovered in Britain, attributing this to Greece’s extraordinary biodiversity and the vast herbal arsenal bartenders back home can draw from.
Seasonality, locality, community and business sustainability
About four years ago, Bafas realized that the way we approach drinks and bars “didn’t make much sense” if they weren’t placed on equal footing with food and restaurants. Since then, his work has been firmly anchored in local and seasonal produce, not as a passing trend but as the foundation of mindful and meaningful bartending, creating community around bars and professionals alike. At the same time, he is quick to underline a pragmatic truth: bars are also businesses, and they need profitability and a touch of sparkle. “We’re not here to save the world,” he says, “but we do our part where we can.”
When I asked how the British palate is affected by daily exposure to ingredients that, for us in Greece, feel unfamiliar, he was clear: it’s less about “educating the palate” and more about the mindset and adaptability of the bartender. Most herbs belong to larger families, which means there are always flavor parallels waiting to be found. What sets London apart, he notes, is a public more willing to place their trust in bars that push unusual, unexpected flavors. Greece, on the other hand, has long suffered from a kind of “xenomania”—a fixation with exotic ingredients—that has at times diminished both local produce and creativity.
Who would have thought, that wild garlic leaves, available for just a few weeks each year, and an ingredient I really love in food, could shine inside a cocktail? Or that ripe quince, the poor cousin of apples and pears, could, if used correctly, mimic aromatic notes reminiscent of banana? Or that unripe walnuts could work in cocktails? And have you ever heard of pineapple weed, the wild chamomile that smells uncannily of fresh pineapple?
Together with his team, he has developed ”flavor replicas” —many of which appear in the book— reproducing exotic flavors with humble local ingredients: fig leaves in place of coconut, sweet woodruff in place of tonka, and so on. ”Who said local ingredients are boring?”, he asks.
The host, not just the bartender
If he had to choose, Angelos Bafas says he feels more like a host and a floortender, than a back-bar craftsman or a manager. The joy of spending time among guests, seeing people happy and sharing stories, is for him the greatest reward. Drinks, as Gaz Regan once put it, are ”just the sidecar.”
London or New York? What does Angelos Bafas choose?
When the conversation turns to the two great cocktail metropolises, he doesn’t hesitate: New York has the edge now. “The city that never sleeps” is experiencing a renaissance, buzzing with energy and creativity, while London, in his view, has grown too safe, too repetitive.
Books to read
If a young bartender asked him for a recommendation, Angelos Bafas wouldn’t hesitate: The Curious Bartender by Tristan Stephenson, a book that helped him personally make sense of the world of modern mixology. He also points to Stan Harcinik’s Cocktail Balance 2.0 as comprehensive yet refreshingly easy to read.
Hyper Drinks may have sold out in its first run, but all signs point to a reprint soon. When it does, don’t miss it. Angelos Bafas has delivered an outstanding, forward-looking work, one that isn’t just for up-and-coming bartenders but for anyone still carrying the spark of creativity within them.
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