Ms. Bachert, the “Bar Convent Berlin” begins in Berlin on Monday. As a Berlin-based company, you have a home game with Thomas Henry. What is the most important trend in the scene this year?
I think the most important thing is that the bar scene can meet again this year.
After two years of Corona and countless online meetings, tutorials and Instagram stories, we meet again or maybe for the first time in person.
Is Berlin still the pinnacle of the German bar scene?
The Berlin bar scene is a scene of its own that thrives on international influences, so it also reflects the city somewhere.
But I would only partially see Berlin as trend-setting for the bar scene.
An interested bartender will certainly be inspired by bars in Berlin, but also in New York, Singapore or Milan.
German bars that impressed me recently were "Jigger & Spoon" in Stuttgart and "Das Schwarze Schaf" in Bamberg.
Let's talk about Thomas Henry: Who came up with the idea of making tonic water in Berlin twelve years ago? It's a British specialty.
Sebastian Brack and Norman Sievert founded the brand.
At some point in the mid-2000s, you came up with the idea of producing your own tonic water, because basically there was only Schweppes in Germany and you simply didn't have a choice, either as a bartender or as a consumer.
The English Fever Tree, which came onto the market five years before Thomas Henry, was not yet available in this country, so the two started making their own tonic - according to the motto: Where there is a brand, it can also give two.
Today Thomas Henry, Fever-Tree and Schweppes are the big three brands in Germany.
Yes, but there are also a number of smaller producers such as Goldberg or Aqua Monaco - and now also private labels from all retailers.
Did the two Thomas Henry founders react to the beginning gin boom with their tonic? That was also a gin and tonic boom.
Yes, it definitely has something to do with that.
But that's only part of the truth.
The other is the beginning of the German bar revolution here in Berlin, in the course of which “Mixology” was founded here in 2009, the first and most important bar magazine in Germany.
Was there no bar culture in Germany before?
Not in the Anglo-Saxon sense.
Until the 1990s, classic cocktail bars were only found in hotels.
A few exceptions were, for example, the "Pusser's" in Munich or the "Rum Trader" in Berlin.
Otherwise, the Germans didn't go to a bar, but to pubs and wine taverns.
Anyone who wanted to drink hard things stuck to Korn and Whisky-Cola.
But that has nothing to do with what we call bar culture today.
Bar culture is not only the perfect drink but also the experience that you have as a guest in a bar.
The bartender who serves the guest courteously, the design of a bar, going out in the evening and meeting people, all that is bar culture.
Today there is a really large bar community made up of bar professionals who are closely networked and meet at the "Convent", for example.
Have we Germans learned anything in the meantime?
Well, it's evolving more and more.
I have often seen that a gin and tonic or another long drink or cocktail is offered as an accompaniment to a meal instead of wine and beer.
But it's a long way, and the classic aperitif culture like in Italy will certainly never be as pronounced here.
What is the difference between a tonic and a lemonade?