A Global Cocktail Perspective

Cocktail culture started in America, and it's easy to think that the United States is still the epicenter of that world—think about iconic drinks like the classic New Orleans Sazerac, New York's sophisticated Martini, and the Tex-Mex must-have, the Margarita, and you can sketch in a boozy map from sea to on-the-rocks sea. In a globalizing society, though, what's quintessentially American one day can be a worldwide fad the next.

Marketer, connoisseur, and cocktail educator Caesario de Medeiros, based in Lagos, Nigeria, and also working in Accra, Ghana, and Abidjan, Ivory Coast, is at the forefront of West Africa's young but burgeoning cocktail industry; he's among the movement's first entrepreneurs and is developing a reality show about bartenders in West Africa, The Barman TV. He's visiting New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail, July 18—23. We asked him a few questions about the cocktails of his continent and the culture's relationship to what's being sipped, shot, and sloshed in the United States:

How would you describe the state of cocktail culture in West Africa?

The cocktail culture in West Africa is still at a growth stage and is about eight years old. Development is currently driven by big spirit companies like Bacardi and Diageo [producer of Smirnoff, Johnny Walker, Baileys, and Guinness] through sponsored bartending training programs, but they fall short in depth, so independent programs like The Barman TV are trying to raise respect for the craft alongside skills development, with the hope that the lure of fame and fortune will attract more recruits to the bars. Consumers are very well travelled and demand the highest standards, so there is a huge demand for top-notch service.

What are the trends in West African cocktail culture now? 

West African cocktail tastes started out with a preference for sweeter tiki-style drinks, but now consumers are starting to demand more boozy and bitter options. In the last three years, there has been an explosion in the bitters category, and a lot of local producers are churning out herbal bitters. The biggest trend at the moment is the inclusion of indigenous African fruits and botanicals in cocktails and bitters. We have a massive traditional bitters culture made from tree bark infusions; we are trying to drive this into a few bar programs and turn them into flavoring bitters as well. There is also a significantly high consumption of premium spirits (XO Cognac) and sparkling wine, with a preference for rosé over brut. Distributors unofficially confirm that Nigeria is Moet & Chandon's biggest consumer of their rosé variant.

[You might like: A recipe for Baron Samedi, from Jeff "Beach Bum" Berry.]

The biggest trend at the moment is the inclusion of indigenous African fruits and botanicals in cocktails and bitters. We have a massive traditional bitters culture made from tree bark infusions, we are trying to drive this into a few bar programs and turn them into flavoring bitters as well. 

What do you see as significant differences between the cocktail cultures of West Africa and the United States? 

Cocktail culture in the US varies from state to state with Boston, New York City, and New Orleans probably being the best examples I have seen of educated consumers and operators. The same is the case in West Africa; the big cities host more returnees, ex-pats, and global travelers who demand for a higher quality bar experience, so places like Lagos in Nigeria, Accra in Ghana, Abidjan in Ivory Coast, and Dakar in Senegal. These are the busiest cities in sub-continental West Africa.

The biggest trend at the moment is the inclusion of indigenous African fruits and botanicals in cocktails and bitters. 

In terms of differences, I think the West Africa consumer is a larger bottle consumer than a by-the-glass consumer; this plays out in their preference for ordering punches, pitchers, or cocktails to share. Guests demand VIP service and prefer to sit at a tables as opposed to standing at a bar; this reduces or completely eliminates bartender-guest interaction which is an essential element of the bar experience, in my opinion.

[Read this: “It’s not my job to give you what you want,” insists chef-bartender George Krause, “it’s to give you what you need.” ]

Has the existing cultural connection between the Southern United States and West Africa contributed to the culture or any similarities? 

The taste and palates are very similar, but the connection probably comes more from migration over the years than an actual connection to what is currently going on in both markets. Just like in Salvador [a city in Brazil with particularly strong Afro-Brazilian culture] and most of Brazil, most of the food and drink flavors, and even names, are exactly the same as they are in West Africa for the same reason.