by Yannis Valavanis

There are times when I recall moments and events from the past and I think about where I am and what I am doing now and I contrast it with the past trying to compare and reflect on how we were about thirty years ago when I started as an ignorant bartender, not only me, but the entire beverage, coffee, cigar and food industry in general. Many events and situations come to my mind that when I recall them, on the one hand, I laugh and on the other hand I cry, always from laughter.

So I remember the terrible remark of my first employer when I started as a bartender at the first club I worked when I said that I didn’t know much about drinks to be blunt, “since you know how to pour water, you’re fine”. As well as the first drinks I served to customers which were whiskey, vodka, gin and rum with soft drinks or various juices. There was no need for cocktails and various other strange products, not that they were in great demand in clubs, since the goal back then was more quantity and less quality. I specifically remember that in rum with cola or gin with tonic I can tell you that there was only Bacardi and Gordons respectively. As a result, there was a connection in our minds not of the drink as a product but the identification of the product with the label, Bacardi cola and Gordon’s tonic, that was all there was.

Over the years and with a lot of study and searching, anyone who was in the mood and wanted to get involved discovered the wide range that existed in all types of drinks but don’t think that there was as much variety as there is today. Over the years we learned about malt whiskey, premium vodkas and gin, but also the tremendous variety of different Caribbean rums in both flavors and prices. From there I went, from here I brought it to end up in the saving year of 2007 when the unexpected happened.

So invited to a presentation at the Penteliko Hotel in Kefalari, I tried the first Extra Premium rum of my life, Havana Club Maximo Extra Anejo. This is the flagship of Havana Club which is produced in only 1000 bottles per year from rare aged rums and in a bottle of handmade Baccarat crystal. Its content is of course fantastic, for me especially who prefers less sweet and harder rums it was simply ideal due to the prolonged aging of its distillates. Rich oak and fruity aromas with a tobacco and coconut finish and a distinct vanilla and chocolate aftertaste, completely unique. Of course I wouldn’t want to clip your wings but even then its price was quite high at around 1500 euros if I remember correctly which today has skyrocketed to 2500 euros. In Cuba the price is half that for whoever is lucky enough to bring it, and I don’t want any jealousy please.

The evening of course had other surprises in store for us since a good rum should always be accompanied by a good cigar. So the next surprise of the organizers was a rare Cohiba Siglo VI for the time. If it is considered that now we don’t find Habanos and they are also very expensive then they were non-existent and we paid for them even if at a quarter of their current price. This fantastic cigar is 15 cm long and has a 52-gauge ring with the classic and intense aromas of coffee and leather that accompany all the traditional Cohiba, making a difference elsewhere, no matter how strange it may seem to you. It marked the beginning of large rings on cigars, which until that time, talking about 2005, a cigar with a 52-gauge ring, no matter how strange it may sound in our time when we have reached 58-gauge, was very thick.

An amazing evening that I still remember today, amazing products that are still at the top of preferences worldwide, but most importantly for me, in a virgin market 20 years ago, my association with experts and connoisseurs of the market for these products. This is how Aficionados begin and are created.