A SPECIAL TAILORED EVENING...

A menu cut to measure, stitched in flavour, pressed into memory. 🪡

As a consultancy, beyond the broader beverage world, we design drinks and occasionally bring them to life through guest shifts and menu launch projects.

This time, however, the brief was different.
We were not asked to build a bar experience — we were invited to shape a memory.

The occasion was a birthday, an important personal milestone, and the intention was to offer a gift that could exist only once, for one person, on one evening.

Her appreciation for well-crafted drinks and genuine love for cocktails immediately suggested direction, but the true narrative came from somewhere else entirely: her greatest passion — and profession — fashion.

So we quite literally tailored the cocktail menu to her, as one would construct a garment.

The concept developed around the atmosphere of a working atelier. Instead of a traditional drinks list, guests encountered a sartorial mood-board: pinned elements, technical annotations, and a language borrowed from pattern-making and garment construction. Each cocktail became a phase — a cut, a stitch, a fitting, a press — part of a process rather than a sequence.

Being Italian, and with many guests sharing the same background, recognisability remained essential. Working outside a fully equipped bar reinforced the same philosophy: experimentation should invite curiosity, not create distance. Classics were therefore preserved, but adjusted — structured differently, detailed carefully, finished with intention.

The result was a collection of drinks that felt familiar yet singular: tailored rather than reinvented, expressive without excess.

Elegant, composed, and personal.

Like a little black dress

made only once, for the person who wears it

ATELIER PRIVATO

Tailoring notes · Private commission · Form exists before naming

Before entering the individual drinks, the structure itself needed to be defined.

The cocktails were served following a pattern — and this was intentional for several reasons.

First, to preserve the narrative, the evening had to unfold like a construction process, not like an open bar list.

Second, to guide the palate. Guests would begin with aperitivo-style drinks, move gradually toward deeper and more structured flavours, and eventually arrive at softer, sweeter and coffee-based preparations — a natural progression, especially considering a buffet dinner accompanied the evening.

The third reason was, quite simply, technical.

The bar existed outdoors, without a sink, without shelves, and without the comfort of a fully equipped station, while still receiving a large number of guests. Serving in stages — in blocks, with a bit of flexibility — was not only coherent with the concept, it was also the most efficient and respectful way to guarantee quality in every glass.

Another deliberate decision was made: no wine service.

Not because we don’t appreciate it — quite the opposite — but wine and beer have a tendency to quietly divert attention away from cocktails. After building a menu so specifically conceived, it felt important that the drinks remained the focus of the evening.
The pressure increased, but so did the clarity of the experience.

And so the construction began.

🪡

CARTAMODELLO DI SPRITZ

Pattern Draft Spritz

A classic draft, drawn with intention.

Amaro leggero · note di aloe vera · aroma al pepe rosa · freschezza strutturata

Light bitterness · aloe vera notes · pink peppercorn mist · structured freshness

🧵

NEGRONI A TAGLIO SBIECO

Bias Cut Negroni

The structure remains, the direction shifts.

Melograno · amaro morbido · erbe leggere · profondità elegante

Pomegranate · soft bitterness · light herbs · elegant depth

👗

IMBASTITURA AL MARTINI

Basting Martini

Nothing is fixed yet — the shape is only suggested.

Pera · fiori delicati · aroma effimero · equilibrio temporaneo

Pear · delicate florals · ephemeral aroma · temporary balance

👘

CUCITURA STRUTTURALE

Structural Seam

The garment holds — invisible tension gives form.

Tequila · uva rossa · agrumi chiari · riflessi minerali

Tequila · red grape · clear citrus · mineral reflections

💃

PRESSATURA FINALE ESPRESSA

Final Pressing

Heat, pressure, and time — the line is set.

Caffè · fiori d’arancio · pistacchio salato · chiusura morbida

Coffee · orange blossom · salted pistachio · soft closure

 🪡

By the end of the night the menu had disappeared piece by piece — not all at once, but gradually, as garments leave the fitting room one after another.

What remained was not a sequence of drinks, but a progression: an opening, an adjustment, a structure, a finish. Guests rarely spoke about individual recipes; instead, they remembered moments — the first sip, the surprise of an aroma, the pause before the last coffee.

Working outside a conventional bar forced practical decisions, yet those limits quietly shaped the experience. Serving in stages slowed the rhythm, the absence of wine kept attention focused, and the small imperfections of a temporary setup made the evening feel closer to a private atelier than to a service counter.

In the end, the goal was never to impress with technique, but to translate a person into a language we understand — flavour, balance, and timing.

For one night, the bar did not present a menu.
It presented a measure.

And like any garment made to measure, it existed only for the one it was made for.

🪡