Mixologist Sam Jeveons has shaken things up for some of the biggest A-listers internationally

If your idea of bartenders stem from the famed Tom Cruise flick ‘Cocktail’, discard all you know. “It was a good way of publicising the profession but it’s not reality at all,” says celebrated British mixologist, Sam Jeveons. “And unfortunately it brings with it a mass preconception of what cocktails should be – everybody thinks I should juggle and flare and spin, and you know what, I don’t do any of that,” he states with a shrug.

Recently in India to judge the local chapter of the Belvedere Bartending Competition, back home in London, Sam has shaken & stirred things up for the rich and famous. Recalling his encounter with Pamela Lee Anderson, Sam says, “Pamela was at one of the bars that I helped run in London called Milk and Honey. It is a private members bar with other members being people like Kevin Spacey and Johnny Depp, so it’s sort of high-end. And she actually came in on my colleague’s birthday…though I got the bum deal – as I was fixing her a drink, he got a kiss,” he says, laughing.

And while this cocktail king has tippled over several other celebrities including Richard Branson and Jodie Kidd, Sam recalls the private party for Kate Moss as one wicked night. “Yeah, I did something for Kate Moss; she’s a total party girl. It was one of those parties that was supposed to finish at midnight, but at eight o’clock the next morning they were still going.”

With such an enviable fan following, ask Sam what makes up a good bartender? “The difference between a normal bartender and a great bartender is the interaction with the customer,” he says. “They are hosts, entertainers, well-trained, educated…to a degree, it’s like a professional escort. You give people ‘the experience’,” explains Sam, who was studying Russian politics, history and English in college before his maverick detour.

As for his favourite hangover cure, “Just keep on drinking,” he laughs, signing off.

d_farhad@dnaindia.net