Jazz and cocktails

In a way, the situation is eerily similar. In January, a hundred years ago, it suddenly became illegal to go out drinking in the US. 100 years and two months later, we found our way into a near comparable situation, due to the lockdowns as a result of the pandemic. During prohibition, jazz and cocktails were all the rage, and now jazz and cocktails are what we’re directing our spotlight towards in this issue.

Stockholm Jazz Festival, a cultural institution in Stockholm originally established in 1980, returns and offers us some welcome live music entertainment. Granted, this year’s edition looks a bit different of course but the main thing is that it’s going ahead. We speak to festival director Eric Birath about the ups and downs and the final programme on offer.

As for the cocktails, the city’s premier bars are also struggling with the new normal. We tracked down Emil Åreng, the creative force behind the counter at Grand Hotel’s Cadier Bar. Emil is, according to the whisky brand Mackmyra, Sweden’s premier cocktail connoisseur, and some would call him our best bartender. His cocktail roadtrip book was even named the World’s Cocktail Book of the Year a couple of years back.

A few things can happen when you encounter someone dubbed Sweden’s premier cocktail connoisseur. The correct choice is to have him make you some astonishingly tasty cocktails of course, but that we didn’t. Luckily, neither did we venture into the bewildering concoction of myth, legend and misinformation that you fall into when trying to entangle the origins of any given cocktail. What we did instead, was talk about the current situation, the bar industry and his new book, which is a quest for the perfect dry martini (for you). And of course we asked him how exactly he likes his whisky.

So jazz and cocktails. Here’s hoping your own October will consist of some of the same ingredients.