Hardeep Singh Rehal & the Copenhagen bar scene

The food capital of Europe is getting spillover into the cocktail world. Sharlafied learns how this little city has become the go-to for bars as much as for food.

Why don't you introduce yourself?

My name is Hardeep Singh Rehal. I am of Indian heritage, but I moved to Copenhagen when I was about four.

What was your first experience working in a bar?

Ok, so, a quick history. I used to be a professional contemporary dancer, and then got quite serious -I started doing choreography and teaching classes and then popping up with artists as a backup dancer here and there, but all of a sudden, in 2000- 2003, the trend changed drastically. All the artists wanted break dancers. And that meant that I got less and less jobs, I got fewer clients, fewer students, and right then I said, Alright, let's just have some fun with it. So I started putting together shows in nightclubs.

That's a roundabout way to get into the business!

Exactly. So as I was doing these shows in the nightclubs, I got introduced to the bar team in various places. One night a really good friend of mine just called me up and said, We got a sick call in the bar, can you help us out, it's very easy. A click system, pouring pints, serving sodas, super simple. So I said, Sure I can do that. I took the shift, and now here am 17 years later. That was my gateway into the bar business.

When did you take on your first bar project?

I started in the club world, and then slowly, I moved in to cocktail bars. I travelled around Europe working in various cities but somehow I found my way back to Copenhagen. There, I applied to a 5 star hotel called St. Petri. They used to be 5 star, but has changed a bit over the time. Back then, they had a cocktail bar and they were 1 amongst very few places doing serious cocktails. And that's how I got introduced to spirits that have more to offer than what I had been using in the clubs. We used fresh fruits and there was actually some craft behind the cocktail it. All this happened while I was simultaneously studying to become an engineer.

All of a sudden these two worlds collide: I was thinking, Oh, there's more to the drinks world and I can actually apply what I am studying to behind the scenes at the bar. So that kind of got me pulled into the world.

A scientific approach.

Yeah, it's a process based on engineering, breaking things down into groups and then solving a problem in a systematic way. It was easy for me to open a cocktail book and understand the chemistry and mechanics behind it.

I became a full-fledged bartender there; after five or six years I was hired as an assistant bar manager at another hotel bar called hotel27, and that was my stepping stone to eventually becoming a bar manager, at a bar called 1105, which was kind of the first speakeasy bar in Copenhagen.

Is that bar still around?

It is but it has changed a bit. It's not the same as it was in those seven years, when it was one of the catalysts of the Copenhagen bar scene alongside Ruby, which was a little bit before us. We were  like two catalysts to really change the trajectory of the Copenhagen bar scene. So I did that and that was a great success. After that, I figured out that we had created some sort of monster. It changed the bar scene a bit. Everything became very serious. Everybody was doing kind of the same thing. People were afraid to order the wrong booze and people at the bar were told off. So I thought, we’ve done an over correction here to make a point. I wanted to get back on course. In 2015 I opened my current bar Blume, which is a combination of the cocktail world and the club world. There’s the cocktail bar in the front and the club in the back, so you can you still have high quality cocktails, but there is room in the back to party. There's room to flirt, to dance to mingle with people and to be a bit louder. It’s not this super quiet place. It kind of closes the gap.

To maintain the geekiness I opened a company called Cocktail Solutions in 2014 where I do R&D in and outside the bar, collaborating with companies across different industries where I truly get to utilize my scientific background.

So Blume is yours.

I'm a partner there.

So that was your first time that you are THE boss.

Right, financially involved as well.

So, what would you do differently if you were to Blume today knowing what you know now.

Well, I think concept wise, it would actually be stronger if it opened up now instead of in 2015.

You were ahead of your time.

I don't necessarily think I was ahead of my time but it took people a while to understand that you can actually have the best of both worlds. We had people only coming into the cocktail bar and then we had some people only coming in for the party. It actually took us a solid year and a half to solidify the concepts-- to show that you can actually have the best of both worlds. So I think now we would actually have a better start than I would have had in 2015.

Everyone knows about Noma and the whole culinary scene. So why do you think Copenhagen has become a creative mecca for food and then maybe cocktails, branching off from that?

I think it comes down to a couple of key factors. Firstly, we don't have we don't have a long food and drink heritage as a lot of our neighbouring countries like Spain, Italy and France that govern this food tradition. So, in order to be a world player we were able to invent ourselves with no restrictions or shackles to tradition. That can go both ways, but for us it was an advantage. We were completely open too everything, and we also had this strong influence from the golden age of Danish design, which kind of gave us this look and feel of clean lines, simple aesthetics that transcended into the food world, that helped shape where we are today.

We were also lucky that we're a small country, and very liberal and democratic, so the government supports these changes. They supported the design movement in the 60s and the new Nordic movements that became big, and whatever happens in the food world trickles down to the bar scene. The restaurants are our biggest assets, as bartenders, so we're enjoying the fruits of this trend. Now the gap between restaurants and bars are starting to close and we're actually becoming more of a partner.

If you want to hear a full dissertation on the matter, where I walk through our creative evolutions trying to connect all the dots, you can watch my recent talk from BCB called Death of Exoticism: Denmark and the creative bar scene on YouTube.

So, I'm going to ask you to name drop, the people that are attracted to Noma. Where would you suggest they go to have a good drink. Apart from yours, of course.

I don't think we are as  dogmatic in the bar world as they are in the restaurants, we are still a little behind. I don’t think we are quite ready for such a dogmatic approach on the bar scene. In my view it wouldn’t be a financial success.

What are the most exciting places that you're looking at now in Copenhagen?

I would say is if you are into the Danish aesthetic there is Duck And Cover. They decided too make their interior very 50’s and 60’s style Danish design. It is humble, but it's very true to the concepts and the drinks are also very clean and very simple to understand, yet very creative. Another fun project is a place called Pavillon, which is in our food court section in the middle of Copenhagen, and they started off doing a line of products that are alcohol free called Averre . They actually have a stand in the food court where they were one of the first to make cocktails with these alcohol free products.

If you want some diversity we have a bar called Barking Dog and they specialize in tequila and mezcal even if they don’t really admit it.

Also we have Dispensary a whisky bar, making whisky more approachable to everybody, breaking the old man stigma and stiffness.

And then we have Kester Thomas, a small cocktail that focusses on champagne based cocktails.

So what do you think is next in the drinking world in Copenhagen?

What we're all fighting for right now and have been doing for many years, is to provide an understanding about drinking cocktails in a different way than, then it has been in Copenhagen. Right now, everything is really concentrated around the weekends. In bigger metropolitan cities, it's more spread out during the week. There, you drink cocktails for the flavor and for the experience, and not necessarily as a night out.

We need to make a communal effort to convey this message so we're not making 80% of our revenue in 20% of our opening time. That will be the next battleground and also that the bar industry has   to embrace the No-low movements to be more inclusive. So you're not drinking on a night out with friends you don't feel left behind. This fight is even more important now, because we are on top of the gastronomic world map, and that’s one of the last steps we are missing to not just be a leading food but also cocktail capital.

Yeah. And is anyone doing cocktail pairing with food?

People have tried. And I've tried myself. But I think there's a long way to go. Firstly, the alcohol. Let's say you have a six-course menu. And each cocktail has 50 mils of alcohol. Even an experienced drinker will have had a lot of alcohol by the end of the meal. People have been drinking win with food for centuries, changing that will take a while.

Maybe that's where the no-low comes in.

Exactly, the no-low would be our gateway into doing cocktail pairings with food, and I think we need to have more focus on that and start out slowly, incorporating only a couple of full-alcohol drinks in a menu or more low ABV drinks.

Because the Michelin restaurants are doing menus with juice pairings that are tailor-made for each dish. So we need to think in that direction to incorporate the concepts. Ferments and fortified wines are our gateway to full cocktail & food pairings.

And what do you think is coming down the line for Blume?

Blume is just one of my projects, and I think I have achieved that mission of filling the gap between the club  and cocktail scene. So, the concept is sound and if I do something else it will be something completely different, in different locations. It could be smaller and it should be something that brings a new concept to Copenhagen. It all depends on the location that is available.

Will it be drinks driven or some food driven?

I would love to do something with food, but I'm terrified. It's a lot of work. It's out of my comfort zone. Sure, if I had to do I would collaborate with someone skilled in that field, but it’s still scary.

And how do you keep a life/work balance?

I got a got a scare, many years ago because I was immersed into this typical lifestyle. Drinking a lot, not seeing daylight, not eating healthy, having beers after a shift and all of a sudden that catches up with you. You don't feel healthy. Your weight fluctuates, and you feel sluggish. One time I was dining in a very old restaurant where they had these old waiters who had been working there for 25/30 years. I just saw these people hating life. I was like: if I don't change anything, I'm gonna be there very soon.

So, I kind of thought, all right, we have to make a difference. We have to show the public that bartending can be professional work lifestyle. That is not just rock and roll the nightlife. So incorporating better diets and then sports. I've always done lots of sports and I try to incorporate that with my team, promoting a healthy lifestyle and also paying for gym memberships, at my previous place because that's a very small investment that I get back, the stronger the healthier, you have more energy at work, and then turning it into like a communal thing.

The stronger you are, the better you handle the nightlife. So, sports is one of my outlets, a way of changing this stigma that bar work is an unhealthy lifestyle. Being strong and healthy also puts you in a better mental space. Mood is higher, you deal with stress better and general mental health is better overall.

Good Luck on all your projects, Hardeep, and see you in Copenhagen!

Five questions for Hardeep

Fave club music?

UK Garage, German Techno.

Your go-to drink at the end of a shift?

Wet martini or single malt, neat.

If you weren't living and working in Copenhagen, where would you choose?

Most likely Berlin or somewhere in Asia like Hong Kong.

Which superhero do you identify with?

Donatello from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Your nerdiest hobby?

Solving puzzles

Unlimited budget, open a bar anywhere in the world, where?

Copenhagen.

Where you can find Hardeep and his projects

Follow Hardeep on Instagram: @hardeep_rehal

Blume: blumecph.dk

Instagram: @blumecph

Cocktail Solutions: cocktailsolutions.dk