Athens, Having a drink, Highly recommended, The Clumsies

The Clumsies – a new menu where some magic happens

18. April 2018

The Clumsies is an all day cocktail bar located in a pretty villa. You will find fine food and nice daytime drinking. During the night, the drinks become more boozy and DJs rock the place. The ingredients of the drinks are refined in their in-house laboratory, using sous-vide, cold trip, fat washing and rotary evaporator technology. Their latest craze is the fermentation room in the basement. Vasilis Kyritsis and Nikos Bakoulis, members of The Clumsies family and the main brains behind the concept, promote Greek cocktail culture worldwide. They travel the world spreading Athens bar culture and bringing back influences from all over the world in return.

It isn’t a secret that I am in love with the Athens bar scene. I especially love their warm hospitality and that in every bar you will find high quality drinks. It is no wonder that some of them rank in the World’s 50 Best Bars. So, for me it was time for a new adventure and I decided to return to Edinburgh to revisit the great bar scene there, and to really make my trip special, attend Tales of the Cocktail on tour. And guess who I met there? Vasilis Kyritsis, who had the newly launched menu “Clumsy Spotlight” in his luggage for me.

Another thing I love beside “barstalking” is scribbling my adventures: a combination of text and images to visualise my thoughts and provide some information. They are more kid style drawings than professional ones, but I don’t care. As soon as I had the new menu in my hands I was in love with it. It is always impressive how simple lines can create such a playful experience and transfer a lot of knowledge.

Beautiful, how the story of The Clumsies success has been visualised. Quick to capture, easy to understand.

One house with different concepts spanning several levels, a unique success story that has made Athens a destination for famous bar luminaries. The key to their success? “There’s no elevator to success, you have to take the stairs” and this is what they did. The menu is the story of the last few years. Everything they have done: drinks and techniques, awards and events. Browse the new menu, and you will see. Easy to understand, because who wants to read extensive cocktail menus if you are thirsty!

Clumsies provide what customers need. Food, drinks, fun and surprises. As I quickly flipped through the book, I was surprised by the blank pages. A magic pen comes with the menu, this helps to uncover the secret recipes inspired in the Basement, the Main Floor and the Playroom. What a great idea to use fluorescent ink and to illuminate it with black light. My first question: Have you ordered enough pens? Yes, they have, but this is no reason to steal them.

Spot on & reveal the secret drinks and recipes.

The new menu includes 18 cocktails. The drinks are split into three categories: the Basement, the Main Floor and the Playroom.

The Basement is pretty new, the same as the fermented drinks they are offering. Fermented drinks are an easy way to keep things in balance and honour worldwide wellness trends. Vasilis had brought the Fortified Baklava Wine to his seminar and I noticed some pleased faces. It was sweet and dry at the same time. Delicious libation of fruity mead, Bacardi 8yo fat washed with beure noisette & peanut butter and orange liqueur.

In the Playroom drinks section, you will find unusual combinations with an experimental touch. Greek elements are also included in the flavour profiles. The Mediterranean Gimlet is like enjoying a fresh Greek salad under the sun and I had to finish my neighbour’s glass as well. The ingredients are simple: Gin and Greek Salad. It needs a bit of preparation but the result is amazing. All wonderful things are made to look simple. The Cinema Paradiso looks uncomplicated but it is an amazing housemade distillate. Here comes the secret recipes.

Mediterranean Gimlet

50ml Star Of Bombay Gin
40ml Greek Salad Cordial
Greek Salad Cordial is a slow cook of Tomato Water with cucumber, Red Pepper, Olives and Oregano, Pinch of Salt Sugar and Acid
Garnish: Dehydrated Leaven

Cinema Paradiso

90ml Cinema Paradiso distillate made of vodka with buttered pop corn and cola oil
and 1 drop of jasmine oil

The drinks from the Main Floor are all flavours that the guests love revamped into popular drinks. I didn’t try one of those but I can imagine. I would definitely start with a Patron’s Martini. Also Shades of Grey sounds tempting.