Rum Connoisseur

Interview Of The Week

NANDO CORDOVA
Founder Kontiki Lima Tiki Fest

 

1. Who is Nando Cordova?

I was born in Peru, I have been a bartender since 1999, I am an educator since 2007 and I have a great curiosity about Tiki cocktails. I am a rum specialist. International Rum Conference named me Best Rum Bartender in 2016. I currently organize a Tiki Cocktail Festival, Kontiki Lima Tiki Fest. In 2019 we made the third edition, together with the Lima Rum Festival, a space dedicated to the cult of rum, its education and promotion.

I was nominated in 2019 for the Premios Luces of “El Comercio” in the “Best bartender 2019” category. In February 2019 I opened The Parrot Shadow Rum Bar & Tiki Cocktails, a tropical space inspired by the 50’s California bars. Here we have 200 labels and we respect the origin and recipe of Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic’s cocktails. We also have Signature Cocktails, which is my interpretation of the Tiki Tropical & Exotic cocktail bar, based on the bases we have inherited.

 

 2. Biggest achievement you personally feel you have accomplished for the rum industry?

Definitely every step is important in my training and professional goals: to achieve an international award from the IRC, being part of tasting panels as a jury at Paris Rhum Fest and Miami Rum Festival is one of the best experiences. I consider that Kontiki Lima Rum Festival and Lima Rum Festival, is one of the great personal challenges I have. I want the region to develop and the rum industry to grow. There is still a lot of cane to cut!

 

4. What made you fall in love with rum and when did it happen?

Rum is one of the alternatives according to the money of boys of 16 and 18, when you start drinking with your friends. But my theory is that you love or hate rum: I loved it.  Rum has always been with me.

I wanted to be a dentist at age 15, but I changed my mind. I left my dental studies, went to work at a nightclub one night in June 1999 and from that moment I knew what I had to do: I did not leave the bar. In 2001 I started studying bar and cocktail bar. One of my favorite cocktails was the Mojito, the Cuba Libre was the mix of all weekends with friends, as well as the Piña Colada and the Daiquiri. I remember presenting a final work on rum and my presentation obtained the highest rating.

In 2004 I enrolled in a bar instructors program, sponsored by Ron Havana Club and the Palmarés Hotel Group of Cuba. In this program I learned more about Cuban rum, its history, its processes and its cocktail bar. In 2005 I traveled to Brazil for a specialization and refresher course of beverages organized by the International Bartenders Association I.B.A. In this course we visited Cachaca distilleries.

From 2009 to 2013 I was already working as Ron Bacardí’s ambassador to Peru. I traveled to Mexico and Miami to train myself and receive the brand ambassador education program. In 2013 I opened a cocktail school called “Coctelstudio”, where I offered cocktail workshops. Since 2014 I work independently, giving consultancies to bars, importers. Today I have a bar and I organize a festival that proposes to promote cocktails and rum. I could say that I have been involved with half-life rum.

 

4. What is that thing that makes you want to continue in the rum industry?

Everything! In addition to personal achievements, we advance many times without thinking about what we are doing. Once a good friend told me: “You really don’t know what you are doing and what you can achieve.” I left the dental career, a career that I was passionate about since I was in school. I could not afford to leave something that I have been building for almost 20 years (my career as a bartender). Rum has always been with me. I have achieved many things thanks to rum. I can’t imagine my life if rum. I don’t want to be romantic, but I can’t imagine my life without rum.

Today I organize a rum festival, I have a bar and I have projects that include rum. I must learn a lot yet. I am beginning to walk, have models and take the best of each one to grow and gradually become a place in the rum industry.

 

5. Favorite Drink + Recipe

I don’t drink cocktails, I only drink pure rum and if it’s high-grade rum it’s better. But I have some weakness for the Mai Tai and the Jungle Bird. I have a version in the bar of a Negroni with Falernum and Rum.

 

EXOTICA NEGRONI

1 ounce Rum Appleton Estate Rare Blend

¾ ounce Classic Carpano

¾ ounce Campari

½ ounce Falernum

 

6. Where do you see the rum industry today and in the next 5 years?

Today rum is the “cool” friend; today rum has an important position in bars and consumers. Many bartenders prefer rum to revert classic cocktails such as Manhatan, Old Fashioned, Sazerac, Negroni. The consumer has always drunk rum. Today the scenario is different, the industry has found in the last 10 years consumption opportunities that allow competing with Cognac, Bourbon and Scotch itself.

I don´t know what will happen in the next 5 years, but I believe that the education programs of the brands will play an important role in the hands of their ambassadors. We will find perhaps rums from Jamaica, Barbados, Haiti and Martinique in more bars, the alternatives will be expanded and the consumer will know how to choose which rums to mix, according to their preference to make a Daiquiri or a Rum Fashioned.

I hope that the producers are more honest (I speak loudly and to the industry in general), be more honest with what we communicate verbally and the information we put in the bottle. There are tastes and colors for everyone, finally the consumer decides, but we must consider that the consumer having more information available will learn.

I think there will be more bars specialized in rum, (mine has almost 200 labels) and more bartenders involved in the promotion of rum and Tiki cocktails. It will be 5 years of hard work for those of us who love rum … Long live rum!

 

7. What do you think needs to happen to grow the premium category of rum?

I think the category has grown: 25-year-old rums and special editions. I think this is the category that has given the rum another image, from being a “corner spirit” to being a collection distillate. I think we should enjoy more rum that is value for money, focus on communicating the characteristics of how rum was obtained.

There is still some confusion in how we can classify rum today. We use information from the 80s, 40 years later something has changed right?

 

8. Which rum would you recommend a person that?

• Likes Scotch Whisky: Santa Teresa 1796/Bacardi 10
• Likes Bourbon: Doorly’s XO/Mount Gay Black Label
• Likes Gin or Vodka: Veritas/Plantation 3 Star
• Likes Cognac: Botran 15/Abuelo XII

 

9. What 3-5 things do you have in your bucket list for the next 12 month?

If I tell you they will not be fulfilled hahahahahaha

In the professional that:

– The bar has prosperity

– The Festival manages to position itself as one of the most important in the region

– Continue the long journey of learning and meet people who continue to inspire me.

 

10. Any last words?

Learn to know rum and drink in moderation.

 

11. How can people learn more about you? Website? Social Media Page

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nando_cordova/