Tag Archives: josep mª gotarda

Visiting the Cognac commune in France

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Cognac is a french commune located in the Charente department famous for being the origin of the brandy that names it. Last week Josep Mª Gotarda traveled to the area along with a team of barmans from different parts of Europe (from Stockholm to Paris and Spain in-between) to visit the most famous châteaux and to take part not only in the process of making the cognac but also to do some cognac tasting.

The first distillery they visited was the Merlet & Fils, the famous distillery Merlet has been operating since 1850 and it’s worldwide reknown for being the creator of the Merlet Cognac, Gotarda and his pals had the chance to visit the barrels where the cognac is aged, which are more than a hundred years old and are nowadays true relics, as well as the classical alembics and vineyards that surround the place. Moreover they could take part in a special cognac tasting organized by Luc Merlet, owner of the château.

Cognac region is not only famous by its brandy, it’s also known for having a wide range of oysters and the team was able to visit the Cognac & Cherac market where they could taste the different kinds of oysters they offer as well as other typical products of the area.

We leave you here a selection of pictures of the travel
casaClassical building of the Cognac region

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The Merlet château dates from 1850 and it’s the home of Luc Merlet, its owner, his family and right next to it there’s the whole factory where Merlet is created.

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Centenarian barrels and classic alembics are crucial for the making of this cognac

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The spanish team about to taste the different cognacs

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The wide offer of oysters at the Cognac & Cherac market

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Taking part in the vintage

viñaThe château vines

If you want to enjoy a good cognac after seeing all of this at Ideal we’ll be pleased to serve you the best one around.

Josep Mª Gotarda interview at Catalunya Ràdio’s “El Suplement”

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This Sunday we had the pleasure of chatting about gintonics with the guys of the radio program El Suplement of Catalunya Ràdio, along with Pep Nogué, Roger Escap and Jordi MIllán. The program took place at La Terrassa del Duquesa and we want to thank all the people who made it possible, you can hear the radio program here (in Catalan):

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Mixology artists in Barcelona.

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Last saturday the 9th Josep Mª Gotarda had a little profile made by the newspaper “El Periódico” in their section “Mixology Artists”, they highlighted the fact that hi won his first mixology award at seventeen as well as his different jobs an experience in Paris and Canada, finally it explained how nowadays Josep Mª has become one of the most important figures in the Mixology world since he became head of the Ideal Cocktail Bar at the age of 25 years old. His recommended cocktail? The Piscosour: pisco, bitter, egg white, lemon juice and sugar, all mixed in a shaker.

IBA Meeting at Eclipse

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Last April the 29th took place at the Eclipse bar located in the W Hotel the anual meeting of the IBA, the International Bartender Association. At the venue there were reunited Josep Mª Gotarda, president of the Catalan Association of Bartenders, Pepe Dioni, president of the Spanish Association and Ron Busman, president of the International Association. On the score of the night Ideal Cocktail Bar and the company Diageo opened a box containing one of the most exclusive and rare whiskies you can find, an aproximately 60 years old Johnny Walker Red Label, one of the bottles that first arrived to Catalonia.

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Interview at La veu de l’Empresari

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Last december the 3rd Josep Mª Gotarda was interviewed at the tv show “La veu de l’Empresari”, you can watch the whole interview in the video below, they discussed about the history of the Ideal Cocktail Bar as well as the different kind of cocktails and their origins (special atenttion to the Suau 2.0 review) also they talked about many more things, don’t miss it!