Interview with Yeray Monforte, bartender and co-creator of our Beer Cocktail Series

Those who already know something about Cierzo Brewing will know that one of our premises is to create ties and synergies both with our land and with the environment of our premises. This time we go one step further and literally enter a “garden” as the name of the beer says: Tropical Garden. With the invaluable collaboration of Yeray Monforte, one of the most promising Spanish bartenders, we are introduced to the fascinating world of cocktails. The bar unites us and creating recipes to make the end customer enjoy, but at the same time they are very different worlds. And that is our challenge. Do you want to know a little more about Yeray? Let’s go there.

When did you know that your professional future was about creating sensations behind a bar?
I fell madly in love with mixology from the beginning. Being a bartender is a profession that combines contact with the client and creativity, a unique experience in the world.

During your time at Dr. Stravinsky we have seen you experiment a lot, which of your recipes would you define as your craziest creation?
Probably the dry martini redistilled in frozen pig’s blood. Something very crazy, but the game is always to go one step further, to get out of your comfort zone.

Coinciding with the launch of our collaboration, you embark on a new professional adventure. What is going through your head right now before this new challenge?
Excitement and excitement. Starting a new project with your rules is wonderful and at the same time with that dose of fear, but I reiterate that it is something that we should all live in the world of the service sector.

Let’s talk about Tropical Garden, the first Beer Cocktail Series recipe in collaboration with Cierzo Brewing Co, the result of months of work, meetings and exchanges of ideas. How do you value the experience?
Intense, fun, learning, interesting, enriching … there would be a lot of wonderful adjectives, I would summarize it in that we should all learn from other professions outside our specialties, to see a broader panorama of the work that other styles involve.

Is craft beer a product that is here to stay in the world of cocktails?
Yes, but it does not depend only on me, craft brewers have to start collaborating more with the bartender world, to bring these styles to the most classic industrial beer drinkers. If you make the drink easier for the average customer at first, their natural evolution will be to drink it alone and dare with more different styles. The marked notes that craft beers have help the bartender a lot when creating for their body, their graduation, their bitterness …

And finally, as a good man from Castellón, we have been told that the mastery of rice dishes runs in your family. What is your favorite? And some paella tip for dummies?
Classic paella, Valencian never fails, but a good “senyoret” rice that is with well-prepared seafood is unique. The hard waters of the Mediterranean are fantastic to use in paella due to their minerality, that of Zaragoza too!