Yann Bouvignies on opening Advocatuur in Amsterdam
Amsterdam’s new bar in town, Advocatuur, has settled into the city nicely as its beverage director Yann Bouvignies explains.
The Rosewood Amsterdam’s opening earlier this spring generated plenty of buzz in the Dutch capital, being a Rosewood hotel and all.
Throw in a fancy bar helmed by Yann Bouvignies (who swapped Scarfes in the Rosewood London to oversee this project at the start of last year) and cocktail fans also caught the scent of the hype, especially considering news that it would be making its own genever on-site.
Named Advocatuur, the bar has an on-site pot still (which has its own name, Irene) from where it distils its version of the juniper-forward Dutch spirit, sometimes referred to as the ‘father of gin’ (though some might say it’s closer to whisky).
Speaking to The Spirits Business on shining a light on the spirit, the hotel’s director of bars and beverage Bouvignies feels genever is a “bit underestimated”.
“Since I moved here around a year-and-a-half ago now, I’m drinking genever much more myself because it’s just delicious. I often go to the grand café, which is like the local pub here, and have a genever and a beer. It’s a really local thing.
“I don’t think it has the credit that it might deserve. You have Dutch Courage, a famous bar, and quite a few other well-known bars here serving it. People love it, but I think it’s not popular enough, perhaps internationally.
“Think of a blend of a gin and an aged whisky, because you have the botanicals of the gin, but then you also have a malt, so you got this really nice balance of a bit of body from the malt. And malt wine, malt spirits, plus the botanicals of the gin. So it’s really flavourful.”
As for how Bouvignies factors the spirit into the menu at Advocatuur, genever is showcased in a special section of four ‘baby’ serves, an idea of which he says people have been receptive to.
These include a play on a Martinez, an Alexander (which is trending in Amsterdam apparently), a Pornstar Martini (which is popular in the Netherlands) and another that pays homage to a Dutch drinking tradition called ‘kopstoot’, which involves downing a shot of genever and following that up with a beer.
At Advocatuur, Bouvignies has added an egg to the equation. Named Kopstuck, he explains the thinking behind the serve: “It’s a typical thing you do at the grand cafés here, as you do with the pubs in the UK and their traditions.
“We’ve done a baby serve, like a Martini made with PrØvo (our jenever), then with a little beer on the side, which is our own house beer that we brew with local brewery (Justitia POJ Lager x Jopen). Back in the days to sell alcohol here there also was a restriction where bars needed to offer food, so they just served customers a boiled egg.
“When I found this out, I wanted to pay tribute to this culture. The eggs are dipped into salt that we make with the botanicals of the genever after the distillation.”
Additionally, a party trick that the bar doesn’t promote on social media is inviting guests into an old holding cell of the Palace of Justice, which has been turned into a tasting room to sample the baby serves as a flight, playing into the building and city’s rebellious past.
“Everything we do is really to celebrate what Dutch culture is and to give back to the landmarks of the city,” Bouvignies adds. “Even in the design of the hotel, all the artists that we worked with, all the food… everything.
“Locals seem to be really happy, which is good, to be friends with your neighbours is important.”
Look at the signature drinks on the debut Will of the People menu, Bouvignies says that naturally he’ll be pulling from ideas from his time at Scarfes, but adding in new elements too.
“I cannot do something completely different as well, because at the end of the day, I’m the same person, right?
“Like a chef, you can adjust a bit, but in the end, it’s my style that you will see.”
Some drinks may still involve clarifying and carbonations and other techniques, but Bouvignies maintains he also wants to keep things fun and stripped back to basics.
“We wanted to be playful. Sometimes some cocktails can be a bit too serious – we always take what we do seriously, and we care, but we also want to show that we can have fun and bring out smiles for the guest.”
One cocktail, The Candy Store, is a twist on a Ramos with Roku gin, coco and elderflower cream, and peach and jasmine soda. But that’s not all – the fun, surprisingly that Bouvignies speaks of, sees the drink presented with straws full of sparklers.
“Everything doesn’t always need to be nice and clean, ” he says. “Bringing a smile to the face of the guest, that’s what we aim for. A reaction like ‘oh my god, that’s funny, I didn’t expect that’. That’s all I need.
According to Bouvignies, the bar has gotten off to a busy start and was full every night during opening week (from 1 May), where he even had to decline entries with the space being too full as people queued in the corridor (“it took me to a bit of Scarfes vibe”, he adds).
“People say we are a six-star hotel, but we are five stars (six-star hotels do not exist). By this, I mean a lot of people come with high expectations, so we also want to show that we are really easy-going and approachable.
“We’re as affordable as other bars in Amsterdam (a glass of wine is less than €10, the baby serves are around €8). There’s no doorman – the door is wide open to welcome people.
“So we’re really trying to reconnect with those things and focus on our local community as well.”
The Pinnacle Guide celebrates third set of Pinned bars
