Chen chooses bartending instead of taking over his family’s hotel. Can Sasakura help convince his father?
Episode 7 — “A Bartender’s Resolve”
Hmm. Bartender Glass of God Tasting Notes.
Gin is the theme and spirit connecting all the story threads in this Bartender Glass of God episode. That makes sense because it has the most variety across brands and distillers. Why? Infused botanicals. Gin’s base is distilled grain (wheat, barley, or a combination) and infused juniper berries. Infusion is a fancy term for sticking stuff in a barrel of liquor before you close it up and age it. Europeans always considered juniper to have healing properties, and doctors stuffed their plague masks with the herb during the Black Plague. After those two ingredients, things get crazy! Since you already infuse the fermented grain spirit with juniper, why not put other flowers, berries, and leaves in there? There are as many varieties of gin as there are imaginations. A bartender’s choice of gin for a cocktail tells you as much about the flavor as the bartender.
Gin and Tonic vs. Gin Fizz
Do you remember how Kuzuhara asked Sasakura to make a Gin Fizz? Mr. Perfect wanted to test the Glass of God’s bartending skills of mixing, stirring, and shaking. But he also wanted to see what gin Sasakura would choose to serve. Kuzuhara has his ideal “perfect” Gin Fizz, which includes his favored brand. Sasakura made Kuzuhara angry with his stunt of adding Japanese confectioner’s sugar because he couldn’t tell Sasakura’s nature as a bartender. Kuzuhara couldn’t know what Sasakura’s gin choice meant if the Glass of God chose the cocktail’s ingredients willy-nilly. Mr. Perfect felt as if the Glass of God had wasted his time.
But what if Kuzuhara had known Sasakura better? He could have asked him to make a gin and tonic. When Sasakura loses himself in making mixed drinks too far afield from the recipe for his customers, he resets with the simple mix of gin, tonic water, and ice. This Bartender Glass of God episode showed us Sasakura’s “perfect” cocktail. Tonic water, which fights against malaria with its additive quinine, is the perfect match for gin’s sanitary origins. How would Mr. Perfect have reacted to that?
Chen appears to have also found his go-to reset drink: Yamazaki 12-year, neat, and a drop of water. He should learn how to make that himself.
Sling that Healing Gin Toward Singapore with a Singapore Sling
Bartender Glass of God has hammered home the point of customer service throughout the season. Chen (a.k.a. Mr. Robot) revealed why he studied bartending under Mr. Perfect Kuzuhara — to learn hospitality before he took over his family’s Singapore hotel. It’s no accident the anime chose the gin-based Singapore Sling to heal the family rift between father and son. The cocktail has a complicated version (Raffles Style) and a simpler one (Savoy Style). Mr. Robot used his superior mechanics to mix up a perfunctory Raffles Singapore Sling. But where was the hospitality? Kelvin Chen learned his lesson about the healing power of gin. The Savoy Singapore Sling with a Japanese gin brought forth the essence of cherry blossoms his family missed due to his older brother’s passing. Unfortunately, that only reinforced his father’s decision to bring him back to Singapore.
Suntory intends, evidently, to make a hard sell in Bartender Glass of God for the Roku Gin. Its bottle is a hexagon shape, referring to the six (六, roku) Japanese botanicals infused in the native gin. Green and jade dew tea (summer), Japanese pepper (fall), yuzu peel (winter), then cherry blossoms and leaves (spring). Any anime fan can see the references to the Japanese seasons from these ingredients. Listening to the cicadas as characters sip chilled tea on the veranda during summer. Watching the leaves change into vibrant colors, needing spiced dishes to warm up as temperatures fall in the autumn. The yuzu peel evokes memories of mikan oranges during New Year festivities over the winter. And the cherry blossoms and leaves signal spring bursting forth. This gin can soothe the soul all year!
Kir Royale and a Bartender’s Hidden Ice.
Gin is great for soothing the individual soul, but what about faceless, generic customers? The Glass of God was helpless here. Sasakura had no clear image of a tired traveler in front of him, so the seasonal “welcome drinks” he designed for the Hotel Cardinal fell flat. Which is odd for Bartender Glass of God. Because bubbly drinks, like those with sparkling wine, are supposed to be refreshing. The default Kir, a white wine cocktail combining a dry white Burgundian with crème de cassis (a blackcurrant liqueur), became popular after World War II. Kir Royale substitutes Champagne for white wine, while Kir Imperial combines sparkling white wine with raspberry liqueur. Sasakura devised variations on the Kir by substituting blackcurrant with grape, pear, and fig liqueurs, but he had no rhyme or reason. The Glass of God should have taken his own advice. Employ “Hidden Ice.”
The Tip of the Artisanal Iceberg
Yuri and Kyouko are practicing their bartending skills for a cocktail contest. But they can’t visualize the mixed drinks they want to make. Sasakura advised them to develop their “Hidden Ice.” That’s what he calls the bulk of an iceberg below sea level that a bartender uses for inspiration. It’s why Sasakura knows about American detective pulp fiction using cocktail names and made-up origins about mixed drinks and royal weddings. Bartenders are artisans — not quite artists and not quite simple clerks. They provide a service with a sense of artistry that requires inspiration. Reading fiction, poetry, philosophy, and absorbing art and music allows the artisan to know the human condition without experiencing it directly. Yuri and Kyouko need help imagining the flavors they want to create. But Sasakura needs help visualizing the customer whose soul he wants to soothe. Physician, heal thyself with Hidden Ice!
Bartender Glass of God (Bartender: Kami no Glass) streams on Crunchyroll in Japanese audio and multiple language subtitles. Bartender (2006)also streams on Crunchyroll in Japanese audio and English subtitles.
In 2024, Bartender Glass of God leans heavily on character-driven plots. Chen says he wants to pursue a career as a bartender, but does he have to do that in Japan? He’s not yet being honest with his intentions. He wants to find his Yokohama dancer, Chitose! That’s my bet. Next time, the girl bartenders fight with cocktails! Will their Hidden Ice win the day? Let us know your predictions in the comments below.
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