Q&A with bartender of the year Tim Philips

Euan McKirdy speaks to Tim Philips, the Diageo Reserve World Class bartender of the year, about his award, his new bar and the changing cocktail culture.

Philips was crowned bartender of the 2012 in July last year, beating 50 other finalists to win one of the industry’s most prestigious awards; he won with his take on a Hot Toddy. Following the win Philips has opened his own bar in Sydney and Euan McKirdy met Philips in Hong Kong to chat about his influences, thoughts and his award.

DBHK: Is this your first time to HK professionally?

Tim Philips: Professionally, yes. I came here as a backpacker on a 24-hour stopover about five years ago so I’ll probably see the city in a different light. Back then we bought the cheapest bottle of gin we could find, to enjoy a few responsible gin and tonics, before we hit the cheapest parts of town so it’ll be nice to see some of the better bars.

DBHK: So you’ve gone from backpacker to Diageo World Champion in that space of time?

TP: That could be a good analogy. I started when I was 17 polishing glasses in a country Victoria pub. It was a footie guys getting into fights, pots of beer and chicken parmesan kind of place. From there, the natural progression for an Australian bartender is to get into the nightclub world, so I did that for a few years. But I got sick of working until six in the morning, so I worked in cocktail bars, then I travelled for a few years and then came back. Now I’ve relocated to Sydney from Melbourne and I opened my own bar three weeks ago.

DBHK: Since you started working in bars, how has the cocktail culture changed?

TP: Even as an 18-year-old bartender you see the national bartending magazine so remembering old issues of that, there was a lot of fruit, a lot of juice; puree, 10-11 years ago in Australian bartending. We’ve progressed since then and taken a lot of cues from British drinking culture, a lot of more direct, citrus-style drinks like the Tom Collins or the daiquiri.