The ‘world’s greatest bartender’ steps down after almost 30 years

Colin Field slowly surveys me from head to toe, examining my floor-length magenta dress, earrings, Swarovski watch, and nude heels.

Without hesitation he declares, “Oh, you must be Miss Bond.” I’m flattered, who wouldn’t be? However, Colin doesn’t compliment me on my looks, but pairs me with the cocktail he’s decided I should drink.

“It’s about how you dress and what you radiate,” he adds. “As a bartender, it’s not about you, nor about the cocktail. The cocktail does not buy itself and does not drink itself. I care about the customer.’

And cocktails – and people too – is what Colin knows best. Once named ‘the best bartender in the world’ by the influential magazine Forbes, he is so much more than that. For nearly 30 years, he ran the legendary Bar Hemingway at The Ritz hotel in Paris before calling last month, just short of his 62nd birthday.

The Warwickshire-born maestro has seen it all. He mixes, shakes and stirs intoxicating concoctions for Hollywood royalty and true kings and queens, world statesmen and women, ambassadors, literary geniuses, philosophers and the glitterati in general.

He considers model Kate Moss, Bruce Willis and Johnny Depp his special friends.

Moss was even the inspiration for the Kate 76 (vodka, grapefruit juice, champagne). She wrote the foreword to his book on cocktails and he was the bartender at her wedding to her now ex-husband, musician Jamie Hince, in 2011.

So what about the Miss Bond? Raspberry essence soaked in vodka for many months and topped with champagne before being decorated with a rose. “It’s not about garnishing the cocktail, it’s about garnishing the person,” Colin tells me.

We meet at La Maison Proust, a new hotel in the trendy Le Marais district of Paris, where Colin will take up a new job later this year, for two nights a week.

And unfortunately he doesn’t have all the ingredients for a Miss Bond on hand, so he comes up with a bespoke alternative – a mixture of gin, RinQuinQuin aperitif and orange bitters – and promises me that my Miss Bond will be waiting for me later at The Ritz . If you insist, Colin.

“The best cocktails have few ingredients,” he explains. ‘Think of all the classics. Negroni, three. Margaret, three. Bloody Mary, two. Try this,” he says, handing me a glass.

I take a sip. It is neither too strong nor too sweet.

“We call it an Iramtini,” he says. Cheers to that!

So why did he leave The Ritz?

“I loved it there, but I got restless. It was a love story; a marriage. At first, the idea of ​​a boy or girl taking over my job, in a place they hadn’t created, that they hadn’t suffered for, was a thorn in my side. I was like a jealous lover.’

The love affair began in 1980, when he first applied to The Ritz but was turned down. A second application was also unsuccessful. But one day, in 1994 – while he was working at a restaurant in Paris – The Ritz called him to ask if it was true that he had an A level in English literature.

It was. After “almost committing suicide” trying to win every bartending competition in France, Colin was employed by The Ritz because he was an Ernest Hemingway fan.

Bar Hemingway is named after the American writer who, while working as a war correspondent in France during the liberation of Paris in 1944, persuaded famous French Resistance fighters to help him drive the Nazis out of his favorite bar – Le Petit Bar at The Ritz. .

When Colin arrived in 1994, the bar had been closed for 12 years, but was reopened by owner Mohamed al-Fayed to mark the 50th anniversary of liberation.

Colin remains friends with the al-Fayed family, but says it took more than a decade for the owner to actually speak to him.

“It was in the 11th year that Mr al-Fayed first said hello to me. Then, in the 12th year, he said, “Hello Colin.” In the 15th year, he asked, “Hello Colin, how are you?” By the age of 16 we were joking with each other.”

Time for Colin to spill – who are the most interesting people he’s ever served?

“I liked Bruce Willis. He ordered the Ritz Sidecar, which I invented. It contains Cointreau, fresh lemon juice and a pre-1872 cognac champagne. It costs €1,300 (£1,115). One day Bruce asked me if I wanted one? I said of course.

Then he asked another bartender if he wanted one too. He said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t drink on duty.” I hit him! I said: if someone offers you a €1,300 cocktail, just drink it!’

When Pierce Brosnan passed by, Colin had to hold back from addressing him as Mr. Bond.

“He asked me for a suggestion, so I said, ‘How about something dry?’ He said, “How about a martini?” I served it to him and he said, “That’s excellent!” It felt like I had played a small part in a Bond movie!’

And one-time contender to become James Bond, British actor Clive Owen, was another client – but Colin knew he would never make it.

“I served him a dry martini and he said, ‘That’s way too strong.’ I said to myself, ‘He’ll never be James Bond!’ ‘

As for Johnny Depp, Colin thinks he’s the “bees knees.” “I would have lunch, dinner, and cocktails with him any day of the week.”

And Depp’s favorite drink? A Serendipity — calvados, mint, Normandy apple juice and champagne.

Your order is a reflection of your personality, Colin points out. Whiskey and cola is a farmer’s drink. But if someone is in a nice hotel bar, they’ll ask for a glass of champagne, because that’s what they think they should order.’

His favorite drink is a dry martini. “But I have to wear a suit and tie when I drink that,” he jokes.

His life is a long way from his origins in the market town of Rugby, Warwickshire. His father was born in South Africa and served in the RAF in Burma during World War II, while mother Renate came to England from Germany to learn English.

From an early age, Colin was fascinated by all things French, and a trip to Paris at the age of 14 confirmed his love for the country. At the age of 19, and with only £80 to his name, he bought a one-way ticket on the Magic Bus to France. His goal was to find a job within five days – and he did so in a three-star hotel.

He says he avoided English people for years to perfect his French. He also speaks German and Italian. “All languages ​​are wonderful, but French is great,” he says.

He says he always wanted to be a bartender and trained at Ferrandi, an internationally recognized culinary arts school. He then helped create a diploma for bartenders (Meilleur Ouvrier de France) at the Sorbonne University.

He worked in numerous hotels and bars before joining The Ritz, and when the hotel underwent a £450 million refurbishment from 2012 to 2016, he was sent to work in luxury bars around the world.

France has been his home for 43 years and he has only returned to the UK for his parents’ funerals. The only thing he misses about Blighty is Marks & Spencer – ‘their pork pies and shirts’.

While his professional life went according to plan, his personal life had its ups and downs. A relationship with a dancer at the Moulin Rouge broke his heart, and in the revival he married another Moulin Rouge dancer who was from Liverpool. They were together for four years.

His second wife was French and they have a daughter and son – Lee, 24, and Paris, 21 – but their marriage failed, because “I was really married to the job.”

He was initially the only bartender at The Ritz (although he eventually had a team of eight), often starting at 2:00 pm to get the bar ready for a 6:30 pm opening, not returning home until 5:00 am.

In 2016, he met 35-year-old Marina from Ukraine. They tied the knot last September and their son, James, is now four.

The couple has a mansion in Meaux, about 40 kilometers east of Paris, and a refuge in the country where they were imprisoned.

‘It was heaven. The Ritz had been closed for a year, so it gave me time to think about what I wanted, and what I wanted was to spend more time with my wife and kids.”

And so if he starts working at La Maison Proust, it will be on a part-time basis. He is also considering offering courses for aspiring bartenders.

“Most of them make a cocktail that anyone can drink,” says Colin. That’s Marks & Spencer. But I am haute couture! I tailor the cocktail to the person in front of me.’

His replacement at The Ritz, Anne Sophie Prestail – ‘a student of Colin’ – undoubtedly has big shoes to fill.

That night, I make my way through the lavish interior of the legendary Ritz and make my way to the oak-panelled Bar Hemingway. As promised, a Miss Bond awaits me, garnished with a large white rose – and I propose a toast to Colin, the King of Cocktails.