Colin Edie : Lidkoeb (Copenhagen)

Colin, is a bartender at Lidkoeb Copenhagen. He makes two cocktails for us, one with akvavit and chocolate, and the second is with tequila and Galliano.

Colin introduce yourself
I’m Colin Edie, bartender at Lidkoeb Copenhagen. I think becoming a bartender was an obvious choice for me, as I am Scottish, began to drink quite young and spent a lot of time in bars. When I left school I didn’t know what to do, so I worked in bars and decided to travel. The great thing about bartending is that it’s global, everyone drinks in every country. I moved to Australia and started cocktail bartending there in different cities like Melbourne and Perth. Then I move back to Edinburgh for 2 years. My roomates visa was about to expire so we decided on a whim to move Copenhagen. I knew someone at Ruby so I started there, then came to manage Lidkoeb. It’s amazing here and there’s lots of local product to work and experiment with.

The classic you want to show us
Green and White
30ml of Dill Akvavit
30ml of Cocoa Cream
30ml White Chocolate Cream
Licorice Dust

The bar or party you dream of
I love speakeasys, but like this bar, open and light, you instantly feel comfortable and it’s cosy with the fire place here. So my bar would have big windows, a nice bar where you can see the bottles, like an adults version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Fast bartenders behind 3 stations for 100 clients, so it’s super efficient. I like to hear the drinks being shaken… it adds to the buzz and is part of the fun. Music is also an important part of the overall atmosphere, so I’d have live music too. If I had a kitchen it would be like a lab, for the cocktails rather than food. Regarding food, I’d offer finger food so people don’t get too drunk. In the end a great bar is down to the staff, you need to make the clients feel welcome and you have to show that you are a professional so the client trusts you enough to try other drinks. My menu would be simple, classic drinks. And finally, the toilets! When a customer is spending so much money on drinks, they deserve nice toilets.

When I go out I tend to go to other bars. When I am in different countries, I try to go to see how people work, but in Copenhagen I just want to chill, and not analyse places, so I go to barking dog or duck and cover to just relax.  They are lovely, I know them all, so I can just chill. I never drink in my own bar, otherwise I would freak out about everything and not relax.

The spirit you like the most
My favourite overall is whisky, I guess because I am Scottish and we have an amazing whisky bar upstairs. But in Denmark I was introduced to Akvavit and because it was new to me I’ve found it really interesting. It’s like gin, but with different botanical bases, like dill instead of juniper flavours. And you can use it the same way you’d use gin in cocktails. It’s great to make people try Danish products and also make Danish people rediscover it, because for a lot of people akvavit reminds them of quick dirty shots when they were younger. It’s great to change that perception of akvavit.

What makes a good cocktail and which product do you want to highlight at this moment
For me the definition of a good cocktail is balance and an extra edge. It’s what makes you come back to a drink. There is a flavour, you don’t really know what it is, so you have to come back and engage with it more. It needs to be a little bit complex but not with too many ingredients. Complexity is not about the number of products, but the type of products you use. No more that 3 or 4 ingredients, sometimes I think crazy ingredients are just on a menu to look fancy and have no real purpose in a drink, like unicorn tears. In the end, a good cocktail is a simple, quality drink that’s well balanced.

I like to work with beer as there are so many flavours. With the different IPA’s you can create so many mixes, as they are floral or bitter. Just added to the top on a drink and it changes the flavour completely, it adds complexity and can make a drink more savoury.

The signature cocktail you want to show us
Rita’s Sjus
45ml of Rosemary Infused Don Julio Tequila
15ml of Galliano Autentico
20ml of Agave Syrup
20ml of Lemon Juice
Top with IPA

Where do you think we need to go to interview another bartender?
Go to barking dog, it’s totally different from what we do here. It’s important to have different styles of bars. I would also go to Edinburgh because it has such a great cocktail culture. Go to Bramble and ask for Mike or Scott.

3 Comments

  1. Pingback: Michael Shone : Salon 39 (Copenhagen) – Le cocktail connoisseur

  2. Pingback: René Hedeland Larsen : Ruby (Copenhagen) – Le cocktail connoisseur

  3. Pingback: Colin Edie from Lidkoeb : Green and White (Copenhagen) | Bug 3G

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.