Javier Sham Lourenço : Sherry Butt (Paris)

Javier, is the bar manager at Sherry Butt in Paris. He makes two cocktails for us, one is with Japanese whisky and manzanilla sherry, and the second one is with calvados and chaï syrup

Javier introduce yourself
I’m Javier Sham Lourenço and I’m the bar manager at Sherry Butt in Paris. I’ve worked at Sherrybutt for more than a year now. I started in this industry when someone offered me a bartending position which I accepted. In the beginning I was making the standard cocktails like mojitos, caipirinhas, sex on the beach and so on. Then one day I met 2 guys one named Xavier Lusso and the other named Guillaume who introduced me to the world of real cocktails, like the ones I make today. That’s what I like about this job…
I create stuff with my hands, think about products, create new syrups, innovate and try to be at the top all the time.

The classic you want to show us
Mystic Rivers (bamboo twist)
20ml of Yoichi 15 years old
25ml  of madeira dry infused with pandan
15ml of vermouth dry
10ml of manzanilla sherry
Barspoon of coffee and lapsong souchong
1 dash of vanilla bitters

The bar or party you dream of
Firstly, I think it’s about working conditions, how the staff manage themselves, team building behind the bar and on the floor. If you get that right the rest fulls into place. A place where you can chillax with easy drinking, tasty cocktails. It would be small and simple, where you can have good conversations with customers.
When I go out to party, I like to visit good friends who work behind the bar at places like Mabel, Gravity and of course Dirty Dick 

The spirit you like the most
Rum and whisky, I can’t choose between them, it’s like asking me to choose my favourite child. Both spirits have very different brands, producers and origins which creates amazing characteristics like scotch, Rye, bourbon, Japanese whisky, demerara rum and Smith &Cross which is one of my favourites. All of them are complex and yet simple at the same time.

What makes a good cocktail and which product do you want to highlight at this moment
A good cocktail is just simple and balanced. No need to use ten ingredients or a thousand infusions.
What I like at this moment is the amaro amarot because I love Italian bitters and I’ve just discovered this one which reminds me of amaro Montenegro, that is hard to find now.

The signature cocktail you want to show us
Le laid
30ml of Calvados
25ml of chaï syrup with soy milk and spices
20ml of lemon
1 dash of vanilla bitters

Where do you think we need to go to interview another bartender?
Of course you should go to meet Guillaume Leblanc at Dirty Dick in Paris.