2016 is behind us, and the holidays give each of us a chance to look back and reflect on the year we have lived. Did we fulfil our goals and visions, and make the most of the days that have passed?
At Dream Cocktail, we are no different. During the final week of December, we always sit down together to take stock, reminisce and work out what new things to bring into the coming year.
2016 was one of our company’s most eventful years — in the best possible sense. At the end of the previous year, we welcomed Alex to the team: fresh energy and enthusiasm to get things moving again, especially our educational activities at Dream Academy.
The process began with entirely new syllabuses and teaching materials for our drinks courses. Last year, we planned and organised exactly 47 courses for you, and with such strong interest, we are confident that we will increase that number next year. It is hugely rewarding to see that many of our graduates have already found their place behind the bar, both in Slovakia and abroad, and that we could help new passions and talents take shape.
Beyond what is closest to our hearts — educating people through Dream Academy — we saw and experienced a great deal in 2016. In early April, we travelled to London for the annual coffee festival (Alex’s first-ever flight!) to catch up with everything that had happened in coffee over the past year, and to make new contacts. Those connections also helped us volunteer at the world coffee championships in Dublin, Ireland, in June. A few days later, we were learning the magic of coffee roasting from our friends at Bailies Coffee Company in Belfast.
A few weeks later, we visited Scotland, this time for something other than coffee. It was a wonderful opportunity to explore Scotch whisky in depth and, in the company of Chivas Regal master blender Colin Scott, gain invaluable experiences and knowledge to share with our guests and students. In October, we split the team so that we could be in two places at once. Alex flew north to Pärnu in Estonia for an internationally certified sensory course, while Martin and I visited Bar Convent Berlin, one of the world’s biggest bartending exhibitions, to stay current and see where the bar world was heading.
Thanks in part to what I learned in Scotland, I had the opportunity to introduce Chivas Regal Ultis — Chivas Regal’s first blended malt whisky — to the Slovak market at Dva-Dve in Košice. Towards the end of the year, you could see us making cocktails at Chivas The VENTURE, a competition where Slovak projects with a positive social impact could compete for up to one million dollars. Alongside these major events, our bars also appeared at the OTO awards, the Opera Ball, the Crystal Wing awards, tennis player Dominika Cibulková’s wedding, and various balls and company parties across Slovakia. Throughout the year, we put together the cocktail column for InBar&Restaurant magazine, interviewing interesting people from the industry about their experiences and views of Slovakia’s hospitality scene.
We are already planning plenty of surprises for you in 2017, but one thing is certain… We will continue doing our work as well as we can, maintaining our quality and, above all, your support, which means so much to us.
From the bottom of our hearts, we wish you all the best for 2017: success, happiness, milestones reached and dreams fulfilled. If we can help you with anything, please get in touch. Those who know us personally know that nothing is impossible with us, and our door is always open!
Best wishes,
Maroš Petrikovič
CEO of Dream Cocktail & Dream Academy
