Tel Aviv's cocktail master talks hospitality and mixes a Boulevardier

On this week's Times Will Tell, we speak with Ariel Leizgold, cocktail master and one of the founders of the Bellboy Group, a hospitality and bar firm with six bars in Tel Aviv, one in Berlin and plans to expand.

Leizgold talks about growing up in his Russian-Israeli family, where hospitality and vodka --along with mayonnaise -- were regularly featured, but his medical professional parents never expected him to work in the service and hospitality industry.

He discusses the early days of cocktail making in Tel Aviv, when customers had to be convinced to try something more daring than vodka mixed with Red Bull, and what it means to bring the Tel Aviv bar experience to the globe.

Finally, Leizgold mixes his favorite cocktail of late, a Boulevardier, and shares his recipe:

Boulevardier        
Glass: Coupe
Garnish: Absinthe spray on glass, large chocolate diamond, black ribbon on stem
Method: Throw
30 ml rye whisky
20 ml cognac    
20 ml amaro
20 ml sweet vermouth
15 ml Campari

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IMAGE: Ariel Leizgold of the Bellboy Group pours a cocktail (Courtesy PR)

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