The Secret is Out!
1930 is a Cocktail Bar with indisputable charm, refined taste and absolute elegance.
Inaugurated in 2013, 1930 was the most Famous Secret Private Club in Italy: a place of mysterious charm where its members, experts in the field and lovers of fine mixing can relax while enjoying a good drink and listening to excellent music. It has also been awarded by the World’s 50 Best Bars.
NOW THE SECRET IS OUT! After twelve years, the time has come to Evolve, to Write a New Chapter.
2025 a New Era of 1930: the Speakeasy has changed location, choosing the renovated basement of Mag La Pusterla, in Via Edmondo de Amicis 22, Milan, characterized by exposed Brick Walls, Marble Counter and Tables as well as Rattan and Works of Art, with an iconic objectof desire: a Jukebox that plays vintage vinyl records.
The Team, led by Flavio Angiolillo and Benji Cavagna is ready to welcome guests in the old-fashioned Loro Piana Uniforms, offering a completely New Menu: an Experimental Contamination between bar and kitchen, with Solid Cocktails and Spoon Drinks!
The 1930 offers an excellent assortment of Whiskies and its drink list features cocktails that are always avant-garde, designed and presented in a sophisticated and creative manner.
Among other wonders, you will be able to taste:
Hummus: Smoked Paprika, Whisky and Olive oil distillate.
Affogato al Caffè: Panettone ice-cream scoops with a hot mixture of: Jamaican rum, Pimento 1930, Tabacchino (a Nocino with a touch of Tobacco) and Corretto, a Coffee liqueur.
Parmigiano Colada: Rum base and Pineapple in two versions: with a hearty Sarawak White Pepper Infusion and with Truffle Oil. A Parmesan Mousse on top adds an intriguing interplay of textures.
To gain access to this exclusive place, you must be one of the 193 selected members or, alternatively, be lucky enough to have a special place. This can be possible by creating a bond of friendship with the MAG La Pusterla team, sharing with them not only a love of cocktails, but also a common vision of conviviality, passion and attention to detail. In this way may happen to live a unique and confidential experience, where every encounter turns into a precious memory.
The following is a chat I had with Benjamin Cavagna, the Bar Manager of the 1930, for a behind-the-scenes account.
In the world of bar-tending one often looks at other colleagues and more famous bars in order to understand the evolution of the current situation and how to choose the right way ahead. In your case, on the other hand, as an avant-garde bar, how much do you consider it important to be inspired by other disciplines?
At the 1930, 99% of the drinks we create include elements from other fields and disciplines. In the last few years, one of the keys utilised to analyse our work, above all the creation of cocktails in a technical tense, has been based upon influences from other disciplines and professions. We always combine a high degree of hospitality to our experimenting – a fundamental point in the world of bar-tending. It is our particular desire to look after our customers.
What are you inspired by, mainly?
We are inspired by disciplines that are both technical as well as emotional. The technical areas are chemistry, physics and the science of materials, or rather the manipulation of materials and raw materials. From an emotional point of view, we study anthropology, folklore, history and cultural sciences to considerable depth. We try to go beyond any stereotype and we analyse – to a great extent – everything that we manage to find. For example, the combination of all of this has led to our current series in the menu which is dedicated to all of the continents. It is a project that will last for over three years with Antarctica, above all, looking like it’ll be quite a challenge?
What are the greatest challenges in this particular theme-based choice?
We will need to pay attention to the sensitivities of our clients who are truly international. For example, I remember an episode connected to a drink that was based on a particular Haitian spirit. An Afro-American customer of Haitian origins from New York, liked it very much and recognised the originality of its ingredients. Thanks to a far-reaching study as well as the actual presentation of the drink – in a wholly objective way and based on historical facts – we were able to introduce certain reinterpretations without, however, turning the original cocktail upside down.
It would appear therefore that multi-disciplinarity does not only have advantages from a technical point of view in the creating of innovative drinks but it also gives you the opportunity to find new ideas for discussion and sharing with a clientele like the one you have, which is very international and culturally curious and active.
Yes, absolutely. Empathy and being able to relate to our customers are two fundamental elements. Indeed, both are important factors during interviews with potential members of staff. We strive to understand how much the applicant will be able to establish a connection with the customer, if he or she has empathy. This is what mostly brings back customers to us again.
As a customer I have to say that I can see that your staff reflects this vision; having been trained by people who bring to the customer’s table a broad spectrum of professional and life experiences.
Absolutely right. At the present time we have a staff that has worked in London, the Canaries, in Argentina, in Canada and in Australia. This is an advantage when we try to relate to the customers who are connected to these particular places. Other knowledge of yet other disciplines is also an advantage that may be used in the creation of cocktails. For example, a young man in our team, from Tortona in Piedmont, is an expert in chemistry as well as being an expert in his area’s wine and meat production. All of these are factors that fall outside of mere bar-tending yet for us they are all very important and useful. Thanks to his help we have created a drink that flies through the air and a cocktail that is, actually, identical to a cheesecake in texture and appearance.
Apart from spending time in the bar during opening hours, what other things do you spend time doing?
Approximately a third of my work, five hours out of fifteen more or less, is outside the bar’s opening hours. I create off-menu cocktails working with individual colleagues according to their own particular strongpoints (for example, at the moment I am working with a colleague who is passionate about fermentation).
I like, believe it or not, to check the maintenance and the optimisation of current costs. I often travel around the world in search of inspiration, paying visits to fairs in our sector, tastings, producers and visiting other bars, too. But, this is not everything. I work on collaborations with other bars and with other drink brands and companies, as well as on our very own brand, Bitter Fusetti.
Furthermore, I like visiting museums, going to the cinema and watching tv. Sometimes, it’s these things too that give you some inspiration; just like, for example, with the Netflix series, “The Ottoman Empire”, where the rituals for the drinking of arrack in the Fifteenth century is described or historical documentaries like the one on the bombers hanging from aerostatic balloons in Japan in the Second World War. This latter series gave us the idea for the flying cocktail.
Just to round up, will you tell us an anecdote about the daily life of a bar-tender?
There are some customers with the most varied superstitions and rituals. For example, there is one customer who, superstitiously, wants every drink to be covered by a silk scarf!
Is there some ritual that you, too, don’t want to give up on?
In the world of catering and food and drink, rituals certainly exist; the repetition of gestures and procedures as well as the almost obsessive/compulsive routines. I always have to check that the temperature of the bar is exactly 22 degrees, that on the reservation desk each and every object is positioned in exactly the same way, right down to the last millimeter, or that the stools of the bar are always regulated to be at the very same height every single day.
We would like now to bid farewell to Benjamin and pay our thanks to him for having given us the opportunity to delve into the charming and mysterious World of 1930.
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