Nothing beats the special ambience of enjoying a finely crafted cocktail at a high-end bar in your favorite part of town. However, less is known about how bartenders develop the specialized skills needed to make these elegant and delectable concoctions.
The history of bar culture dates back to 15th century Greece and Rome. In the U.S., bars became widespread in the late 1800s, with Japan following around 1860, opening its first drinking establishment in Yokohama.
While the trend spread quickly in the Kanto region, it wasn’t until the early 1900s that Japan started to develop its own bartending culture.
This was dealt a severe blow by the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake. As many bars were forced to close amid the devastation in the capital, bartenders began moving to Kansai and other areas in search of work, which is said to have spread bar culture throughout Japan.
Most bartenders are known to attain their skills and know-how from their seniors. Kazuya Morisaki, winner of numerous awards, including the Best Long Drink prize at the International Bar Association World Cocktail Championship in 2022 and Suntory The Cocktail Award 2024 in November, is no exception.
The art of bartending
Morisaki says his role is to cherish and develop the techniques and spirituality of bartending bestowed to him by his seniors.
“Over the years, the dignified look and the refined, beautiful gestures and polished skills of Japanese bartenders have been gaining attention around the world,” Morisaki said.
“The cocktail-making skills and spirit were built up by my seniors over many years of trial and error. They were always thinking about how to please the guests in front of them,” he added.
Award-winning cocktail
Morisaki’s original Tefu Tefu (butterfly) cocktail contains Suntory whisky and liqueur, topped with a decorative three-dimensional daikon garnish and lime zest. The drink has received high praise, winning him accolades at Suntory’s drink competition.
Suntory, a global leader in premium spirits, has been running the competition since 1994, inviting professional bartenders in Japan to test their creativity and techniques against the best cocktail makers in the business. The company aims “to consider Japanese bartending a ‘cultural asset’ and to pass this on throughout Japan and overseas.”
This year marks the award’s 30th installment. Of special note is that Jim Meehan, an American bartender and journalist named one of the industry’s most influential figures by Drinks International magazine, joined the team of judges this year.
Of all those who applied, 30 passed the preliminary screening and eight made it to the semifinal. The final round was held in the Blue Rose Small Hall at Suntory Hall in Tokyo’s Minato Ward on Nov. 22.
The final round had two stages. The first stage was an elimination phase in which the eight contestants were asked to mix a unique cocktail they submitted with their applications. In the second stage, the top three contestants were asked to create a cocktail based on a theme given to them on the spot.
After comprehensive judging based on technique and flexibility, among other criteria, the award went to Morisaki, earning him ¥500,000 and a training trip that will see him plying his trade as a guest bartender at bars and distilleries overseas, including in the U.K.
“I am honored to have received this truly wonderful award,” Morisaki said. “I would like to thank everyone, including the many customers who continue to support me on a daily basis, my friends who have gathered here, and my seniors who have taught me so much. I would also like to thank, in particular, my family who has always supported me without saying a word and my customers who are waiting for me in Kobe.”
Tefu tefu is an old way of saying butterfly under Japan’s prewar orthography, which was left behind as pronunciation evolved.
Morisaki’s cocktail uses the following ingredients: Suntory World Whisky Ao, Creme de Kyoho Murasaki, Watsunagi Yuzu syrup, fresh lime juice and oba (Japanese perilla).
The ingredients are shaken and strained into a cocktail glass using a fine strainer, then garnished with a butterfly carved from daikon and flowers carved from radish.
In addition to honing his bar skills, Morisaki has learned how to use both Japanese and Western kitchen knives and carving techniques to create delicate garnishes, such as the fancy butterfly that tops his cocktail.
“With the 30th anniversary of the Suntory The Cocktail Award and the 2025 World Expo in Osaka marking major milestones, the new challenge and blessing of connecting the past, present and future and the essence of ‘Japan reaching out to the world’ is expressed in a single glass,” Morisaki said.
“The taste itself expresses the cocktail award’s philosophy of ‘inheritance and innovation,’ while the decoration overlaps the image of the rising sun in the cocktail award logo and the butterfly, the name of the cocktail that continues to be loved around the world as a symbol of transformation and hope.”
Morisaki added that he wanted to show this cocktail full of Japanese sentiment to the “next generation of drinkers” who will “lead people into a wonderful future.”
Once in a lifetime
Morisaki is the owner and master of Savoy hommage in Kobe. He trained for many years under the late Shozo Kobayashi, master of the famous Bar Savoy that operated in the city from 1967 to 2007. Morisaki opened his bar as a tribute to his mentor.
Morisaki hails from Toyama Prefecture but grew up in Kobe. He graduated from a physical education college where he specialized in the triathlon. Although he originally aspired to become a P.E. teacher, his desire gradually shifted to acquiring other types of expertise, so he searched and happened to come across bartending.
Morisaki’s mentor, Kobayashi, continued to hone his skills during his senior years, wielding a shaker even after he turned 70. According to Morisaki, he always had the desire to deliver perfect drinks to his customers over the years, which can be said to be a particular kind of spirituality shared by Japanese bartenders.
Morisaki is following in his mentor’s footsteps. His bar can be found on the ground floor of a building up the hill with Hanakuma Park on the left.
As visitors open the door, they are welcomed with a lighthearted greeting from master Morisaki.
“In the future, I aim to make a once-in-a-lifetime cocktail just as I have always tried to do,” he said. “I aim to be half a step ahead of guests’ expectations and would like to touch not only their taste buds, but also their thoughts and feelings and encourage them to take another step forward to tomorrow. I would like to encourage my guests to come to my bar and drink the unique cocktail tailored to each customer that I can offer that day, only at that time.”
For this reason, he says that he needs to continue to hone his skills, a never-ending quest to bring the finest and most satisfying drinks to customers.
“Bartending is a profession where one must never stop. Therefore, I would like to keep thinking about it and keep improving so that I can meet the needs of my customers,” he said.
Japanese spirituality
Suntory, a leading Japanese beverage company, held the first cocktail competition in Japan in 1931, setting the foundation for its current Cocktail Awards. The company has been working with the bar industry ever since to promote both the awards and other initiatives.
Suntory’s late founder, Shinjiro Torii, was interested in bringing not just wine and whiskey, but also a wide variety of Western liquors to Japan.
“You can’t sell good products if you don’t make them,” he said. “Even if you make a good product, it won’t sell unless people know about it.”
This attitude has led to the company’s development of various PR activities to promote Western liquor culture in Japan, bars at which to enjoy them, and bartenders who can tell the story behind Japanese bartending. This philosophy still holds true today.
As a storyteller, Morisaki says he would like to serve as a hub at which foreign patrons can experience the spirituality of Japanese bartending.
“Cocktail culture came to Japan from the West, but I think Japanese bartenders have combined it with various Japanese cultures such as martial arts, flower arrangement and tea ceremony to create the current Japanese style of cocktails called Japanese bartending,” he said.
“Japanese bartending is easy to understand in terms of shaking and gestures, but I believe that the spirituality behind it is more important, and I want people from overseas to feel that. In my opinion, Japanese bartending is about ‘one drink at a time,’ and the synergy between the cocktail served and the customer is important. I would like to pay particular attention to how the customer feels about the cocktail.”
This article is sponsored by Suntory.
For more information on Savoy hommage, please visit: https://www.instagram.com/kazuya.morisaki/.
For more information on Suntory The Cocktail Award, please visit: https://www.suntory.co.jp/wnb/event/award/ (Japanese only).
For Suntory customer support center, click here (Japanese only).
Don’t drink under the age of 20 or drink and drive.
