Erik Lorincz
Co-founder of the Antique American Bar and 10th Head Bartender at the American Bar at the Savoy.
Erik Lorincz
Co-founder of the Antique American Bar and 10th Head Bartender at the American Bar at the Savoy.
Erik Lorincz was the 10th Head Bartender at the American Bar at The Savoy, London. His expertise and passion for cocktail making has seen him work in top cocktail bars, movie sets and for fashion brands around the world.
In 1998, Erik graduated from hospitality school and after attending a cocktail competition held in Prague, he found his calling. He then enrolled in a three-month bartending course to learn the intricacies and tricks of the trade. After completing his schooling, he went on to become a bartender at Slovakia’s first ever cocktail bar.
After three years mixing and shaking, Erik decided he wanted to take his career to new heights and moved to the UK. Arriving in London not speaking a word of English, he took up language classes during the day while working in Attica, a nightclub, collecting glasses at night. Then, in 2006, he joined Japanese restaurant Nozomi where he had the opportunity to visit Japan and learn bartending techniques from Japanese bartending legend Kazuo Uyeda.
In 2008, Erik joined the team at The Connaught where he created the concept of combining cocktails with fine champagne. Then, in 2010, Erik competed for the title of Bartender of the Year at Diageo’s World Class competition and won. With this coveted title, bar doors across the world began to open including The American Bar at the Savoy Hotel.
While working as Head Bartender at The American Bar, the bar was awarded the title of World’s Best Bar 2017 at World’s 50 Best Bars and Erik was nominated for the International Bartender of the Year award at Tales of the Cocktail’s Spirited Awards in 2017. After eight years of holding the title of Head Bartender, Erik left The Savoy to venture into his own cocktail bar due to open in late 2019.
Other opportunities that Erik has accomplished include training the James Bond actress in Skyfall to create the perfect shaken, not stirred Martini, creating the cocktail to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and working with Cartier to create a signature cocktail for their launch of its new perfume.
