In Miami, Julio Cabrera mixes more than just drinks. After having served as the vice president of the Cuban Bartenders Association for 16 years in his hometown of Varadero, Cuba, the cocktail genius moved to South Florida in 2006, where for the past decade he has been blending Cuban drinking culture with the American bar scene. In 2013, he won Bombay Sapphire’s Most Imaginative Bartender, landing him on the sponsored cover of the September issue of GQ magazine. Since then, the mixology guru has been spreading Cuba’s cantinero style across the United States, starting with South Beach’s acclaimed Regent Cocktail Club. The Glocalist sat down with Cabrera to talk about the art of the cantinero, and what’s next for the innovative bartender.
The Glocalist: How did you get started in bartending?
Julio Cabrera: It’s a family tradition. My dad used to own a bar in Cuba at the beginning of the revolution in the late 50’s, but when Castro came, he shut down everything—all of the private property, including my dad’s bar. Our bar had to start doing something else, so it was a part of family tradition. My dad was a bartender and the owner of the bar but when I grew up in the bar, I studied something else. I went to university, but my parents didn’t want me to be a doctor, lawyer, or engineer so I graduated with my degree in agricultural engineering in 1986. But for some reason—destiny or something—after three years working as an engineer, I decided to move to bartending. In ‘89, I moved to hotel business. I did my course: one year training as a bartender, and then I started working as a bartender.
TG: What exactly is a cantinero?
JC: Cantinero is the way we call a professional bartender in Cuba. It’s a word that comes from Spanish that came to Cuba at the end of the 1800’s.
TG: So it’s a career, not a job?
JC: Yes. It’s a career that you feel proud of and wouldn’t change it for anything. When you start a career as a cantinero, you’re probably going to retire at 70-something years old as a cantinero. And in Cuba, to be a bartender you have to go to school. You have to get your diploma, and when you graduate from cantineros school, then you’re able to work behind the bar. It’s very technical and you have to respect some rules. Like, the way you dress: you have to shave everyday before you go to work. Techniques, classic cocktails and hospitality—mostly hospitality—is something that defines cantineros.
TG: How do you apply the cantineros style to what you do here in Miami?
JC: American bartending is a little bit different from cantineros. I love American bartending as well. It’s faster and it’s good. But cantineros are a little different. They focus on the details. It’s not about the cocktail you’re making, it’s about how you make it and all the details you put into it. And all the details are extra flavor and how you talk to the guests. It’s another kind of cocktail making. But pretty much, they are always elegant and always smiling.
TG: What’s a cocktail that you consider a showcase of Cuba?
JC: I have two recipes I make that I actually love to make a little bit different, and people love it. And it’s a Hemingway Special, where I use a white rum, and Presidenté cocktail, where I use aged rum. I use pretty much the same recipe but with different ratios. So they are both different styles and showcase the quality of Cuban rum.
TG: What’s next for you?
JC: There’s a lot of things going on. I’ve been bartending since I moved to Miami 10 years ago but this past year, 2016, I’m just consulting and doing events for different companies. I’m also teaching, so I have my own seminars and classes I’m teaching to young bartenders. But when I look to the future, I see myself in my own bar. So that’s my plan for this year, 2017. I already have the footing there but I already have the place that I’m building. For this year, I am going to have my own priorities. It’s going to be related to my dad’s bar. Not everything, but part of it is going to be dedicated to my dad’s bar, because he lost it and he passed away a couple of years ago. And it’s going to be for him.
TG: Are you going to keep the name?
JC: As part of the bar, yes. The bar is going to be one big bar divided by different sections and one section is going to be the name of my dad’s bar, the whole name is probably going to be different. It’s going to be the cantineros house, ‘La Casa el Cantineros.’ So, everything is going to be around cantineros, not bartending. No American bartending. It’s going to be totally different from anywhere you would go. It’s going to be my style.
TG: Have you thought of a menu?
JC: Everything is written. I created the food menu with my partners, and we have been consulting with a top chef in Miami with the food menu we have. This is what I want in my place, Cuban food. But not the typical Cuban food, all Cuban food with different styles. The chef has to make some adjustment to the flavors, so to take the same dish or plate and perform something a little different. And then the menu is ready. The construction is what takes a lot of time.
TG: What was it like growing up in Cuba?
JC: For me, it was awesome. I was born and raised in a system that is not so nice, but for me, it was good because I had to learn how to do a lot of things that are an advantage now. Everything in my house, in my car, in the bar. I think I appreciate differently what I have and what I can do from people who have had everything from when they were born. Because when I was born, I had nothing, like Cuba. My parents lost everything: we didn’t have toys, we didn’t have anything. So now that I’ve come to the United States and have everything, I can’t forget my past, I can’t forget my roots. So, I really appreciate everything I have. If I’m working in a place, I have a sense of ownership of it and I appreciate a lot of the things I have around me. That’s what, for me, is a little different. And it was important at one point to go through all of this in Cuba to be ready for what I’m doing now. So now, I’m prepared for a lot of things, more than a lot of people because they had never been in that though position before.
