The 'world's greatest bartender' steps down after almost 30 years

The night I was shaken by the King of Cocktails: The ‘world’s greatest bartender’ steps down after almost 30 years

Colin Field slowly looks me up and down, taking in my floor-length magenta gown, my drop earrings, Swarovski watch and nude heels. 

Without hesitation, he declares: ‘Oh, you are definitely Miss Bond.’ I’m flattered, who wouldn’t be? However, Colin isn’t complimenting me on my appearance, but is matching me to the cocktail he has decided I should drink.

‘It’s all about how you’re dressed and what you’re projecting,’ he adds. ‘As a bartender, it’s not about you, and it’s not about the cocktail. The cocktail’s not going to buy itself and it’s not going to drink itself. For me, it’s all about the client.’

And cocktails — as well as people — are what Colin knows best. Once dubbed the ‘world’s greatest bartender’ by influential Forbes magazine, he’s so much more than that. For almost 30 years he presided over the legendary Bar Hemingway at The Ritz hotel in Paris, before calling time last month, just shy of his 62nd birthday.

The Warwickshire-born maestro has seen it all. He’s mixed, shaken and stirred intoxicating concoctions for Hollywood royalty and real kings and queens, world statesmen and women, ambassadors, literary geniuses, philosophers and the glitterati in general.

Iram Ramzan (right) met award-winning barman Colin Field (left) at the Maison Proust Hotel in Paris, where he made her a Miss Bond cocktail

He counts model Kate Moss, Bruce Willis and Johnny Depp as his special pals.

In fact, Moss was the inspiration for the Kate 76 (vodka, grapefruit juice, champagne). She wrote the preface for his book on cocktails, and he was the bartender at her wedding to her now ex-husband, musician Jamie Hince, in 2011.

So what about the Miss Bond? Essence of raspberry that has been steeped in vodka for many months, and topped up with champagne before being decorated with a rose. ‘It’s not about garnishing the cocktail, but garnishing the person,’ Colin tells me.

We meet at the La Maison Proust, a new hotel in the trendy area of Le Marais in Paris, where Colin will take up a new job later this year, for two nights a week.

And, unfortunately, he doesn’t have all the ingredients to hand for a Miss Bond, so he whips up a bespoke alternative — a concoction of gin, RinQuinQuin aperitif, and orange bitters — and promises me that my Miss Bond will be waiting for me at The Ritz later. Oh, well, if you insist, Colin.

‘The best cocktails have few ingredients,’ he explains. ‘Think of all the classics. Negroni, three. Margarita, three. Bloody Mary, two. Now try this,’ he says proffering me a glass.

I take a sip. It’s not too strong, nor is it too sweet.

‘We’ll call it an Iramtini,’ he says. Cheers to that!

So why did he leave The Ritz?

Cocktails — as well as people — are what Colin knows best, write Iram Ramzan 

‘I loved it there, but I became restless. It was a love story; a marriage. At first, the idea of some guy or girl taking over from my job, in a place they didn’t create, that they hadn’t suffered for — it was a thorn in my side. I was like a jealous lover.’

The love affair began in 1980, when he first applied to The Ritz but was turned down. A second application was similarly unsuccessful. But one day, in 1994 — while he was working in a restaurant in Paris — The Ritz called him to ask if it was true that he had an A-level in English literature.

It was. After ‘almost killing myself’ trying to win every bartending contest in France, Colin was employed by The Ritz because he was a Ernest Hemingway fan.

Bar Hemingway was named after the American writer who, while working as a war correspondent in France, famously persuaded French Resistance fighters to help him chase the Nazis out of his favourite bar — Le Petit Bar at The Ritz — during the liberation of Paris in 1944.

When Colin arrived in 1994, the bar had been closed for 12 years, but was being re-opened by owner Mohamed al-Fayed to mark the 50th anniversary of the liberation.

Colin remains on friendly terms with the al-Fayed family, but says it took over a decade for the proprietor to actually speak to him.

‘It was in the 11th year that Mr al-Fayed first said hello to me. Then, in the 12th year he said, ‘Hello Colin’. In the 15th year he asked, ‘Hello Colin, how are you?’ By the 16th year we were joking together.’

Time for Colin to spill — who are the most interesting people he has have ever served?

Colin Field, bartender chef at the Hemingway bar at the Ritz in Paris

‘I liked Bruce Willis. He ordered the Ritz Sidecar, which I invented. It contains Cointreau, fresh lemon juice — and a cognac champagne from pre-1872. It costs €1,300 (£1,115). One day Bruce asked me if I’d like one? I said, of course.

‘Then he asked another bartender if he’d like one, too. He said, ‘I’m sorry but I don’t drink on duty.’ I whacked him! I said when someone offers you a €1,300 cocktail, you just drink it!’

When Pierce Brosnan stopped by, Colin had to stop himself from addressing him as Mr Bond.

‘He asked me for a suggestion, so I said, ‘How about something dry?’ He said, ‘What about a martini?’ I served it to him and he said, ‘That’s excellent!’ I felt like I’d had a small part in a Bond film!’

And a one-time contender to be James Bond, the British actor Clive Owen, was another customer — but Colin knew he’d never make the grade.

‘I served him a dry martini and he said, ‘That’s far too strong.’ I said to myself, ‘He will never be James Bond!’ ‘

As for Johnny Depp, Colin thinks he’s the ‘bee’s knees’. ‘I would have lunch, dinner and cocktails with him any day of the week.’

And Depp’s favourite tipple? A Serendipity — calvados, mint, Normandy apple juice and champagne.

Your order is a reflection of your personality, Colin insists. ‘Whisky and coke is a peasant drink. But if someone is in a nice hotel bar they’ll ask for a glass of champagne, because that’s what they think they should order.’

His go-to drink is a dry martini. ‘But I have to be in a suit and tie if I drink that,’ he jokes.

His life is far removed from his origins in the market town of Rugby, Warwickshire. His father was born in South Africa and served in the RAF in Burma during World War II, while mother Renate came to England from Germany to learn English.

From an early age, Colin was fascinated by all things French, and a trip to Paris aged 14 confirmed his love for the country. At 19, and with just £80 to his name, he bought a single ticket on the Magic Bus to France. His aim was to get a job within five days — which he did, at a three-star hotel.

He says he avoided English people for years, in order to perfect his French. He also speaks German and Italian. ‘All languages are delicious but French is marvellous,’ he says.

He says he always wanted to be a bartender and trained at Ferrandi, an internationally recognised school of culinary arts. He went on to help create a degree for bartenders (Meilleur Ouvrier de France) with the Sorbonne University.

He worked in numerous hotels and bars before joining The Ritz, and when the hotel underwent a £450 million refurbishment from 2012 to 2016, he was sent to work in luxurious bars around the world.

France has been his home for 43 years and he has only returned to the UK for his parents’ funerals. The only thing he misses about Blighty is Marks & Spencer — ‘their pork pies and shirts’.

While his professional life has gone to plan, his personal life has had its ups and downs. A relationship with a dancer at the Moulin Rouge broke his heart, and on the rebound he married another Moulin Rouge dancer who hailed from Liverpool. They were together for four years.

His second wife was French and they have a daughter and son — Lee, 24, and Paris, 21 — but their marriage failed, because ‘I was really married to the job’.

He was initially the sole bartender at The Ritz (although by the end he had a team of eight), and often started work at 2pm to get the bar ready for a 6.30pm opening, only getting home at 5am.

In 2016, he met Marina, 35, from Ukraine. They tied the knot last September and their son, James, is now four.

They couple have a townhouse in Meaux, around 25 miles east of Paris, as well as a bolthole in the country where they spent lockdown.

‘It was heaven. The Ritz was closed for a year, so it gave me time to think about what I wanted, and what I wanted was to spend more time with my wife and children.’

And so when he starts work at La Maison Proust, it will be on a part-time basis. He’s also considering offering courses for aspiring bartenders.

‘Most of them will make a cocktail that anyone can drink,’ says Colin. ‘That’s Marks & Spencer. But I’m haute couture! I make the cocktail to fit the person right in front of me.’

His replacement at The Ritz, Anne Sophie Prestail — ‘a Colin disciple’ — undoubtedly has big shoes to fill.

That evening, I make my way through the plush interiors of the legendary Ritz and head for the oak-panelled Bar Hemingway. As promised, a Miss Bond is waiting for me, garnished with a large white rose — and I raise a toast to Colin, the King of Cocktails.

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