Moving on up

Moving on up

Like many of those who appear in the Bar Person of the Month feature, 33-year-old Eamon Loye has worked in the drinks industry here since his early teens.

For Newry-born Eamon Loye, his career began at the age of 15 when he was recruited to collect glasses in the town’s Railway Bar. A year later, he moved behind the bar to continue his training and eventually relocated to Belfast where he began working at Madison’s Hotel in Botanic Avenue. It was here that his passion for mixing cocktails really began to emerge.

“It’s always been an interest of mine and coffees and cocktails in bars were really starting to come to the fore at that time,” Eamon tells LCN, “The Apartment had opened in Belfast shortly before I started working at Madison’s and they had really brought cocktails to the fore in the city centre.”

While he was at Madison’s, he was approached by those behind Bellini’s in Newry – a proposed new development at the site of the old Exchange in the town:

“It was just a building site at that stage and they asked me if I would be interested in getting involved,” recalls Eamon. “They were putting tougher a team for a bar and restaurant and they had great plans to regenerate the centre of Newry and make a dark and dingy corner into a bright and welcoming city centre venue.”

It’s now exactly a decade since Bellini’s opened its doors to the public – birthday celebrations will be taking place in the middle of this month – and Eamon remembers that when he first started working behind the bar, the cocktails on offer were fairly uncomplicated:

“Over time, people have begun to look for more premium products, so we’re now using a lot of Absolut vodka, Bombay Sapphire gin and so on,” he adds. “I think that over the last four or five years, we’ve managed to take cocktails to a new level in Newry. People are now willing to pay more for a better drink and we’re always introducing our customers to new products in terms of craft beer and speciality liqueurs and spirits.”

There have also been big improvements in the trade locally over the last decade, he adds. Traditionally, venues have relied on a heavy base of weekend bartenders, but Eamon says tha economic reality has forced many venues to look at creating a more value-added offering and career bartenders are emerging in Newry as a result.

“There’s definitely growth here now,” he says. “Newry is still five years behind Belfast, people here are still asking for long drinks, fresh, fruity cocktails, but I think over the next five years or so, they’re going to move towards the shorter variety and the emphasis will continue to shift towards more premium spirits.”

Eamon’s personal favourite is a refreshing Gin Bramble with Chase Extra Dry gin, crème de cassis, sugar and lemon juice – it’s very refreshing, he says, and if you visit a bar where a good Gin Bramble is on offer, then it’s probably worth staying a while.

Eamon now has a young family to keep him busy and so he says that he’s very happy to stay where he is for now:

“Eventually though, I’d like to open my own bar for the company I’m with now. Ideally, I’d like it to be in Newry and just dedicated to cocktails and craft beers, probably when the market here is ready for that, perhaps in about five or eight years.”

Eamon recommends:

 

The Winter Cosmopolitan

 

Ingredients:

Chase Rhubarb Vodka

Chase Marmalade Vodka

Fresh lime juice

Fresh cranberry juice.

 

Method:

Chill a cabernet saucer.

Add all the ingredients into a mixing glass

Shake then fine strain

Garnish with a lime twist

 

2