“There are three types of people in the world: those who watch things happen, those who make things happen, and those who ask, ‘What the f*ck just happened?'” Angus Winchester settles into his chair at Capella Taipei’s The Glasshouse, and it’s immediately clear which category he belongs to. The man who trained bartenders in 45 countries, spent seven years as Tanqueray’s global ambassador, and earned a ‘Best Bar Mentor’ award doesn’t do stillness – he does kinetic hospitality.
“There are three types of people in the world: those who watch things happen, those who make things happen, and those who ask, ‘What the f*ck just happened?'” Angus Winchester settles into his chair at Capella Taipei’s The Glasshouse, and it’s immediately clear which category he belongs to. The man who trained bartenders in 45 countries, spent seven years as Tanqueray’s global ambassador, and earned a ‘Best Bar Mentor’ award doesn’t do stillness – he does kinetic hospitality.When Capella Taipei opened in April in a flurry of activity – 86 rooms that include eight suites, six with private pool terraces; Mizue, the ryokan-style omakase restaurant; Rong Ju, serving modern Cantonese; Ember 28, the steakhouse with a local twist; and Plume, the hotel’s breakfast and all-day dining restaurant – one thing was left till later: The Glasshouse.
Capella Taipei’s The Glasshouse: The Perfect Place For A Bar
Originally earmarked as an extension of the hotel, maybe as a members’ lounge or exclusive check-in space, its streetside location and flow of thirsty office workers spilling out of the building beside it make it the perfect place for a bar. “There’s actually three,” Angus Winchester reminds us. “Downstairs is Playback, upstairs is Cooper, and this is Tilt,” he says, leading us inside.
Tilt is the ground-floor space with drinks infused with Taiwanese terroir. Then it’s down into the basement for Playback, a live music venue with good taste in vinyl (there are turntables along one wall where you can slide on some headphones and play records in case your date’s not working out). Then, on the top floor, there’s Cooper, a classy cocktail lounge with an envious array of fine spirits.
Angus Winchester’s Almost 40 Years Shaping How The World Drinks Cocktails
Angus has spent almost 40 years quietly shaping how the world drinks cocktails. The understated Brit trained bartenders in 45 countries through his consulting firm, spent seven years as Tanqueray’s global ambassador, served as Director of Education for Bar Convent, and almost opened his own Brooklyn bar, The Embassy, in a former brewery (he’d run a bar of the same name 20 years earlier in Tribeca with the same partner), until protracted construction issues and then the pandemic intervened. Along the way, he earned industry respect with awards like Tales of the Cocktail’s ‘Best Bar Mentor.’
Not surprisingly, Angus casually references bars across the globe and offers cocktail-savvy quotes from their bartenders, speaking about industry legends with the easy familiarity of someone genuinely connected to the inner circle. “I think it was Gary Regan [the US-based but British-born bartender and writer known for his book The Joy of Mixology] who said, ‘We may serve cocktails and beers and wine, but the consistent thing is we serve people.'”
He drops names like Dale DeGroff and Salvatore Calabrese not to impress, but with the ease of recounting conversations with old friends (there’s lots of anecdotes about Damien Hirst and Kate Moss too, from his time in London, but we’ll save those for another time) – these are relationships built over years across continents, and they inform every aspect of how he approaches the craft.
Joining The Most Dynamic Bar Region In The World
And he’s here, he asserts, because “Asia is the most dynamic bar region in the world.” He’d heard of “the ambitious hotel group called Capella” before he joined too.
The project offered a chance to establish the hotel brand’s F&B offering to the status of esteemed counterparts like Four Seasons and Mandarin Oriental. “Plus, this is three separate bars, and not hotel bars exactly, but bars owned by a hotel.”
He’d been looking for another adventure – maybe a final one, he speculates momentarily, before swiftly avoiding the topic – and his friends at Proof & Co. put him on to the opportunity. “I came here 20-odd years ago, and I always felt Taipei punches a bit below its weight,” he explains.
Never Be Still
“I don’t want to reinvent the wheel – I just want a really smooth-running wheel,” he says about his refreshingly straightforward approach. His philosophy centers on what he calls “the two most important things about a bar: those who work there, and those who drink there” – not the ego-driven mixology that can dominate much of the industry.
He calls it kinetic hospitality. What he means by that, he elaborates, is: “Never be still. If it can be cleaned, clean it. If it can be filled, fill it,” he shrugs at the obviousness of it all. “And if someone sits at the bar, wipe the bar down in front of them. It doesn’t need it – of course you’ve already cleaned it – but it shows a sense of care.”
Stuck In The Elevator With You
He’s full of that hard-earned, resolutely old-school wisdom. “I judge a bartender on whether I would want to get stuck in an elevator with them,” he continues as we, as if to prove the point, step into the elevator up to Cooper. The secret to being that kind of bartender is to learn the art of conversation, “throwing questions like a quarterback throwing passes.”
That requires a certain learnedness beyond cocktail recipes. “Sean Kenyon from Williams & Graham,” he volunteers – at it again – “has a father who was a bartender, and his grandfather was a bartender before that. He told me he remembers his father reading two newspapers before going to work every day to have plenty of fuel for conversation.”
Personally, he likes to start with, “What brought you here tonight?” – the kind of galloping thoroughbred of a question it’s impossible not to saddle up and ride off on.
As you’d expect, instead of chasing trends, he’s focused on reviving lost hospitality traditions, particularly the role of the maître d’. “The maître d’ is a wonderful concept that’s been slightly lost – the maître d’ customarily had real power, and I want to bring that back and show how they provide great service.”
And now, after a globe-trotting career, he’s doing that at Capella’s The Glasshouse.
The Glasshouse At Capella Taipei Is A Bartender’s Dream (And A Guest’s Too)
It’s a bartender’s dream in lots of ways (and a guest’s too). At Tilt, there are freezers in the ‘vault’ with pre-made martinis that range from 50:50 to 6:1 and are chilled to sub-zero temperatures. Beside them, the cooler is full of pre-made ice of different shapes and sizes, settled in glasses ready to be set on the bar counter, filled with liquid, and served. Angus, of course, is a martini fan – he shows us an antique device for measuring the dryness of a martini and a ‘martini spike’ syringe especially made for dispensing vermouth. He also has Negroni cufflinks, he points out, to avoid any undue favoritism toward the martini.
“But I do love a 50-50 martini,” he smiles. “When you order a martini, the bartender should ask you four things: ingredients, proportions, preparation method, and finally garnish. When I worked in New York in the ’90s, I asked one guest, ‘Any way you would like it made?’ He jokingly said: ‘Yes, can you stand on one leg and stir it clockwise?’ And so I did, and that became ‘The Flamingo,'” he laughs at the memory.
He’d serve one up here at Cooper, although the onus is on fine spirits, particularly whiskies, he reminds us, opening the door of a glass cabinet full of prized collectibles and curious treasures from the spirits world – a 1983 Hine Champagne Cognac, some Waterford Single Farm Origin whiskey.
He particularly likes the Midwinter Night’s Dram, a seasonal, limited-release blended rye whiskey from High West Distillery in Park City, Utah, that’s theatrically bottled by releases, called ‘acts,’ and batches, called ‘scenes’ (the one he’s cradling is Act 10, Scene 4). “I have people all over the world instructed to phone me immediately if they see a bottle, or just buy it anyway for me.”
One Of Those Who Makes Things Happen
He sets the bottle down gently, already scanning the room with that kinetic hospitality he preaches. Even here, in an impassioned conversation about fine spirits, he can’t help but make sure everything’s in its place. Old habits do indeed make the smoothest-running wheels.
After all, at Capella Taipei’s The Glasshouse, he’s one of those who make things happen.
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