Tokyo-SF Bartender Salon Video Series: Tomokazu Kai (Heuga Bar)

Here is Part Deux in our Tokyo-SF Bartender Salon Series. Meet Monsieur Tomokazu Kai, bartender at Heuga Bar in Gifu, Japan. Mr. Kai won the 2011 Suntory Cocktail Award, and his prize was a trip to SF and NYC. Gifu is a way's away from Tokyo, a city just north of Nagoya, but clearly it is not to be underestimated in Japan's cocktail world.

Mr. Kai's winning entry into the Suntory Cocktail Award was a gin-based drink he named "After the Rain". It was created in honor of the devastating earthquake and tsunami last March in northern Japan, to symbolize that after even the harshest of storms, there will be calm.

It was wonderful to meet Mr. Kai and watch him in action -- his enthusiasm for spirits was palpable and his precision and techniques, masterful. It was all very awe-inspiring. See for yourself!

Watch all the segments of this series:
Part 1: Jon Santer (Prizefigher) makes the Revolver