is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

bartender A bartender (also known as a barkeep, barman, barmaid, or a mixologist) is a person who formulates and serves alcoholic or soft drink beverages behind the bar, usually in a licensed establishment as well as in restaurants and nightclubs, but ...

. He has worked in the Sailing Bar in Sakurai

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

since 1994. He is known for the cocktail Takumi's Aviation.

Life

Watanabe was born in Gifu on May 25, 1972. After graduating from high school, he moved to Nara and majored in law. He worked for tuition in a bar and restaurant. At the time, he started to learn bartending. He has worked in The Sailing Bar since the bar opened in Sakurai since 1994. He was a brand ambassador for Taketsuru Japanese Pure Malt Whisky.

Takumi's Aviation

He created a version of the

Aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot a ...

in Diageo World Class bartenders competition in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

in 2010. Gary "Gaz" Regan, cocktail historian, named the drink Takumi's Aviation. In 2017, Regan contacted Takumi to ask about the recipe, and Takumi said that it substituted the crème de violette usually included in an aviation cocktail with Parfait d'Amour. The Parfait d'Amour has more orange and vanilla notes than crème de violette, which is usually quite floral. The drink was recorded in his book ''The Joy of Mixology''.

Cocktails

* Takumi's Aviation an

variant, recorded in Gary Regan's ''The Joy of Mixology''. * Red Thorn is a riff of

Blackthorn ''Prunus spinosa'', called blackthorn or sloe, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. The species is native to Europe, western Asia, and regionally in northwest Africa. It is locally naturalized in New Zealand, Tasmania, ...

, recorded in Jared Brown & Anistatia Miller's ''The Deans of Drink'' and Gary Regan's ''101 Best New Cocktails, Volume III''. * Cove was recorded in Gary Regan's ''101 Best New Cocktails Volume IV'', made with Taketsuru Whisky. At the time, Watanabe was the brand ambassador.

References

{{Reflist 1972 births Living people Bartenders