Tsahi Ben Amram: “People in Tel Aviv here like it fast and furious”
Jasper Johns bar will move from Tel Aviv to Kyiv for the three days to serve signature cocktails to the guests of the BAROMETER. It is said that this city never sleeps and Jasper Johns proves this fact: bar never closes before 8am. Jasper Johns is in fact two bars separated with a wall and a secret door. They are known as the craziest cocktail bars you’ve ever been to.
Hospitality and great fun are the principles of this spot. There you can have anything you might imagine, to any taste – from classic to signature cocktails.
The “younger” bar Johns was inaugurated 2 years ago in a lively street of Tel-Aviv and looks like a fashionable lobby of a mountain resort hotel of 1930s. Behind the door you’ll find Jasper – a 5-year-old bar INSANE, popularly known as «the last drink of the night». A lot of the staff has the bar’s logo tattooed on their body. Before the BAROMETER one of Jasper Johns’ founders Tsahi Ben Amram answered our questions.
What do they drink in Tel Aviv?
As you know, Tel Aviv is a city that never sleeps, people here like it fast and furious. So the drinks which are being served are very versatile. In the Jasper Johns we serve mostly our signature cocktails.
How many glasses a day you usually serve (on busy Friday)?
On a busy night we usually serve more than 1000 glasses.
What is the funniest cocktail name you ever heard/invented yourself?
Part of our passion is to create funny yet intelligent names for our cocktails. The most recent one is a cocktail named Fat Bottom Girl (like Queen’s amazing song).
What is the most popular cocktail in your bar now?
The most popular cocktail is called The Cure. It contains Gin, white vermouth, homemade agave syrup, ginger beer and mashed mint, celery and cucumber. The rim contains a combination of Himalayan salt and crushed sweet Chinese pecan nuts.
What spirit is the most fabulous for you? Why?
Definitely Gin, we like it strong and full of flavors.
What is the most unusual thing in your bar?
The hours!!!! The Jasper Johns never closes before 8am… So you can understand that there are a bunch of unusual thing over here.
What’s a bad habit you have?
Sleeping.
What superpower would you most like to have? Or what is it if you already have one?
We would love to have the power to play with the time, but actually at the Jasper we play with people’s time all the time.
When you’re having a bad day, what do you do to make yourself up?
Go to the bar and get the energy that I am missing from the gusts and the staff.
What kind of tattoo would you like to have? Or tell us about tattoos you already have.
A lot of the staff has the bar’s logo tattooed on their body.
If you could trend lives with one person for a day who would it be?
Mick Jagger, it seems like a day I would never forget…
What is so special about bartenders?
You will need to come to the BAROMETER or to the Jasper Johns to witness this special group of people.
Is there a life on Mars?
Definitely!