BARTENDER Glass of God episode 4 involves the staff of Hotel Cardinal and Sasakura attempting to recruit a famous chef from France to work for the hotel, as well as helping Kawakami Kyoko again to find her personal technique behind the bar.
“If you can overcome your preconceptions, you open yourself to discover new flavors.”
Overview of "BARTENDER Glass of God" Episode 4
Episode 4 presents the idea of preconceptions and how they can inhibit our ability to enjoy or create food or drinks. Sasakura demonstrates this when he tricks French chef Yamanouchi into thinking aged true mirin (cooking ingredient) was an oloroso (sherry/fortified wine). Kyoko is back in this episode, and she learns that there’s more than one way to concoct “the same drink” that is a martini.
The Importance of Culture
Culture plays a huge role in this week’s episode, and the series continues to emphasize the fact that even professionals make mistakes. This episode is a stark contrast to last week’s episode where Sasakura loses a competition with Mr. Perfect due to not creating a “correct” Manhattan, where they noted that Sasakura needs to make his drinks right instead of appealing to emotion. However, in episode 4, Sasakura demonstrates two ways culture can influence dishes/drinks, and that there are many ways to deliver the “right” drinks.
Firstly following Sasakura’s trick with Yamanouchi, Sasakura explains how even the greatest sommelier was tricked into thinking a Northern European alcohol was from Japan due to his preconceptions of the competition being held in Japan. Although Yamanouchi thoroughly analyzed his drink through color, odor and what he “thinks” the crew would serve him, it all worked against his favor.
Secondly, Kyoto’s only perspective of using Beefeater gin and Noilly vermouth at a three-to-one ratio hurts her work. Her mentor describes her martini as “not having a face.” Sasakura teaches Kyoto how he puts his own twist on a martini, while Ginjo Yuri, a bartender at Hell’s arms, delivers her own version: A vodka martini, which is the overseas version.
Sasakura explains that martinis are the king of cocktails because though easy to make, there are multiple different brands and ratios when approaching this drink. By allowing Kyoto to experience these different perspectives, it opened the door to her for creating her own version of a martini.
Final Thoughts
BARTENDER Glass of God episode 4 highlights how our preconceptions and prior knowledge can actually prove to be a drawback. The show presents this ethnocentric idea that the food we personally know is correct, though Sasakura demonstrates that it’s important to understand how other cultures and ingredient availability have influence, and can even be better than what we know.
Chef Yamanouchi and Kyoto’s limited knowledge of ingredients and methods ultimately hurt their work, but Sasakura helped broaden their perspective by introducing other cultures, brands and ratios of liquid in cocktails. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing how Kyoto will improve her bartending skills and how she will establish her own identity and twist on her drinks throughout the series.
BARTENDER Glass of God premieres every Wednesday on Crunchyroll.
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