ABOUT CHARLES SARTIER

Charles Sartier spent many of the post-war years travelling through Europe on his vespa and working as a bartender. He was a keen traveller and bartender, keeping a diary of where he had drunk such and such a drink, typing out and filing a detailed recipe book.

To him, geography and drink went hand in hand: "Every country in the world has some kind of alcoholic beverage that is unique to the place". With this in mind, he was always looking for new ways to improve on the cocktails he served his customers, using liquors he had picked up in another city or country, or macerating herbs and fruit in liquor to get a different flavour.

Later, in the 70s when I was a boy, I often went on long driving trips with him during the school holidays, no longer on his vespa but in a beautiful Alfa Romeo GTV. Despite being allowed on the motorways, he still preferred driving on B roads, taking his time to enjoy the journey. He had, by then, long stopped bartending, and was a university professor. Nevertheless, wherever we stopped, he would always seek out local wineries to try their wine, or buy a type of liquor that was made in the town we were visiting, or ask bartenders about some peculiar maceration he would notice in jars kept behind the bar. This recipe site is dedicated to him.