Emanuele Balestra has headed up the Majestic's bars since 2014. Under his aegis, the cocktails served in the luxury hotel have evolved from 'simple' mixes to – without exaggeration – alchemical elixirs! He can be found in
the hotel's herb garden or on a specially-converted hidden seventh-floor terrace, picking the raw materials (marjoram, rosemary, basil, lemon thyme...) for his master works; or otherwise in the 'laboratory' – akin to an athanor – where he extracts the quintessence of this nature. He imprisons in ice cubes the flavour of geranium rosat so it will be liberated slowly to make the cocktail's taste evolve as you drink it; he makes verbena-flavoured jelly that softens champagne; he reinvents the caipiroska with vodka infused for two weeks with Taliouine saffron. Each preparation demands a faultless technique. But playing the chemist isn't Balestra's motivation, this is a man with a passion, who has understood that the mysteries of nature (some secrets of which he reveals in his book) are a means of connection and sharing between people. And isn't the alchemist's quest all about seeking the spirit within the material?
*Majestic Cocktails, Emanuele Balestra
Éditions du 30 décembre, 100 p., 24,90 €
By Alexandre Benoist
Côteweb 2021, création de site Internet sur Nice