A lover of mixing rums and of 1920s-inspired cocktails, Roland López suggests a short Old Fashioned for this issue of Global: Dos Maderas 5+3 and Dos Maderas 5+5, with banana-peel syrup handmade at Calling Room using the oleo saccharum technique and lifted by a touch of Don Zoilo 15-year-old Palo Cortado.
30 ml Dos Maderas 5+5 PX Rum
30 ml Dos Maderas 5+3 Rum
15 ml Don Zoilo 15-year-old Palo Cortado
10 ml banana oleo (250 g banana peel and 250 g granulated sugar. Mix, leave to infuse for 24 hours and strain)
3 dashes chocolate bitters
3 dashes Angostura
Calling Room, the speakeasy
Opened in November 2021 in Zaragoza, Calling Room takes its inspiration from the bars that flourished in 1920s New York during Prohibition. Just like those hidden bars, to reach Calling Room guests receive instructions and a password that opens the doors to this unique space. A place with all the charm and mystery of the old “speakeasies”, bars where the ban on alcohol meant keeping your voice down and being discreet so as not to raise the alarm. Interestingly, this kind of bar had a lot to do with the birth of mixology: bootleg spirits were mixed with other drinks to hide their flaws, and citrus and other additives began to be used to mask the smell of alcohol that might give these hidden bars away.
The atmosphere of the Roaring Twenties can be felt in every corner of Calling Room, with decor reminiscent of London, where much of its vintage furniture comes from, such as the wingback armchairs or the phone booth and collection of old telephones that give the bar its name. An elegant, warm setting where not only the decor but every detail is taken care of: the music, the glassware, the crystal-clear handmade ice and a superb cocktail menu designed to evoke the old Yellow Pages.
Roland López is the soul of this very special bar. With a long career in hospitality and qualifications that attest to his excellent training, he has been directly involved in every detail that has shaped this Zaragoza bar, paying special attention to the choice of products and the design of the menu. “Warmth and quality” could be this bartender’s passwords, the keys to his work: “welcoming guests with the hospitality they deserve and offering them quality products, introducing them to new flavours and aromas”.
Dos Maderas Rum, Gran Duque de Alba Brandy and the Don Zoilo 15-year-old sherry range from Bodegas Williams & Humbert feature prominently on Calling Room’s menu. Don Zoilo Amontillado is part of many of its cocktails, and Roland highlights the important role sherry plays in them, as they are “very intense wines, with a long history and tradition in how they are made. Wines that always manage to balance cocktails while adding complexity”. Likewise, with Gran Duque de Alba Brandy and Dos Maderas Rum, Roland champions local products, “like this brandy and this rum, aged in Jerez at Bodegas Williams & Humbert, in casks sought after worldwide by the spirits industry: the famous Sherry Casks”.
Roland says his customers are thrilled when they discover the Dos Maderas rums. And what better ambassador for these rums aged in the Caribbean and in Jerez than this Nicaraguan bartender? A perfect link, since since 2014 Williams & Humbert has worked with SOS Nicaragua through Luxus, the top of the Dos Maderas range, to protect endangered turtles on the Pacific coast, donating part of the proceeds from its sales to the cause.
A lover of mixing rums and of 1920s-inspired cocktails, Roland López suggests a short Old Fashioned for this issue of Global: Dos Maderas 5+3 and Dos Maderas 5+5, with banana-peel syrup handmade at Calling Room using the oleo saccharum technique and lifted by a touch of Don Zoilo 15-year-old Palo Cortado.