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Monica Berg

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Monica Berg is a Norwegian bartender, liquor company owner, and digital innovator in London. She is originally from Norway. She received the Linie Honorary Award for her contributions to Norwegian food and drink culture in 2015 and in 2019 received the Altos Bartenders' Bartender Award at The World's 50 Best Bars, making her the first woman to be given the award.[1]

She co-owns the bar Tayēr + Elementary in London with her partner Alex Kratena. Berg has her own liqueur line, Muyu, co-founded the nonprofit P(our), and co-created Back of House, a digital platform used by hospitality workers to anonymously report discrimination, harassment, and other issues.

Early life and education

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Monica Berg is originally from Oslo, Norway. As a child, her family took her hunting, fishing and mushroom hunting, experiences that would influence her bartending style.[2] She started working in hospitality when she was 15. It is in Oslo where she began bartending.[3] She attended H.Butlers Bartending School.[2][4]

Career

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After completing H. Butlers Bartending School, she bought and operated the school.[4] By 2012, Berg was working at Aqua Vitae, in Oslo, as a bartender. That is where she met award-winning bartender Alex Kratena, who would eventually become her partner.[5] In 2013, she relocated to London and served as head bartender at Pollen Street Social in London, followed by a bartending at Himkok in Oslo.[2][4][6] That same year, she represented Norway in the World Class Bartender of the Year final.[7]

Berg was awarded the Linie Honorary Award for her contributions to Norwegian food and drink culture in 2015.[3] In 2016, Berg co-founded P(our), a nonprofit symposium focused on bartending culture, with Kratena.[2][8] She was featured in Where Bartenders Drink published by Phaidon in 2017.[3]

Berg and her partner Alex Kratena opened Tayēr + Elementary in London in 2019. That same year, she received the Altos Bartenders' Bartender Award at the World's 50 Best Bars.[2][9] In 2022 Tayēr + Elementary placed second in the World's 50 Best Bars.[10] In 2019, she also co-launched Back of House, a digital platform for hospitality workers to safely and anonymous report workplace harassment, discrimination, and other problems.[11][12][13]

In May 2022, Berg was named Creative Director of the Campari Academy.[14]

Style, cocktails and influences

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Berg's cocktails often center around fresh, seasonal ingredients.[2] Berg works with local farmers in the United Kingdom to source ingredients for cocktails.[13] At Tayēr + Elementary, Berg works in what she describes a "collective effort" with other staff members to create cocktails, instead of each bartender creating their own individual drinks. Berg also wants to make accessible cocktails, using a test called "Would you serve this to your mother?" to decide if the beverage should make the Tayēr + Elementary menu.[2]

Further reading

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  • Where Bartenders Drink. London: Phaidon (2017). ISBN 9780714873152

References

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  1. ^ Howell, Madeleine (4 October 2019). "London bartender is first female to be awarded prestigious World's 50 Best Bars gong". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Sgarbi, Giulia. "What does it take to become the world's leading bartender? Monica Berg on flavour, philanthropy and female craftsmanship". UI - 50B - STORIES. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  3. ^ a b c "When Bartenders Talk - Monica Berg | Food | Agenda". Phaidon. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  4. ^ a b c Masing, Anna Sulan (17 June 2019). "Leading by Example: Monica Berg is changing the way we drink, one cocktail at a time". Resy | Right This Way. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  5. ^ Odell, Kat. "World's Best Bar Winner Alex Kratena Opens His First Solo Project in London". Food & Wine. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  6. ^ "Female bartenders at the top of their game". The Spirits Bartender. 8 March 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  7. ^ "World Class 50". Definitive Drinking Guide. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  8. ^ Buer, Liz (26 January 2018). "– Det er fortsatt ikke likestilling i barverdenen". Smak (in Norwegian). Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  9. ^ Bristøl, Mona (23 July 2019). "Norske Monica (37) fikk gjev internasjonal barpris". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  10. ^ Embley, Jochan (5 October 2022). "World's 50 Best Bars: London's Tayēr + Elementary claims second place as Connaught Bar loses top spot". Evening Standard. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
  11. ^ Kiely, Melita (13 December 2019). "Monica Berg creates platform to report harassment". The Spirits Business. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  12. ^ Milliken, Millie. "'You get used to being treated in a certain way that you forget what's normal': Monica Berg on her new online tool, Back of House". Imbibe. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  13. ^ a b Smith, Hamish. "Monica Berg launches online safe space - Drinks International - The global choice for drinks buyers". Drinks International. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  14. ^ "Monica Berg joins Campari Academy". 17 May 2022.
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