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Meet David Arrebola, Bar’s Boss at the GF Gran Costa Adeje

The commitment to the mixology that makes the GF Hoteles chain for years can be described in three words: distinction, quality and cutting edge. A clear example is David Arrebola, Bar’s Boss at GF Gran Costa Adeje, who has recently been named president of the Association of Barmans of Tenerife ABT. He tells us some tips to his success and plans for the future in his new stage at the head of the ABT.

He was a professional cocktail maker and took his first steps when he was very young and in a fortuitous way: “I started with 16 years in the hotel business and, later, with 18 I made the leap to the hotels. At that time, I had a boss who was a member of the Association of Barmans of Tenerife and one day he encouraged me to compete. Actually, I did it a bit like stuffing, but to everyone’s surprise, I was among the first of that competition”.

“The good thing about this profession is that you don’t stop learning. It’s an incentive to improve day by day”.

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His style is characterized by the constant search for perfection through the study of the ingredients and the success in their combination. “The goal is to achieve unique and innovative cocktails and, with flavors, colors and aromas that make the difference. This is what we try to achieve in GF Hotel Gran Costa Adeje, where we are currently working in our star restaurant La Laja with a tasting menu merged with signature cocktails and that is having a great acceptance “.

This formula has led him to achieve numerous national and international awards. Among the most important are the third place in the World Championship of Non-Alcoholic Cocktails organized by the International Bartenders Association (IBA) in Prague in 2014, the second place in the Marie Brizard World Forum in 2002 and its classification between the two best recipes at The Mixing Star Lab held in Sicily in 2014”.

Despite his triumphs, he shows cautious about the current cocktail scene: “there are bartenders who are very committed to their work and who really want to learn and do things well. Although we are at a very high level, sure that the best is yet to come”.

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He has recently been named president of the Association of Barmans of Tenerife and, together with his team, has launched different strategies for the future of the profession in the Canary Islands. It’s proposed to take the practice of this art to all points of the Canary Islands. That’s why, together with the Initiatives and Tourism Center of El Hierro, it has promoted the First Cocktail Contest of this island and in December it will take the Regional Contest of the Canary Islands that will gather great professionals from all the islands. In addition, he shows “with enthusiasm” and faces this challenge as an “opportunity for all barmen in Tenerife to have access to quality training, so that our clients can be taken care of as they deserve”.

His long experience in the sector, provide him with enough knowledge to analyze the current situation of the profession and detect where the new trends are headed. Despite this, he insists on highlighting the human factor as a fundamental element for good practices in cocktail making. It places the staff in a key place and considers that it’s “super important and essential to be able to offer our clients an exclusive product. Once you understand your customers and can offer something different, the rest comes alone”.

During his long career he has been able to experience moments of all kinds and doesn’t lack funny stories to tell us. David remembers with special sympathy, and still a bit of amazement, the day they asked for a Bloody Mary with milk: “it left me freaking out”.

He’s passionate about cocktails, so he always tries to reinvent himself and not stop learning. For him, cocktails “are a way of life in which you are daily looking for things without sense to be able to put liquid inside and to enjoy those moments, share them and see others enjoy those creations. That motivates you and makes you continue to learn and enjoy this blessed madness day after day”.

With this love for his work and this determination to do things well, there’s no doubt that our guests will have the opportunity to enjoy an unforgettable experience.