Pip Hanson was 26 when he walked into Tokyo's legendary Tender Bar and sat down in front of renowned bartender Kazuo Uyeda. Hanson, a bartender himself, had been waiting for the chance to see the Japanese master at work. Little did he know the soft-spoken man would become his teacher in the art of classic cocktail-making.
Five years later, Hanson is behind the bar at the Twin Cities' most talked-about new nightspot: Marvel Bar. The sons of a prominent Minnesota family spent months renovating a forgotten yet historic downtown building. The sons are the Dayton brothers, Eric, 31, and Andrew, 27. Both call the governor of Minnesota "Dad."
And Hanson is their ace in the hole. The bartender, now 30, worked closely with the Daytons in creating a cocktail den that would be true to its homey Midwestern roots but also apply the cocktail creed learned by Hanson in his travels.
The bar is one of three concepts inside the Daytons' reanimated Marvel Rack building in the North Loop neighborhood (the others are the Nordic restaurant Bachelor Farmer and a soon-to-open men's clothing shop). Marvel Bar opened Aug. 2 in the basement, its unmarked back-door entrance fashioned after a speakeasy. Upon entering, you're led into a small hallway with a half-dozen doors that lead to storage rooms. Choose the purple door.
Inside, the bar is dimly lit and windowless, but the room is exploding with color. But the memory of the old building lingers -- original limestone walls can be seen through the glass wine cellar and a thick timber beam anchors the room. The balance of new and old seems like the perfect setting for Hanson's lofty bartending goals.
Hanson began under the tutelage of Johnny Michaels, a godfather of the Twin Cities cocktail scene. Inside the lounge at La Belle Vie, Michaels taught Hanson the wild side of cocktail-making. But after a quick rise up the ranks, Hanson packed up and headed for Japan on the proverbial I-need-to-find-myself journey.
In Tokyo, Hanson taught English during the day and bartended at night, making drinks for Japanese businessmen in skyscraper nightclubs. One day he ventured into the upscale Ginza district, home to Japan's best cocktail makers.
"And that's where I met Uyeda," Hanson said. "Excuse me, I should say Mr. Uyeda."
Nearing 70, Uyeda is Japan's best-known bartender. The New York Times called him a "cocktail-shaking philosopher" for his bartending profundity and for a technique called "The Hard Shake" (a wild, extremely difficult way of shaking a cocktail tin).
Hanson spent six months with the old master learning the Japanese way of bartending, which, in many respects, is based on this country's pre-Prohibition era of bartending. It's a style obsessed with discipline and mastering classic cocktails. The experience was revelatory. "They are about perfection," Hanson said. "It's unattainable, but they strive for it."
After returning to Minnesota in 2009, Hanson became head bartender at Cafe Maude, where he began putting his Japanese techniques to use. At the time, Eric Dayton was looking for a bartender to help him develop Marvel Bar. He was sold on Hanson after tasting the bartender's classic Old Fashioned.
"It was a one-Old-Fashioned audition," Dayton remembered. "Well, I should say it was a multiple-Old-Fashioned audition."
Hanson's simple cocktail menu features nine classics and nine originals (priced $9-$12). For a man who spends his nights dreaming up cocktails, Hanson believes so fiercely in the classics that he often suggests that new customers start there. "They can't be beat," he said. That's not to say he hasn't tried.
Of his originals, a few stand out. The Oliveto is made using emulsified olive oil and egg white, mixed with a Spanish liqueur, gin and lemon. It's frothy and refreshing. The Ever After is a dainty wine-and-gin cocktail that hits your nose first -- the outside of the glass is lined with crushed aromatic herbs. Hanson's favorite drink is the Morricone, named after the famed Italian film composer behind "The Good, the Bad and Ugly." The cocktail might be the boldest on the menu, made with a wicked combination of mescal, anejo tequila and Campari. Drinking it is a commitment, but once you fall into its dark recesses you'll be glad you did.
Marvel Bar was designed with worldly ambitions, but its Minnesota-made results will make you feel right at home. So drink up.
An NPR editor who wrote a critical essay on the company has resigned after being suspended
