Spirited Away

Joe Alessandroni has got his finger on the pulse when it comes to spirits, cocktails and glamorous bars.

- Joyceline Tully

What’s a spirit evangelist, we ask Joe Alessandroni five minutes after we meet. It’s a legitimate question. Apart from a more glamorous title as creative director of Crafty, the team responsible for Proof & Co’s group of venue, Alessandroni also wears the hat of said ‘spirit evangelist’.

“Mostly it entails a lot of research and development,” he answers. “So we come up with everything from the concept to the beverage menu, to coordinating with the designers on the layout and equipment. We kind of coordinate the whole project together and help build bars that are then ready to be passed off to talented bar teams. We give them the tools they need to succeed.”

But it’s not all R&D for the 39-year-old, who started in the business more than 15 years ago as a bartender in the US and worked his way up to a long string of accolades. Alessandroni still likes to get behind the bar, and makes an effort to do so once a week at Junior, the intimate 12-seater pocket bar on Cook Street in Tanjong Pagar.

The bulk of his time, however, is taken up with overseeing projects and concept development for clients, such as Manhattan, which recently raced up the rankings to become the world’s number 3 bar, according to The World’s 50 Best Bars. Then there is the much talked-about reinvention of the Raffles Sling for the newly relaunched Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel, and work on the rest of the property’s watering holes. Alongside, Alessandroni is also busy with Jerry, “a pretty comprehensive online beverage training platform that’s covering everything from spirits knowledge to cocktail operations and leadership and sort of back of the house stuff.”