Kolibri - the only game in town
When I first searched for exotic cocktails in Ljubljana, several places popped up with promising menus. Of these, the closest and the most open was Kolibri, so I started with it.
The place is neat and small, with a tiny bar and funky jazz playing in the background.
The menu featured seasonal innovations and fan favorites, with hits on both pages. Their execution of St. James Gate is excellent. The Big Apple is really nice, with a great juicy mouthfeel, very apply and not just from the calvados, but almost like it has some apple puree in it.
The Opening Pace - with feta washed gin and melon puree - proved more controversial. The first time I tasted it, I thought the marquee flavors were too subtle, and the drink finished a little ginny and lemony. The official version, though, blends the feta-washed and off the shelf gins, leaving the feta flavor extremely subtle to the unrefined palate. I asked Anże, who’s been running the bar for five years, about this. Against his friend Jakob’s vehement disagreement, he very sensibly replied that (at least at this bar, and probably many others), the drinks are tuned such that one could easily have more than one, so their flavors cannot be too punchy. I thought back to the mushroom cocktail in the London bar, and a recent, more tempered, bacon old fashioned, and shuddered at the thought of having more than one in a row.
I was supremely lucky that the first night I visited, for Anże was not behind the bar and we had a far ranging conversation. We went from gun ownership, to the economic situation, to the forbidding insularity of the Swiss.
And, of course, cocktails. Initially, I was disappointed the menu used no Slovenia-specific ingredients other than local gin. When I asked about the bottles I bought in a supermarket that I haven’t seen in other countries, Anże and his friends laughed uproariously. In truth, traditional Slovenian spirits - fruit and honey schnapps (unaged brandy) - could feature in unique cocktails, but this is no easy task, and rarely attempted.
The gang also introduced me to a few cocktails that I had somehow been unaware of, like fernet sour, random insights like Gary Reagan’s apparently famous finger-stirring , and a very practical tip that it is better to dry shake after wet (than the more common reverse) — better seal and better foam! They also shared a recent discovery. Having made some milk punches a few months ago, they found that they continue to mellow over time. By now it was virtually fruit juice!
So why is Kolibri the “only game in town?” Anże shared that there isn’t really a culture of cocktails in Slovenia and he’s basically been introducing it to the city, and by extension the country. Indeed, that was the goal of the owner in establishing Kolibri in the first place (surprisingly, the same appears to be the case in Austria, but more on that later).
The other two establishments I had originally found proved a disappointment. One was Neubar - where we spent many mornings. But it’s supposed fancy cocktail lineup had recently evaporated due to lack of interest, according to the bartender. And from what I gather, they had been premixed, and perhaps not so spectacular after all.
The second — Bar Ribnica — turned out to be closed for vacation when I tried to visit it. This foray happened to be during the age of torrential rains in Ljubljana, and that somehow snuffed my desire to try it again.
I ended up visiting Kolibri several times during our stay in Ljubljana, a first for me. By the end, perhaps I was not a Norm or Sam… but everybody knew my name, and it was a pleasant feeling that I will miss, as I will miss the gang.
Sadly (for future patrons), as we were leaving Slovenia, Anże had scarcely a few weeks of tenure left at the bar. Where it, and the Slovenian cocktail experience with it, will go when he leaves, only time will tell.
