The Salut! Classic Bar in Berlin is celebrating an important anniversary. Our author, who has known the bar since day one, looks back in conversation with its owner. There is a glimpse of the future, too! A bar whose development has also reflected the renaissance of cocktail culture.
How quickly a decade passes. Bar owner Dejan Spasovski suddenly realised this too, as his Salut! Classic Bar developed from an unusual daytime bar ten years ago into a respected destination for cocktail culture and, above all, a distinguished temple to the night and its revellers. Who is this Macedonian mentor of mixology, the friendly rogue with the undersized hat? MIXOLOGY caught up with the owner in the middle of preparations for the big anniversary party to find out more.
Berlin, 2007. Bar 25 is the talk of the town, and visiting the many beach bars between Jannowitzbrücke and Osthafen is simply part of life. Tagesspiegel’s “Drinking Man” complains about poor drinks at The Curtain Club, and many guests consider seven euros for a cocktail outrageously expensive. Yet Berlin already has some outstanding cocktail destinations. For example, Becketts Kopf, Victoria Bar, Saphire Bar, Reingold, Rum Trader and Windhorst.
BETWEEN BIOCHEMISTRY, EIERSCHALE AND KARMA
But it was not these places of intoxication that inspired Dejan Spasovski to enter the field himself. The likeable bearded man had always been involved in hospitality, working as a waiter alongside his studies. Around 1998, the legendary Eierschale in Dahlem was where he balanced his trays. He began studying biochemistry in 1997. Spasovski recalls an internship at Schering, then a pharmaceutical company in Wedding, and grins broadly: “I think that gave me a feel and a knack for liquids, measurements and powders. Knowledge that would later prove very useful behind the bar.”
Gradually, the world of food and drink outweighed that of seminars and lecturers. In 2003, he became head of beverages at Zollpackhof (then still called “Menardie”, right beside the huge construction site for the new central station). The following year, he became a junior partner at Restaurant Brachvogel in Kreuzberg, where he stayed for three years until starting his own bar project in 2007.
For Dejan, however, the journey into cocktail culture had begun at two earlier student jobs: “At Restaurant Wasserwerk in Wilmersdorf and at Kula Karma in Mitte [now closed; editor’s note], I first encountered bartenders using premium branded spirits and fresh juices. That was still unusual in hospitality at the time, and I was impressed. I knew some of the cocktails, but suddenly everything tasted completely different,” he explains. “I was impressed by two hours of preparation before a shift. Somehow, it was a time of change for the bar world as a whole.”
SALUT! BAR BERLIN: MUESLI IS A COCKTAIL TOO
At the time, Dejan was not quite ready to commit Salut! entirely to a pure bar concept. Together with his partner at the time, and soon afterwards bartender Stefan Ketterer, he initially introduced an all-day concept. “From 9 am we served small breakfasts with eggs in a glass,” the owner recalls, “as well as light meals, homemade baguettes, smoothies and really delicious muesli. In the evenings, we served aperitifs, wine, long drinks and cocktails.” The mixed drinks were very well received in Schöneberg’s Akazien neighbourhood, which did not yet have a particularly high concentration of bars.
The first contacts with the bar scene followed, as Dejan recalls: “It must have been around the time Lebenstern opened. Bernhard Stadler kept dropping by and became a regular. Conversations with him and his bar knowledge led to a formative process of exchanging ideas and experimenting.” The first original creations appeared on the menu, and suddenly the evening cocktail trade began to flourish. “Our enthusiasm for learning and exploring cocktail culture rubbed off on our guests. We made things ourselves, cooked and infused. We could share the energy that drove us with many of our guests. Some who were here from the very beginning still come and have brass nameplates at the counter.” The team also gives valued guests a red key so they can unlock the bar’s door instead of ringing the bell.
ARISE, CHILDREN OF THE FATHERLAND
“Allons, enfants de la Patrie” is the opening line of the French national anthem. That is not the musical concept of this bar with a French name. But the bar’s founding date is easy to remember: 14 July, the national holiday of the country with the tricolour.
“The name?” Spasovski smiles. “These days, I no longer get annoyed when people come up with the strangest pronunciations. I wanted to express what is now written on the golden bar wall: Salus – Salutis. Well-being and health. When we moved from next door into our current premises in September 2011, I briefly considered changing the name as part of the new beginning. But then I decided that the past absolutely had to remain part of it.”
The original, much smaller bar was in the neighbouring building. Then an art concept shop next door became vacant. Frogland consisted almost entirely of depictions of frogs. Spasovski cleared out the tadpoles and transformed the space into a magnificent bar in the Art Deco and Art Nouveau styles of the early twentieth century, with excellent drinks. From the tiles on the exterior to the historic lamps and the photographs on the walls, most of which come from the owner’s family album. “The bar was meant to be classic and timeless,” he makes clear.
Spasovski thoughtfully recalls all the names of those who have worked behind his counter. “There have been so many wonderful people. I thank everyone who has left their mark here. And above all my current bar team, who support me so brilliantly.” He seems a little moved as he looks back on his decade. Most recently, two turbulent years have changed his life with marriage, two children and the opening of a new café – after all, we now live in times when even established Berlin bars are closing their doors.
But he is also looking ahead, perhaps to the next ten years: “Salut will remain Salut! What you see is what you get. The bar will keep its honest concept. We continue to find inspiration every day, and I would be happy for that to continue for the next ten years!”