Oaken Community Series: Jordhy

 We had a chat with Jordy, Bali based bar consultant and mixologist. With years of experience under the belt working for some of Bali’s most hip bars, Jordy shared some stories about how he started, his current projects, and his plans for the future.

Being one of the community’s on-demand mixologists around the island, Jordy started his career humbly as a daily worker. Passion and hard work got him to where he is right now, picking up new skills along the way, and maintaining integrity in working with the heart and staying grounded. More than profit, Jordy believes being a part of a team means striving for greatness together. His attitude towards the hospitality industry has always been about improvements in offering services and products to bring people together for good times.

How did you get into mixology?
I learned mixology from a mentor at my work place at the time – it started from prepping for his needs of premium alcohol and other ingredients for him to work with. He talked a lot about mixes of spices and fruits, and I got hooked. It looks really simple, the layers of flavors could be balanced from a lot of different ingredients. When I could finally balance the flavors I like myself, I was interested in exploring more. I wanted to create new stories through flavors and bring people together with good drinks.

What makes a good mixologist or bartender?
I think a good bartender is someone who knows how to make all the classic drinks whilst bringing their own signature to it. If you’d like to know if a bar or bartender is good, ask them about the classic cocktails. If you can taste the layers of flavors and its signature, they are of quality. All good signature drinks from a bartender comes from all those classic drinks.

Being a bar consultant and mixologist involved in Bali F&B seems like a lively occupation to have, what have you learned through your experience after all these years? What’s your favorite thing about your job?

I learned a lot, I started as a daily worker and through working my way up where I am today, I learned mostly to be patient of handling people and their expectations. Especially behind the bars, I learned to be fast and good in balancing drinks, handling myself through the pressure of customer’s demands. I also learned that it’s important to know what your team is upto and where they are lacking during a busy service so you can help each other out as a team.

What’s always important to me is for me to be able to progress, during all my services I strive to be where I aim to be, more professional in a sense. It’s important to me that the place I work at improve the quality of their products & services.

What or how do you recommend people to order usually?

I usually ask how they are feeling at the time. If they don’t want to get personal, i would ask what type of base alcohol is their favorite. I would ask whether they are feeling fruity, dry, sour, or even bold - and it usually develops from there. When they take that first sip, and their eyes pop out, I know I made the right one, even without them telling me. That’s my favorite type of appreciation.

Skeletor J is a men’s silver accessories brand, quite the opposite of all the bar stuff that you do, why did you start it?

It started when I was looking for a chunky ring with certain texture and look. I looked everywhere and I couldn’t find one that I like. So I designed one myself and got the idea to sell my designs. I showed them to the guy I used to work for, he is the inspiration. He’s got the character, style, personality, and the way he carries himself. There’s a charisma and humbleness to him that I imagine someone wearing these accessories would carry.

Having just visited a few neighboring countries, what are your favorite bars in Singapore/Thailand?

I picked them out really randomly. Not sure it’s my favorite but it certainly is the most memorable. There’s this place in bangkok, Bar Us. The style is modern Japanese, speakeasy and fine-dining type of space. It was so unique, all the menu, from starter all the way to dessert were all liquid. They served chicken soup as a drink - the broth, so I had that. It was good but it was chicken soup ..... as a drink. Not sure how I felt about it hahaha.

What’s your ultimate goal professionally and personally?

First of all, I would like to develop myself further by visiting and experiencing other countries. When you go somewhere else, you need to figure out how to blend with their norms and culture. I want to have that first, to have the next grip of what I’m going to do in life. Learning more about myself and how things are in other places. I never really imagine myself to be big, but I’d like to be eventually financially free and get to maintain my work or business.