Paul Voza and Maros Dzurus pride themselves on being organised and structured. And by their own admission, they’re feeling neither of those things at the time of our conversation. It’s two months before the new cocktail menu is scheduled to launch at Himkok, the Oslo bar where Paul is head of R&D and Maros is bar manager. And if you know anything about the recent menus at Himkok, you’ll know that something clever, cool and groundbreaking is in the offing.
It started four years ago when they collaborated with renowned illustrator Esra Røise and launched the first cocktail menu to explore the NFT space. Next they partnered up with multimedia artist and photographer Olav Stubberud. Last year they kept the arty theme but took it in another direction when they partnered with fashion designer Eline Dragesund who interpreted the new menu in a full catwalk collection. So the big question for Himkok fans is, what next?
Cue drums, cue bass, cue vocals, cue an amazing roster of home grown talent – the theme for Himkok’s 2024 cocktail menu is music!
We know, we know, music and cocktails has been done before. But not like this it hasn’t. In true Himkok style, there’s more to this menu than simply selecting tracks to accompany the new drinks. They’re going big. And when we say, big, we mean extra-large. How many cocktail menus do you know where a major record label commits to eight of its artists taking part in a menu launch, with original tracks created especially to fit the mood, style and flavour profile of 13 new drinks? We think the answer is none.
When we heard, there were so many questions buzzing around in our heads but when we sat down to speak to Paul, we had to start with…
How did the music theme come about?
Remember last year, I told you that our goal was for creative people to come to us with ideas for menu collaborations? Well, that’s what happened! Anja Amundsen, one of the people who was helping us with the fashion collab told us that she had an idea contact at Sony and we took it from there.
Which of course led on to the rest…
It’s all well and good having the idea but how did you get sign off?
Anja put us in contact with this amazing guy called Yones Branes who’s in charge of marketing new trends and new standards. Our first meeting was back in December. We talked a bit, pitched the project and he absolutely loved it because it really represents what Sony likes to do with a new, upcoming artists.
Your reputation must have helped?
Yes. Himkok is a very strong name and we’re renowned for our professionalism. When we went to that initial meeting we had everything lined up: the idea, the concept, everything – just as we did with the briefings for our previous menus. I guess they inquired about us a little bit too, and they signed off on the project straight away.
What about the artists, were they aware of Himkok?
Actually, no. The first time we met up with the artists, 95 percent of them hadn’t been to Himkok. For us, that was actually fantastic because our core business is centred around 22-35-year-olds. Think about it, the bar is already 10 years old, which means that the people who were coming when they were 25 are now 35 – many of them now have kids and don’t go out all the time. So it’s crucial for us to do things like this, because as Norway is an extremely dark market, it’s super tough for us to keep attracting new people, especially after a decade.
How many artists are on board?
There are eight in total, ranging from up-and-coming bands through to the very famous. As with all of our projects, all of the artistes are Norwegian.
Can you tell us a bit about them?
Sure, we have two 19 year-olds, one is a hip-hop artist called Destina who is currently a viral sensation on TikTok, the other is Linnea Ruud, known as LilNeya, who fuses dance, hip-hop, R&B and reggae. Then there’s Mari Bella, who was the youngest winner of Idol Norge at the age of 15. She’s now 18 and is a national success after taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest and featuring in the charts on a number of occasions.
We have a house music DJ called Mat Duo who collaborates with some of the coolest artists in Norway, as well as a five-piece indie band called PandaPanda. Swingklubben are a mix of party music and dance bands combined with humour and storytelling.
The 06 Boys are all about summer vibes and good times and are favourites at festivals across the country. Kapteinen is an indie/pop act whose songs stand out through their catchy melodies, energetic orchestration and poignant lyrics and last but by no means least, we have Erica Norwich who has a kind of Rihanna style. She’s another TikTok star – her song Til Lillebror saw her climb into the Top 20 on the Spotify streaming charts and has seen her notch up over two million streams to date. All in all, it’s a great cross section of artists and we’re really excited to see what they come up with.
So how does it work: did the artists choose a drink they wanted to work on or did you allocate the drinks to them according to their style?
It was actually really cool to see because we invited them to the bar, they tasted the drinks and they all decided on their own which cocktail they wanted to create music for. It was like, “I want this one; I’ve had an idea for a song and this is exactly what this drink reminded me of.”
And they’re creating original music for the menu?
Yes, it’s all original music, which I find absolutely incredible. When Maros Dzurus and I sat down with them, our first question was, ‘Is this even doable?’ I’m not a singer. I’m not an artist – it would take me like 10 years to write a song. But they were like, ‘No problem, we can do this.’
The drinks were created ahead of the new tracks, did you play music in the background while you were creating them? And if so, what style of music is your go-to?
When we’re in our prep room, we always play old school hip-hop.
Other than the music, what are the key ingredients that come into play when you’re devising your menus?
We always source locally, our menus have to be financially sustainable, we always put Norway in a glass and pride ourselves on high quality at a good price.
How does a project like this compare to those you’ve undertaken previously?
It’s completely different in as much as there are so many people involved. This is the first time that we’ve had a big company like Sony involved which has been amazing but there are also elements that we’ve never had to take into consideration before because there’s so much legal stuff involved. Everything has to be approved. They have to get lawyers, each artist has a manager, so they had to go through all the managers. And then the artists have to approve the content. It has to follow the artist brand identity. So it’s a huge, huge project. On a scale of one to ten, my anxiety levels are probably at 10 right now because everything is out of my control. I’ve been assured that everything is on track and we’ll get to hear the music very soon. Like they said to me, it’s Sony Norway, they deliver on time.
Tell us about a few of the drinks
Of course! There’s Smoked Malt, which we describe as boozy, smoky and umami. Like all of our drinks, it’s a celebration of Norwegian flavours and culture captured in a glass. It’s rich, it’s intriguing, it’s smoky and will be brought to life PandaPanda, who will also be interpreting Karsk, a smooth, dessert-like cocktail that combines Himkok Vodka and Aquavit with a Karsk, a traditional Norwegian drink blended with coffee and vodka.
We have one called Carrot Cake, which is a twist on a famous Norwegian dessert served at festivals and celebrations. It’s Jack Daniel’s Bonded, fat washed with a carrot cake mix and it’s absolutely delicious, it’s literally like eating a carrot cake. The artists absolutely loved because it reminded them of their childhood. Mari Bella is recording a song for that one.
Seabuckthorn is a sweet, sour and fruity drink with Buffalo Trace Bourbon, Cocchi Americano and a cordial made with seabuckthorn and brown cheese – super simple but very tasty. That’s one of two that Erica Norwich went for, the other is Strawberry, a really fluffy, creamy and fruity cocktail made with Highland Park 12, Himkok Vodka and fresh strawberries. Other drinks include Blueberry, Cloudberry, Thyme, Lingonberry, Liquorice, Peach, Quince and Raspberry.
We can’t wait to try them! The menu is launching on September 26th, what do you have planned for the big reveal?
We’re having a private concert on the 26th and will be inviting guests to sample the cocktails at the bar. We’re also printing some vinyls and sending them out as a thank you to our supporters who always follow our journey.
Lastly, why do you do this elaborate menu launches?
We know we can make drinks, but doing things like this, it’s always a plus for our followers, our community, our bartenders, they absolutely love it. With these types of projects we get to meet new people, make new contacts and these collaborations really help us beyond that, because, as I mentioned before Norway is a dark market. We can’t promote alcohol so we have to be clever and creative with how we get our message out there. Luckily some of the artists have agreed to mention some brands in the songs and for us and the brands taking part, that’s really huge.
