Last year Baba au Rum celebrated 15 years since opening its doors. A key bar in putting Athens on the map for contemporary cocktail culture it’s picked up its fair share of awards, most recently taking home the World’s Best Spirit Selection presented by Tales of the Cocktail Foundation in 2024, and is a regular on the World’s 50 Best bars list, currently sitting at No. 17. We caught up with founder Thanos Prunarus, asking him 15 questions, one for each incredible year.
Thanos, let’s go back to the beginning and what first attracted you to the cocktail world?
It began when i studied hospitality management at the University of Crete. It was very wide-ranging and included mixology. That was my first touch with cocktail culture, making classics like Martinis, Manhattans and B52s. Then in 1998, aged 27, I moved to London and started working as a waiter at Covent Garden Brasserie, then at a place called St. James Park. It wasn’t a cocktail bar, more of a cafe and restaurant, but it gave me the opportunity to jump behind the bar and experience the cocktail world.
Then when I returned to Athens in 1999 I worked in a very beautiful and very famous bar called Inoteka. It was partly about wine but also cocktails. I worked in a few other bars but I knew I really wanted to open my own cocktail place.
And this was Baba au Rum – what was the driving thought and the motivation for this?
Every bartender wants to open their own bar at some point. But I wanted to create something unique. At that time the buzz in Greece and in Athens was usually music oriented. My friends said to me, “oh, you’re opening your own bar, great, what’s the music going to be?” That was always the first question. And I was saying, “it’s not about music, yes it’s gonna have great music, but it’s gonna be about the drinks!”
What was your thinking for those drinks?
I wanted to bring to Athens, and Greece in general, the real cocktail culture. The history of mixed drinks from the 19th century, going through cocktail history – Manhattans, Martinis and Tiki culture. Bringing them to life in Athens. And this is what we did. In our first menu, for example, we had classic drinks, like the Brandy Crusta and Julep. At the time they were quite unknown in Athens.
You called your bar Baba au Rum, where does your love of rum come from?
I believe there is a mythology around it. It’s a spirit that you can tell the most stories about, even if most of them are not real. It doesn’t matter. That creates a very charming background. So that was the first thing. I love whiskey as well, but rum is more fun.
And I think you can serve rum to any person. For example, if you’re a 20 year old with a younger palate you can have a light rum and ginger beer. Easy. If you have a more mature palate and more mature personality I can serve you an aged rum in the way I would serve you cognac. Gin is not for anyone. Whiskey is not for everyone. But rum has this huge diversity of different styles.
Where did the name Baba au Rum come from?
I thought it’s a nice name. Baba au Rum is a sweet dessert. The people from Naples and from France, they claim that it’s their own, but we have it in Greece as well. So I thought it’s a nickname. Everybody knows what Baba au Rum is, it’s Rum Baba. It’s catchy. It’s very playful. And the first letters, B. A. R. spell “Bar”.
There must have been many highlights over the years, what are some of the standout moments for you in those 15 years?
The evolution of our menus is definitely one of them. With every menu we’ve created something new. And we introduced for the very first time, at least in Greece, the cocktail and food matching. That was back in 2010. Then in 2011 we launched two new categories, like the Manhattan, and hot winter cocktails, such as Blazers and Hot Butter Rums. Stuff like that, which wasn’t the norm in Athens. These were very impressive and very theatrical. People were like, “wow, what is that?” The evolution of our menus has been really important. The guests have evolved too.
Another highlight was the publication of our magazine. And 2013 was our first time on the World’s 50 Best Bars list.
One of the many striking things in the bar is the ways drinks are presented, what’s the story with this?
When we opened the bar we wanted the drink itself to be the hero of the night. So we said, it’s not just enough to create some good drinks, but to highlight them visually as they were made. We used the tin and glass shakers because we wanted people to see it. And the room itself was quite dark so we also put spotlights on the place where the drink was served on the bar. This was very theatrical. So when someone entered the bar their eye immediately went to that drink on the bar. I’m very proud that now you can see this effect used almost everywhere in the world.
We’ve been visiting the bar for over 12 years and while it feels familiar there are always little changes – what’s your approach to keeping relevant?
We want to be a classic bar, but always with an evolution. Like the Rolling Stones, you know. We want it to be like an old classic bar, but after 15 years with the new style of creating drinks. We follow the scene globally, so if we like something, we go there. But if we don’t like it, we don’t take it just because it’s a trend. We’re not a trend bar. We like to create our own trends in a way, like the spotlight I mentioned.
It’s a simple philosophy.
And what keeps you busy outside of the bar?
I work on consultancy with some great hotels here in Greece. It’s not about money but the soul and creativity. This is what always motivates me. The magazine, of course, is something I really love as well, because I love magazines. We’re going to have the next issue after a 5 year break. It will be out next Autumn and it’s about the culture we want to spread.
Opposite Baba au Rum you also opened In Love Again, what the connection?
In Love Again is about our dedication to gastronomy. We believe that, cocktails and spirits, are part of the gastronomy, along with pastry cooking and coffee. So, for example, at In Love Again, some of our pastries are cocktail-inspired. There is also this new era of coffee and we want to be part of that. We want to give good coffee to the people in the same way we love to give them good cocktails. So the two venues complement each other.
So what did you do professionally to celebrate 15 years?
We had a series of masterclasses about art and cocktails, and our history. For instance, we currently have an avant-garde section in our menu. We talked about what it means, not just as the name for a cocktail menu, but its whole story. We are talking about what avant-garde is as a social and artistic movement that started in Europe, like, 100 years ago. We also had a big party for our regular guests.
What about you personally, how have you been celebrating 15 years?
When I’m at the bar I celebrate being there. I celebrate myself. I celebrate the place. Just to be there, I love it. If I’m sitting at the bar and see two people there, I love to go and talk to them and be the waiter for them. Or just hosting my friends. Everyday is a celebration for me when I’m at the bar.
Over 15 years you’ve created and served many outstanding drinks, what has been the most popular cocktail?
I think if you see the numbers it is the Spicy Baba. It’s a signature drink that we created in 2010 and it’s been on our menu ever since. We’ve changed it slightly over the years because peoples’ palates change, and now we use more contemporary techniques than back then. We calculated that we’ve sold something like 130,000 Spicy Babas. It’s a nice simple tropical drink with aged rum, ginger, lime, cranberry and some other good stuff in it.
What is your easy fail safe rum cocktail that people like us can easily make at home?
A Daiquiri, but with an addition of a little bit of rum agricole and two or three dashes of aromatic bitters. It’s the best drink you can have. Easy. Just keep it simple, keep it balanced. And use a nice, beautiful aged rum. Perfect.
Last question, Thanos, can you tell us one thing that nobody knows about you?
I don’t have secrets anyway. But that’s a good question. I’m a musician and I was in an electro band. I played the keyboards and the electronic stuff like computers and synthesizers. It was like a hybrid between British new wave and modern electronic sounds.
Everything I do, it’s all about creativity!
Baba au Rum, Klitiou 6, 105 60 Athens, Greece
Hear Thanos talking about the Athens bar scene on our podcast from 3rd November 2022
