Like a magnet, Switzerland's largest city attracts thousands and thousands of workers and students every day. In the evenings and at weekends, it's the night owls who make the pilgrimage to the city's drinking establishments from near and far.
In those by the water, above the clouds or in the crowned halls; to the ram, with the animals (the fours) or the (bar) flies; in the stork, with the old crow or in the bird's nest; wrapped in precious stone, in the shade of the fever tree or framed by bricks; with the Italian poet, the Swiss sexual reformer or - I don't know - with George, Felix or Manuel.
Not one evening, not even one week is enough to get to know Zurich's bar culture and its tales and legends from 63 and one nights. If you want to know what is mixed between Uetliberg and Züriberg, you have to be a regular visitor to the alleys and streets of the Zwingl city.
There's no denying it. Zurich is the Swiss cocktail metropolis and the beacon of local bar culture. Of course, between Geneva and St. Gallen, between Basel and Bellinzona, you will find many a tavern serving cocktail creations of the highest standard. But you won't find a comparable density of fantastic cocktail bars between Rämi and Langstrasse: Missing!
Zurich is the Swiss cocktail metropolis and beacon of domestic bar culture
It is part of Zurich's self-confidence that it does not shy away from comparisons with international cocktail metropolises. And if it should really happen that a Swiss bar is included in the "World's 50 Best Bars" list, then it should surprise few people if a bar from the city on the Limmat is included in the illustrious circle.
Is it sometimes this self-confident attitude that causes a certain insecurity among many non-Cantonese? Quite possibly. Nevertheless, the widespread Züri-bashing in the country is annoying. Prejudice and discrimination have no place anywhere, and certainly not in the restaurant business. The negative stereotyping of Zurichers is outdated in many ways, as city dwellers are characterised by an incredible diversity.
Renowned universities and colleges, innovative IT groups and start-ups, but also interesting career opportunities in the hospitality industry attract people from Switzerland and abroad to Zurich. In addition to openness, it is also the ability to think big that makes the city such an interesting place. Especially for the bar scene, which thrives on inspiration and creativity.
Züri ide Schnurre
But what does Zurich taste like on the palate? How can the liquid-culinary DNA of this region be deciphered and can it even be broken down to a category of drinks or even spirits? Hardly, because the region is too complex for that.
On the one hand, the metropolis radiates beyond its own cantonal borders, especially in the south and west, while on the other, Winterthur, Switzerland's sixth-largest city, can be found in the north-east of the canton.
"With over 600 hectares, the canton has the fifth largest vineyard area in the country."
And of course, in addition to excellent cocktail bars and top restaurants, you will also find producers of all kinds of liquid culinary delights in and around Zurich.
One of them, as is the case almost everywhere, is beer. But of the 25 breweries in the city of Zurich and the 19 breweries in Winterthur - and the numerous ones in between - there are only a few that have made it to prominence outside the cantonal borders. The big exception: Doppelleu Boxer AG.
Founded just under ten years ago, the Winterthur brewery backed the right horse right from the start. Top-fermented beer specialities inspired by Great Britain, the USA and Belgium in a distinctive design were one side of the recipe for success. The other was an impressive distribution and sales strategy, which can only be implemented from a certain size.
Within a very short time, both factors ensured that the Chopfab and Doppelleu beer brands became household names throughout Switzerland. And since the merger with the Boxer brewery in Yverdon-les-Bains, the brewery has even become one of the largest breweries in Switzerland.
A good bit smaller on the road is Turbinenbräu, a brewery founded in 1997 that started operations the same year Feldschlösschen moved production from Hürlimann to Rheinfelden. Other better-known breweries in the canton include Euelbräu and Stadtguet (Winterthur) and Brausyndikat, Oerlikon and Dr. Brauwolf (Zurich), as well as the contract brewers of Amboss and Storm & Anchor, which have nested with other breweries.
But in addition to brewed wine, Zurich is also known for its wine. With over 600 hectares, the canton even has the fifth-largest vineyard area in the country. Viticulture is particularly well established in the north of the canton - as can be seen not least from the name of Zurich's largest wine-growing region, Zürcher Weinland.
However, vines also line the slopes on the shores of Lake Zurich and along the Limmat and even the Hönggerberg on (scarce and expensive) city land.
Probably the most important vineyard in the region can be found at the Wädenswil Viticulture Centre in Wädenswil. There, where more than a hundred years ago Professor Hermann Müller-Thurgau (known for his cross of the same name) had already researched vines, work is still being done on the development of new, mainly more resistant grape varieties.
Red varieties are predominant throughout the canton with 62 percent. The front-runner is Pinot Noir with almost half of the planted area. The white varieties are dominated by Räuschling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer.
Diversity also dominates Zurich's high-proof specialities. There is not one typical spirit of the region that is particularly historically anchored. The Tirggel schnapps from Effretikon may be a nod to Zurich's traditional sugar biscuits, but the honey-ginger-cinnamon liqueur can hardly be described as historically anchored.
Especially in the urban centres of Zurich and Winterthur, people know how to spot trends quickly and jump on them early. This includes categories such as gin, aperitifs and bitters, regional ingredients, Swissness and the motto "quality before quantity".
Cult status has been achieved, for example, by the bitters of Dr. med. Weisflog has achieved cult status. Since bitters are on everyone's lips again and local specialities are among the most sought-after cocktail ingredients anyway, the aperitif, which was first produced commercially in 1880, can be found more and more often in Zurich bars - even though it is now produced by Fassbind in Central Switzerland.
Another cult brand from the canton was reactivated a few years ago: Jsotta. The vermouth brand from Lateltin AG in Winterthur was already a household name in the middle of the last century. But as you can read in old newspaper advertisements, for example in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung from 1949, the Swiss still had to be taught how to drink vermouth: "Vermouth is not suitable as mulled wine under any circumstances. Vermouth (...) should always be served very cool".
From a liquor idea to a trendy drink
The most common Zurich ingredient in Zurich bars is undoubtedly gin. And since Turicum Distillery started operations in 2015, spirits are now also distilled within the city limits. In addition to distilling, the minds behind the city of Zurich's juniper spirit offer workshops and events in the so-called Gin Lab.
It is easy to see from the elegant earthenware bottle that the founding quartet had a flair for marketing and design in addition to their culinary and gastronomic backgrounds. Turicum, however, is by no means the only gin that was created with the help of or with Zurich restaurateurs.
Clouds Gin, for example, goes back to a collaboration between Andreas Kloke, then manager of the bar of the same name, and the Aargau distillery Humbel. In the meantime, Kloke has dedicated himself entirely to gin with his 4 Animals Gin Bar with over 650 items. And with Cloudy Passion, Cloudy Cherry and Cloudy Calamansi, three more of his own gins have been added in recent years.
"Like everywhere else, actually, numerous new gins have been added in Zurich in the last two to three years."
But the expertise of Zurich bartenders is also in demand for gins from other parts of the country. For example, in the recipe for Gin 27, the gin from Appenzeller Alpenbitter AG, where bar legends Peter Roth, Christian Heiss and Markus Blattner had a hand, or rather their palate, in the process.
Sometimes it's not Barkeeper but brothers who shake up the gin market. Deux Frères is not distilled in Zurich, but the Grundböck brothers Gian and Florian think bigger anyway. They recently refreshed their gin with a redesign and now want to take it international. They also added a rosé from Provence and Vermouth Helvetico to their range a few years ago.
Gents also always comes up trumps with extraordinary innovations. Hans Georg Hildebrandt's beverage label not only includes the Filler line, but also distillates, vermouth and a non-alcoholic shandy.
And while we're on the subject: With Giselle 0.0%, Smith & Smith Ltd. recently launched an alcohol-free variant of its successful aperitif. And the start-up Rebels 0.0% is also fighting sober for attractive alcohol-free alternatives in Zurich's cocktail glasses.
From the tree into the glass. From the field into the barrel.
Like everywhere else, numerous new gins have appeared in Zurich in the last two to three years. These are (still?) mainly distilled in the distilleries of the region, which of course often also rely on the juniper spirit themselves. But watch out! There is some danger of confusion among the distilleries in the canton.
The Zürcher speciality distillery in Port (Canton of Bern), for example, has been known for some time for its Lakeland whisky. The Lohnbrennerei Zürcher in Dinhard near Winterthur, on the other hand, has only recently bottled its first whisky. The whisky project was launched in cooperation with the Lindetröpfli winery. Both partners bring their whisky share to the market under their own brand.
In the north of the canton, around Bülach and Winterthur, one encounters even more surprising distilleries. The traditional distillery Erismann has made it into various top bars in the city thanks to a modern appearance and innovative products - in addition to gin, rum and whisky also with a Hard Seltzer line.
Also sought after by many bartenders are the exceptional brandies and spirits (including three different pepper spirits) from Christian Orator in Pfungen, which complement his range of gin and fruit distillates. The Draft Brothers have also dedicated themselves to the latter categories.
Samuel Rommel and Beni Erb have been distilling with their own distilling infrastructure in the city of Winterthur since 2019. But in the years before, they have already managed to give a new impulse to vieille products in particular.
There is a further risk of confusion between the Kunz distillery in Forch and HK-Drink's in Meilen. While the former is mainly dedicated to distilling farm-grown and bought-in fruits, Hans Kunz of HK-Drink's is mainly dedicated to distilling gin and producing liqueurs and mulled wines.
There is also the distillery zum Tröpfli in Obfelden, run by Selesia and Stefan Müller. In addition to the contract distillate, the distillery in the southwest also produces high-proof spirits for its own sales channels. In addition to fruit distillates and gin, this year will also see the bottling of the distillery's own whisky, matured in Jurassic oak, for the first time.
In the very east of the canton, Elvira Müller-Ziegler distils, among other things, her Heimat Chrüter at the Heimat distillery in Bauma, which goes back to a recipe from her grandfather.
If you are a fan of single-variety distillates, Streuli's private distillery in Horgen is the place to go. The focus on the essentials is not only in the bottle, but also on the bottle. With a minimalist label design, the distillates with fruit from their own orchard stand out on every bottle shelf - if you get to see the limited rarities at all.
Urs Streuli, who runs the distillery on a part-time basis in the fifth generation, modernised not only his brand design but also his distilling plant in 2011. And yet his second distillery, over 150 years old, is still in operation from time to time. Even though the focus is on fruit brandies, gin already accounts for a production share of 65 to 75 percent at Streuli, depending on the year.
Also from farm-grown fruit are the distillates from the Allenwinden farm in Kappel am Albis. The brandies from Säuliamt go back to Christa Falkensammer, who gave up city life a few years ago to take over her parents' farm. But the certified organic farm is not only a distillery but also a brewery. The Kappeler Klosterbier is produced in the old cowshed, which has been converted into a brewery, together with the brewer Christof Eichenberger.
Between zeitgeist and timeless
If Zurich, the city, were a distillate, it would be a "zeitgeist". If you think of the lake and Säuliamt; Unter-, Ober-, and Weinland, Zurich would be a timeless cocktail. Sometimes classic, sometimes interpreted in a modern way. It would probably not be the cheapest drink on the menu. But in any case, it's one that looks good, tastes good and you'd be happy to order a second or third.
This article appeared in
Issue 2-2022
BAR NEWS magazine as single issue
