The Karel Korner Bar stands for individuality, creativity and innovation. All juices, syrups, bitters and tinctures are homemade. The predominant "official language" among a bar team from Russia, Germany, Iran, Spain, Ecuador, Portugal, Hungary and Switzerland is English. "This also spills over to the guests. People know that they speak several languages at Karel," says Judith Lauber, alias Judy. As bar manager, she is behind the bar concept, the counter and at the side of her international bar fleet.
Since day one, the Black Forest native from Freiburg has been bar manager and general manager of the Karel Korner Bar in Lucerne. By chance, she got into conversation with the two owners five years ago and fell into friendly as well as professional ties. "They had the idea of turning a cevapcici stand into a cocktail bar," says Lauber, describing the beginning of her role as mixologist, hostess and manager in one. Since then, she has been managing the Lucerne scene bar "with all the freedom" it needs for locals, Baselers, Zurichers or Berners and exclusively signature drinks.
And when the owners, who work in the background, "are in the bar, they get in the way," jokes the full-blooded gastronome, who also serves the whole of Switzerland as co-owner of the cocktail catering company "Room
Service".
Eating well, cooking for friends or the extended family in the Black Forest, visiting bars, coffee houses or hotel lobbies, socialising: Culinary arts, gastronomy and being a host have always been her interest. In addition to her A-levels and a commercial apprenticeship in a hotel, she already worked in bars, cafés and as a temp in the Hemingway Bar in Freiburg. It was at the bar there that she made the decision: "I have to fix this, I stayed there and was "trained" by very gifted and talented people to become a mixologist.
But what would the perfect creative-liquid craft be without a good host? "It can only go hand in hand. Bartending is not just a job. I have passion behind it, otherwise I wouldn't be doing it for so long. When I'm on my own at the Karel Korner with around 40 seats, it's demanding. But the moment of captivating a guest is wonderful".
The decision to work full-time in the bar business now lies ten years back. With a lot of self-initiative, self-study of specialist knowledge from trade reading, visiting trade fairs and a lot of experience in contact with people on the one hand and mixology on the other.
"Being a mixologist is a lifestyle, a passion. Without passion, I would change professions immediately.
She is currently working with her team at the Karel Korner Bar on the sixth bar menu, "Volume 6", which consists exclusively of around 20 signature cocktails. Only on the first menu five years ago was a certain Gin Basil Smash to be sighted. "We partly use the classics as inspiration, but basically our house cocktails are created by our own hands," says the almost 30-year-old, who prepares everything for her guests as long as the appropriate ingredients are in the house.
"If someone is in the mood for a piña colada, mojito or caipirinha, we first try to draw his or her attention to one of our own creations". Their claim, which runs like a red thread through the family-run Karel Korner: Serving guests something new and surprising.
Risk and challenge was the initial idea: "Today, eight out of ten orders are cocktails, which makes us proud". With American whiskies, vermouths, bitters, a large gin selection, mezcal, tequila, regional beer specialities on the side and Lauber's favourite beer Augustiner Edelstoff, he says anything is doable.
During her shift four days a week, she mixes up to 150 cocktails a night - preferably stirred drinks and wild combinations - and forgoes the high-proof treat herself in creative work mode. If she goes out herself, she prefers "supposedly simple drinks" like Negroni, Boulevardier or Old Fashioned.
Unpleasant guests are rare. "And if they are, we send them one house away," says the bar manager of the "KK" with a wink, i.e. around the corner. Karel is a fictitious name and Korner refers to the location of the bar on the corner of the house. As the hostess, she sees herself as 100 per cent accepted by her guests and the team in her function anyway.
"In 2020, the gender issue should no longer play a role."
"At Karel Korner, the percentage of women is higher over the years, and that is also the case with our guests. Not easier or more difficult than in other industries, even if fewer women do this job and it is therefore more special - "a matter of attitude".
Judith prefers
City or country
Berlin
Beer or wine
Bordeaux
Day or night
Kauz (The Kauz is a Zurich club), definitely: a night person
Hobbies
Berlin, Bordeaux, Kauz
Favourite cocktail
Sacchi-Boulevardier and Kaffee de Bonheur
Dog or cat
So far, I still have friends 😉
Karel Korner
Opening hours:
MO - Wed: 17.00 - 00.30
DO - SA: 17.00 - 02.00
Winkelriedstrasse 30
6003 Lucerne
karelkorner.ch
This article appeared in
Issue 1-2020
BAR NEWS magazine as single issue
