Meet Yann Bouvignies, the new head mixologist at Scarfe’s Bar

Five-star London hotel The Rosewood has named Yann Bouvignies as the new head bartender of Scarfe’s Bar, following the departure of predecessor Greg Almeida earlier this year.

Yann Bouvignes takes the lead role at Scarfe’s Bar (Photo: Scarfe’s)

Bouvignies will work alongside Bar Manager Martin Siska and lead the team famous for its contemporary serves which incorporate ingredients from the hotel’s in-house laboratory.

Born and raised near Montpellier in France, Bouvignies spent the first few years in the hospitality working at the then newly-opened Hotel Le Kaïla in Meribel. He then moved on to La Résidence de la Pinède Hotel in St Tropez.

He joined The Savoy Hotel in Meribel in 2014 as assistant bartender before moving to London to take up a post at cocktail bar Purl in Marylebone.

Bouvignies joined the team at Coburg at the Connaught Hotel in 2016 before moving to Scarfe’s later that year. He has worked closely with Almeida to devise two distinct menus for the bar, which earned the team two consecutive nominations in the Spirited Awards at Tales of the Cocktail.

Bouvignies was hired for his “meticulous attention to detail and creative originality,” and has created a number of new serves which will feature in Scarfe’s revamped menu in 2019.

Scarfe’s relaunched its notoriously extravagant cocktail menu back in April, with new tipples inspired by British celebrities from Sir Richard Branson to Ali G.

The menu — a 77-page novella illustrated by Private Eye cartoonist Gerald Scarfe — is a tongue-in-cheek take on the key players in the past 16 years of British history, with Ricky Gervais, David Attenborough, J.K. Rowling and Boris Johnson all getting a send-up through the medium of drink.