Behind closed doors and away from the clatter at Lavantha KL, Maison Martell convened a small gathering of industry insiders for an encounter with one of mixology’s most original thinkers: Rémy Savage, Martell’s Master Mixologist.
Part bartender, part philosopher, Savage has become known for approaching cocktails not simply as drinks, but as expressions of ideas. In essence, miniature compositions where aroma, structure, and emotion interact. His recent session, intimate and quietly meticulous, offered a rare opportunity to trace that thinking from concept to glass.
Rémy Savage.
A New Age Of Cocktails
“I think we’re in a beautiful moment,” Savage began, reflecting on the renewed global obsession with cocktails. It is a resurgence he credits to increasingly curious drinkers and the rising visibility of the world’s best bars. Between running a portfolio of acclaimed venues and preparing to open a new project inspired by art and movement, he remains firmly rooted in the craft itself.
“Being a bartender is my job,” he said matter-of-factly, though his approach feels closer to that of an artist. Travelling, teaching, hosting, it is all rooted in wanting to understand why things taste the way they do.”
History In A Glass
As he began his presentation, Savage quickly reminds his audience that mixology is not modern. “The idea of combining aromas, ingredients and anthropic techniques is as old as alcohol itself.” Trade and spice routes shaped the earliest experiments; centuries-old drinks travelled across cultures long before they earned names.
He points out that two centuries ago, most drinks were consumed at room temperature, simply because ice was a luxury. Only when ice harvesting — and later industrial refrigeration — appeared in the late 19th century did cold drinks become democratised. That shift, he suggests, changed everything.
Even the word cocktail emerged late. Its first recorded definition — a mix of spirits, sugar, water and bitters — appeared in the United States in 1806. Prohibition, ironically, accelerated innovation: bartenders masked poor-quality illicit spirits with creativity.
As Americans dispersed abroad during the Roaring Twenties, they carried that culture with them. Parisian bars — especially the American-owned Harry’s New York Bar — became fertile ground for inventions such as the French 75, Sidecar and Boulevardier. Elsewhere, Cuba’s daiquiris and mojitos grew from similar cultural collisions.
Savage notes all this lightly, as though tracing the lineage of a family. “It’s all connected. Nothing is created without a history behind it.”
The Skeleton Of A Cocktail
Technique, he elaborates, is the bartender’s grammar. He speaks of “skeletons” — underlying structures that dictate balance and allow creativity to flourish. To demonstrate, he presents the “Finalo”: cognac, verjus, sugar and water, sometimes carbonated.
Shockingly simple, it is a drink stripped down to the clearest expression of structure. “Cognac is as versatile as vodka,” he says, almost mischievously. “It has this beautiful acidity — an homage to wine, and to grapes themselves.”
This philosophy sits naturally within Martell’s own heritage. As the only major Cognac house that removes all lees to preserve the purest grape essence, its liquid slots effortlessly into classic cocktail frameworks. “The rich and aromatic nature of Martell is comfortable blending in most cocktail structures,” Savage explains. “It often adds a layer of complexity that surprises many.”
Fine à l’Eau: Clarity as Craft
His masterclass anchor was the Fine à l’Eau — a contemporary interpretation of the traditional cognac-and-water serve. Crafted entirely from grape-derived ingredients, the drink channels simplicity into elegance.
By pairing cognac with verjus, softening it with sugar, and stretching it with water, Savage reveals how clarity becomes its own flavour. Light, revitalising, and uncluttered, the serve captures what Martell’s “Make It With Martell” campaign champions: creativity through refined craftsmanship. Classic structures, reimagined through the lens of French grapes.
As the Masterclass comes to a close and libations flow it is evidently clear that what distinguishes Rémy Savage is less the recipes than the thinking beneath them. He treats cocktails as sensory equations — the harmony of aroma and taste forming what he calls “the expression of flavour”.
His work, like Martell’s, rests on the belief that technique serves emotion, and that the simplest drinks can be the most revealing. In a culture that often celebrates spectacle, Savage offers something quieter: a reminder that craftsmanship begins with understanding, and that every great cocktail starts as an idea and a great spirit.
