Whereas working in Cape City, South Africa, Steve Olson, spirits educator and co-founder of Del Maguey mezcal, speaks in regards to the significance of the on-trade and the way he intends to proceed championing the creativity and talent of bartenders worldwide.
Steve Olson, co-founder of Del Maguey mezcal, was bestowed with the Lifetime Achievement Award at The Spirits Enterprise Awards 2025.
Olson has had a profound impression on the mezcal class over his illustrious profession. Spend 5 minutes in his firm and also you’ll rapidly study his ethos is all about enriching the broader communities linked to the spirits world, be they agave farmers, native distillers, artists, or bartenders. From Cape City in South Africa, he speaks in regards to the significance of the on-trade and the way he intends to proceed championing the creativity and talent of bartenders worldwide.
Inform us in regards to the on-trade scene throughout Africa proper now.
The cocktail scene is admittedly Cape City, Johannesburg and Nairobi. On the japanese seashores of Nairobi, there’s an entire bar scene on the market, after which Lagos has extra of a membership form of scene. There’s a bartending renaissance occurring down right here, guys. It’s like London within the Nineties, Paris within the 2000s/teenagers.
The world is a little bit of a catastrophe proper now, gross sales sensible, and corporations, as an alternative of going, “Nicely, perhaps we should always flip our consideration to markets the place we may improve our gross sales”, they sadly haven’t any alternative however to handle their corporations extra like a hedge fund, as a result of they’re accountable to their shareholders. They haven’t any alternative however to chop prices, minimize advocacy, PR, minimize schooling – the issues that basically matter essentially the most are the issues that get minimize first. Lots of corporations have pulled out of Africa and I’m down right here seeing these folks want help. It’s an thrilling market, it’s going loopy, and so they’ve discovered a solution to incorporate native elements and elevate traditional recipes. I’m doing plenty of work right here with the bartending neighborhood as a result of there’s plenty of work to be achieved. I’m working more durable now than I ever have, but it surely’s a distinct form of work.
How are bartenders reacting to mezcal?
When Ron [Cooper, co-founder of Del Maguey] and I had been beginning within the Nineties, no person knew something about mezcal. And as we grew and as we began educating folks about mezcal – individuals who had been actually to study – markets began to develop. I bear in mind Portland and New Orleans after they had been simply occurring, Atlanta, Lafayette in Indiana, Gunnison in Colorado; there are pockets of curiosity and alternatives in each market. There are folks studying the books, watching the movies, searching for precise info. Wherever you go, you can see bartenders who wish to study extra, discover new flavours, and that’s extremely thrilling.
Sadly, for the primary time in 21 years final yr, we needed to postpone our BAR [Beverage Alcohol Resource, founded by Olson] faculty for a yr as a result of we had 9 college students lose their visas when Donald Trump determined folks couldn’t come on scholar visas [to the US] anymore. With the market being depressed, we misplaced about one other eight scholarships that had been already being given to college students.
We needed to regroup, and we had been in a position to host the BAR Faculty programme within the first week of February [2026]. We misplaced some scholarships, however we picked up others from, curiously sufficient, principally smaller corporations which can be attempting to remain alive, realising schooling is the ticket.
We’re about demonstrating that each single minute of your life, you’re devoted to not bartending; you’re devoted to hospitality. We agree with all people on the primary day that all of us have a illness that’s to make different folks joyful. When you settle for that – that it’s cool to make different folks joyful – then you can begin engaged on being a very good bartender. In the event you’re not on this since you wish to make different folks joyful, there’s no place for you. This can be a profession and a career the place you spend each minute of day by day not desirous about how nice you may make that drink – that’s a part of it, however that’s the fundamentals. It’s about considering of others.
Who do you suppose is doing actually nice work within the bar business in the mean time?
I may title 50 of them, in each nation, on each continent. That’s how widespread this has turn into. There are such a lot of bartenders opening dive bars with nice cocktails, music bars with nice cocktails, sports activities bars with nice cocktails, the place folks come to have enjoyable and revel in nice drinks. A part of what’s driving it too is nearly each chef on the planet has realised in the event that they don’t have an awesome cocktail programme, it’s hurting not simply their income, however the general feeling of their restaurant.
Cape City, to say it’s Hong Kong 5 or 10 years in the past is a foolish analogy, however fairly think about it as form of a fledgling model of Hong Kong, the place the meals is simply insane and numerous as a result of it comes from everywhere in the globe, and the bartenders do too. Younger bartenders are proudly owning the scene right here proper now, it blows my thoughts. The highest 10 cocktail bars on this metropolis, seven are owned by folks of their late 20s to mid-30s, it’s superior what they’re doing.
We’ve to, after all, speak about your Lifetime Achievement Award from The Spirits Enterprise Awards 2025. What has life been like since that recognition?
I used to be fairly emotional once I acquired again to my desk, I couldn’t actually discuss. It was very intensely humbling. It actually made me sit again and suppose. I by no means designed my path or had a imaginative and prescient to get a lifetime achievement award some day. For me, I simply work actually laborious and I care rather a lot about what I do – I at all times have since I used to be younger. I’ve at all times believed that everybody on this planet has a objective and all people is equal, so if I’m fortunate sufficient to succeed, then it’s my responsibility to both convey folks with me or give again – or each, and I do each.
I had somebody not too long ago at one of many BAR Faculty lectures ask what it meant to me and the way it felt. And I mentioned: “You realize, what’s extra vital is what it meant to the households in Oaxaca, what it meant to my school at BAR as a result of there’s no such factor as success on this enterprise until you’re sharing it with a group.”
I nonetheless genuinely really feel in awe of the greats of this business. Like Dale DeGroff, Dale is king, proper? And Dale has been one in every of my closest pals for 40 years. We got here up collectively, we’re brothers, we’re companions within the faculty. And I swear to God, once I stand subsequent to Dale on stage, I pinch myself. I did a seminar at BCB final yr, and Dale was within the entrance row, and it wasn’t simply him. It was Dave Arnold, Charlotte Voisey, Julie Reiner and Franky Marshall. I used to be so nervous as a result of they’re previous college students of mine, but in addition an important folks and bar consultants on the planet.
And I believe again on what Ron Cooper and Michael Gardner [Del Maguey partner] and I did collectively. All of us labored laborious, all of us had been collectively bringing this stunning elixir to the world. With out that, all of my work would by no means have been seen. I bear in mind at one level Michael got here to Ron and I, and simply mentioned: “Guys, I’m not afraid to have an organization for revenue that can be for good.” These phrases have resonated in my head ever since.
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