Meet Aistis Zidanavicius | Mixologist and drinks consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Aistis Zidanavicius and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Aistis, career-wise, where do you want to be in the end?
That’s a great question that I really started to think about 10 years ago and still think quite often. I believe it is very important to know where you are going because when you know your direction it is much easier to make decisions and make your choices. It’s also much easier to stay disciplined and focused. My end goal is always changing a bit, but more or less it always has the same vision. I also want to add that even goals are very important to me, I’m also enjoying the road and growth of myself through the time while chasing my goals. Speaking more specifically, I see myself as an entrepreneur owning and managing a beautiful island or peninsula resort with a great Maldives style hotel and amazing fresh and local food and delicious drinks at a beach bar. That’s like an idyllic dream where you always come back like coming back home. I also see myself travelling, meeting industry people, sharing my experience and trying new things. Consulting and opening great new concepts and inspiring others in the industry. I love creating things (cocktails, bars, concepts) and I want to do that in the future, everytime bigger and more interesting. And maybe one day I will open a great bar or restaurant concept somewhere out in space or on Mars!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I started my journey as a bartender more than a decade ago. First time I stepped behind a bar was in Cyprus and to be honest making more coffees than cocktails. But I was very passionate and tried to get as much information as I could. Those were not the times of the information on youtube as it is today. I remember myself literally standing and reading every bottle in the shop liqueur section. Then I moved back to my native country Lithuania where I got a chance to work at the legendary and the best cocktail bar at that time (it was 2010). I was always very passionate and motivated and that led me to becoming GM of the bar in one year and eventually one of the shareholders. Unfortunately Lithuanians’ economic situation was still not very great and we had to close the bar. But then I started to create a mobile cocktail catering company. At that time still nobody knew cocktails countrywise, only heard of them at exotic trips or expensive capital’s bars. I was one of the first people who started such a business – bringing craft fine dining cocktails to a place of people’s choice. Through 7 years I built a very successful business, visited many weddings and other celebrations and made delicious cocktails to thousands of people. Eventually 3 years ago me and my family moved to Miami. It was a new beginning for us. I didn’t know anybody here and had to prove myself again. I started to work at a restaurant and after becoming a head bartender, I spent a couple of years in that place until I decided to move on and started to work at one of the best bars in the world – Sweet Liberty. You still can find me shaking cocktails there! But I never liked to be comfortable and I’m always looking for ways to become better and do better. I like creating – cocktails or business. Recently I started my own brand Aistis Mixology for consulting other bars and restaurants, developing menus, training staff and doing craft fine dining quality private bartending for weddings, birthdays, house parties and basically any private events in your environment. Beside all of this, I love cocktail competitions. I did more than 30 of them in Lithuania (winning first and last places), also last year I registered for more than 22 in the United States. Winning first place in Herradura competition and being chosen as one of 5 bartenders nationally to go to Hamptons and compete there while meeting legendary rocker Jon Bon Jovi. I also wrote a book about my journey as a bartender through the angle of competitions. It’s still more as a draft, but when I will find somebody who will help me to publish it I will do that. All these ventures gave their own lessons and experience. I had very big accomplishments as well as very big failures. All of them got me to the point where I am today. And I will never stop trying new projects, trying to be better and reaching my ultimate goals. My family is my fortress and my additional motivation to keep going. I believe that I will create the best private bartending company and will be developing great menus for various amazing places worldwide. I like saying – Never give up and reach for the stars!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I am pretty new in Miami, living here just 3 years, but I try to visit places for sightseeing and for drinks and food as well. Most usually my friends come to Miami because of weather and I always recommend them to go to the beach and enjoy the day there. Also, I always take them to Wynwood, we visit Wynwood walls and wonder around to get a feeling of this artistic neighborhood. Then I always take them to Little Havana to have some Mojitos and if they smoke, to have some good cigars! Miami is a great city to live but for sightseeing that’s pretty much everything. I might be wrong but personally I believe Miami is great for living and not so great for sightseeing. Foodwise Miami is amazing, I believe that most food is great here and it’s really quite difficult to find a place that would serve food that is not delicious. But my favorite part is bars, cocktails and drinks. Here I have more insights, but honestly there are so many places in Miami that it’s impossible to visit them all and sometimes you find a great spot and nobody really knows about it. Last year I made a small project for myself that I called #50BestBarsMiami. I visited more than 50 bars (restaurants included because they have a bar as well) in the city and made small reviews on them on my Instagram and then at the end of the year I made my list of top 25, top 10 and top 5. And my top 5 places in Miami would be: The Sylvester, Swizzle Rum Bar and Drinkery, Sweet Liberty, Champagne Bar, Cafe la Trova and Kaona Room. I know it’s 6, was too hard to think of which one to take off the list, so I made my life easier 🙂 But there are many more great places and you can find them in my reviews on top 25 list!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I am very thankful to many books and many people throughout my journey, from whom I had a chance to learn and become the person I am today. My wife was always very supportive and helped me in all my ventures, even sometimes it was really very hard on her. I am forever thankful for her being my muse and sometimes being really tough on me, because all of those things formed my character and persistence. I remember in the beginning of my career, I got a chance to work at the best cocktail bar in Lithuania and bar manager Aistis (funny, but we share the same rare name) taught me a lot of things. Most thankful I am for him teaching me how to communicate with people as I came from the computer geek world. Also, I will always remember Luca Cinalli. When I saw him working for the first time it was something magical and that really gave me a great inspiration to move the direction I chose. Books were always a great source of knowledge and inspiration for me and I read many of them, but the one that I believe shaped me the most was a biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. And last but not least, I believe the book that will definitely shape me for the future is the book I just read recently – Unreasonable hospitality by Will Guidara.

Website: https://www.aistismixology.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/aistiszidanavicius

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aistiszidanavicius/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/aistis_z

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aistis.zidanavicius/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/aistis-mixology-miami-beach

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/aistis1983

Other: AistisMixology@gmail.com

Image Credits
Rene Hernandez Others