NYTIMES / JOURNEYS

By SETH SHERWOOD 

IN a beer-loving city like Copenhagen, long ruled by the twin empires of Carlsberg and Tuborg, it wasn’t easy for Gromit Eduardsen, a British mixologist and proud “cocktail geek” who moved to the city in 2000, to introduce his trade. The very idea of a professional, full-time drink mixer, he says, was impossible for most of his customers to grasp.

“If you were behind a bar then, people would ask you, ‘What’s your proper job?’ or ‘What are you studying?’ ” Mr. Eduardsen recalled with a weary chuckle, as he waited for the evening rush at his two-year-old lounge, 1105, a dark and elegantly minimalist space. The cocktails on 1105’s menu that night included the Fleur de Champagne (Chambord, vodka, elderflower cordial and Champagne) and the Señor Hansi (tequila, agave syrup, lime juice, passion fruit and weissbier foam) — far cries from a pint of lager.

“It was all ’80s drinks,” Mr. Eduardsen said of the options he found when he first arrived in the city. “In the best bars in Copenhagen, where the high society would drink, you’d have people drinking strawberry daiquiris made with strawberry syrup and bottled lime juice and bad rum, all put through a blender — an alcoholic slush to get drunk on.”

But the last few years have witnessed a sea change in the habits of local imbibers. Thanks largely to an influx of foreign bartenders from more cocktail-savvy nations — mainly Britain — and the return of Danish bartenders who polished their mixing skills abroad, the cobbled lanes and picturesque waterways of the Danish capital are echoing with the rattle of shakers and clatter of long stirring spoons like never before.

Several bars with a serious devotion to original high-end cocktails have sprouted in recent years, along with the Copenhagen Cocktail Club (copenhagencocktailclub.dk), a group made up of three bartenders dedicated to “promoting and developing the art of drink and bar and cocktail culture in Denmark and across Scandinavia,” said a co-founder, Spaniard David Bernabeu (yes, that’s his actual full name), who bartended previously in London. When they’re not whipping up original recipes behind the bars at the Oak Room and Bar Rouge, two early pioneers of the new cocktail culture, the members advise other establishments on their drinks menus, train staff and hold lively competitions at a rotation of bars around town.

For the new generation of bartenders, paper umbrellas, blenders, generic booze and canned juices have all been sent down the drain in favor of refined glassware, uncommon spirits and a dedication to hand-crafting syrups, infusions and fruit mixers from scratch, often using local ingredients. Menu selections change regularly, and attending bartending seminars and cocktail conventions abroad is almost de rigueur. Cool interiors and sartorial style are no less important, with many of the bartenders revealing a fondness for the Prohibition-era vintage vests and long white jackets common to cocktail revivalists around the world.

Ruby, which opened in 2007, was another of the pioneers of the new Copenhagen cocktail scene, and remains an exemplar. In addition to boasting an impeccable location — an airy 18th-century town house outfitted with oriental rugs, chandeliers and fresh flowers — the bar has an innovative cocktail list that changes four times a year and is filled with exotic alcohols and housemade mixers.

“We’re based on a seasonal menu, like a gourmet restaurant,” explained the manager Nick Kobbernagel Hovind, a Dane, as he laid out a list of springtime drinks that included the Primavera (white grapefruit juice, Galliano L’Autentico herbal liqueur, Campari, and Agrapart & Fils Champagne) and the Ruby Daiquiri (rhubarb jam shaken with vanilla syrup, lime juice and Angostura rum from Trinidad). With his thin moustache and striped vest, he looked like a character from a 1920s silent film. “It’s all about getting fresh ingredients,” he said.

To help introduce Copenhageners to the finer points of cocktails, the bar holds periodic “Spirit Sessions” in its basement lounge, a plush retreat of Chesterfield couches and gilt-edged mirrors. The sessions are the boozehound’s answer to wine tastings. “It’s a chance to learn some cocktail history and taste some different products,” Mr. Hovind said.

For a further education, you can simply slap together your own makeshift cocktail crawl. There’s a plush new liquor lab for nearly every taste or mood. Drinkers thirsting for some old-time Americana should knock on the unmarked door of The Union, which was opened last year by another English bartender, Paul Muldowney. Inside, you’ll find a darkened speakeasy-style space where Cab Calloway rules the sound system and Depression-era slang fills the drinks card: the Bootleg (gunpowder tea infused with bourbon and Champagne), the Double-Cross (Cognac, apricot brandy, amaretto, lemon), the Hooch (applejack, Chartreuse, elderflower liqueur, lemon and bitters).

Umami, a sleek and chic restaurant that last year added a cocktail bar, is one of the few places in town to combine high-end drinks with food. Japanophiles can sink into the orange banquettes and sip drinks infused with Far Eastern flavors like sake, green tea, cherry blossom liqueur and shiso leaves. The adjacent dining room serves up equally innovative Sino-European concoctions, like seared foie gras with eel, pear, black beans and seaweed salad, and sea bream with white soy sauce and coriander.

Riding the cocktail wave, the city last year held a competition to create its namesake drink. Under the scrutiny of a panel of judges, bartenders from five top cocktail lounges — 1105, Ruby, The Union, K Bar and MASH (the last owned by the same folks behind Umami) — squared off before hundreds of spectators. The winning recipe was a blend of Cherry Heering liqueur, genever (a Dutch precursor to gin), lime juice, sugar syrup, bitters, salt and pepper. The winning mixologist? Mr. Eduardsen, representing 1105.

The victory was a measure of vindication for Mr. Eduardsen — and proof of the evolution of the city’s cocktail culture since his arrival several years ago.

“Now people see bartenders as the animators of the evening, as the creators of the atmosphere,” he said. “They’re much more respected. People drink less than they ever used to these days, but they look more for quality. Now, when they choose to get drunk, they like to do it with a little bit of style.”