The Bartender
Series 1, Episode 1 Unrated
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At the bar Eden Hall in Ginza, Ryū Sasakura creates cocktails dubbed 'The Glass of the Gods.' Hotel redesigner Kamishima holds deep disregard for bartenders because of an embarrassing mistake he made as a younger man. He is shown the skill of the profession by Ryū, who creates a simple water-mix (mizuwari) by smashing Eden Hall's signature ice cup. Kamishima's bar redesign incorporates Ryū's explanation of the importance of bars; the featured cocktail is the Grasshopper.
The Menu of the Heart
Series 1, Episode 2 Unrated
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Miwa Kurushima comes to Eden Hall to ask Ryū to find her 'Menu of the Heart.' As a child, she broke a bottle of alcohol intended to mend the rift between her father and Taizō Kurushima, her grandfather. The two had been fighting over modernizing the family hotel. Shortly after this accident, Miwa's parents were killed in a car crash. Ryū extrapolates that the beverage was Suntory's Kakubin (referred to in the show as 'Kaku'), a beverage at the crossroad of old and new Japan; the featured cocktail is the Nikolaschka.
The Glass of Regret
Series 1, Episode 3 Unrated
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Shimaoka, the head of an advertising company, is retiring, and his old love, the actress Mieko Yuzuki, has just died. The two of them wanted to perform together in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, until he decided to take over his family's company. Ryū uses the Margarita and its history to show Shimaoka that love can live on; the featured cocktail is the Margarita.
The Amber Dream
Series 1, Episode 4 Unrated
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Ryū assists a couple on their first date. Meanwhile, Sayo Yusada is waiting for her husband for their anniversary, however the two have grown apart. Ryū mixes the Bijou Cocktail, then creates an Amber Dream from it, he explains that amber takes time to get its beauty, much like a marriage and the time a couple puts into it. The featured cocktails are the Bijou and Amber Dream.
Things Left Behind in a Bar
Series 1, Episode 5 Unrated
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A young salesmen, Shibata, is given a transfer notice from his boss after his sales figures are low. Ryū lifts the young man's spirits by telling him about Ernest Hemingway and the story The Old Man and the Sea; the featured cocktail is the Daiquiri.
The Story Inside The Glass
Series 1, Episode 6 Unrated
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Shizuo Kasahara, a screenwriter, has been having trouble writing scripts. He poses a riddle to various bartenders, having ordered four brands of single malt Scottish whiskeys (Laphroaig, Miltonduff, Glenburgie, and Ardbeg), asks what should be next. After going to several bars, his long-time friend and director Ryūji Mineyama catches up with Kasahara and they argue over why their productions are no longer original. Ryū answers the riddle, and by doing so helps the two men with their problem; the featured cocktail is the Aberdeen Angus.
On One Closed Day
Series 1, Episode 7 Unrated
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Ryū has fallen ill and the bar is closed for the day. Two senior bartenders who visit Ryū decide to concoct some drinks to help him. In the meantime, two customers enter the bar: Kōji Sōma, a politician embroiled in a scandalous court case and endlessly pursued by the paparazzi, and a female lawyer who is supposed to meet Kōji to discuss the case but misses the time; the two bartenders separately give the customers 'Rusty Nail' and 'Bull Shot', who eventually arrange to meet again. The featured drink is the Rusty Nail.
The Lies at the Counter
Series 1, Episode 8 Unrated
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Ryū serves Angel's Tip to a young dating couple. The man claims to be a doctor, but his behaviour causes Ryū to suspect that he is a con-man, seeking to cheat the woman; the man challenges Ryū to perform a 'taste test' with five glasses of water containing a drop of a different pastis. Ryū turns away and he switches the positions of the glasses and Ryū has to guess the names of the drinks. Ryū correctly identifies the drinks, including one glass where the man added a second pastis. Having lost the challenge, the man does not continue his charade with the woman; the featured drink is 'Pastis Water'.
The Bar's Face
Series 1, Episode 9 Unrated
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On a rainy night in Ginza, Miwa runs towards Eden Hall seeking shelter from the storm only to find a 'Reserved' sign posted on the front door. A nearby street vendor explains to her that every year on this particular day, the bar is closed for a single customer; the vendor proceeds to tell the story in flashback of Ryū's early days as an apprentice at Bar Saito when he served an inappropriate cocktail. On that evening, an important looking businessman named Ryūichi Minegishi arrived at Bar Saito with an attractive companion, Kanako, she ordered a champagne cocktail and Ryū served her Champagne Pick-Me-Up in a tall flute glass which Kanako rejected. Ryū later learned that drinking from a tall glass would have exposed her neck and lines of ageing, it transpires that Minegishi is actually quite poor, but likes to maintain the impression of being wealthy. The cocktail featured in this episode is the Gin & Tonic.
A Christmas Miracle
Series 1, Episode 10 Unrated
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Professor Okita, an unworldly specialist in computational fluid dynamics enters Eden Hall on a Christmas night after being entranced by seeing Miwa and following her. He refuses Ryū's recommendation of having a champagne, and downs a glass of Guinness beer instead. Afterwards, Ryū offers Okita a Black Velvet, which is a mixture of beer and champagne, he doubts that Ryū could pour the drink without it bubbling over the glass, based on his years of research and study of fluid mechanics. However, Ryū successfully pours the beer and champagne simultaneously, without the mixture spilling out of the glass; the narrator mentions that Ryū is among the few bartenders in Japan who are able to mix the Black Velvet perfectly by pouring the liquids simultaneously. The featured drink of in this episode is Black Velvet.
The Water of Life
Series 1, Episode 11 Unrated
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Ryū completes his apprenticeship at Eden Hall and the episode revolves mostly around the life of a bartender. A few cocktails are featured in the episode, such as the Red Eye, No Name and Rob Roy. Ryū and the senior bartenders explain the meaning and purpose of bartending and the importance of meeting the needs of the customers, they mention the bottle of 'Macallan 1946', a rare and expensive whisky made using peat during World War II, which is passed through every generation of bartenders at Eden Hall. They regard the spirits they use as the 'The Water of Life', Ryū states that he is fortunate to have not just learned the craft of bar-tending, but rather choosing the life of a bartender; the final featured drink is a 'Bartender'.
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