Flavours and Experiences  – Damir Bušić and his Liquid Diary Bar in Innsbruck

© Liquid Diary

Stimulate the senses and at the same time awaken memories and create experiences. This is the ambition that bar owner Damir Bušić sets for himself and his bar Liquid Diary in Innsbruck.

The “liquid diary” giving the Liquid Diary Bar its name does actually exist. Our friendly bartender explains: “I didn’t want a classic guest book in the bar, but somewhere people can record their thoughts, photos, memories and impressions in a book. This is how exciting texts, drawings or Polaroid photos came about. This is how our cocktails come into being.”

Experience drinks with all your senses

An exciting dialogue, a cycle even between the host and their guests. The results are impressive, and multi-layered. Each cocktail is accompanied by a very sensual story stimulating more than just the palate before, during and after the sip. 

Evoke memory with a sip

A both exciting and successful staging of a cocktail. Damir says: “All good bars sell good drinks. We want to add the component of emotion. We want our drinks to evoke emotion in different ways.” What prompted this idea of bathing the drinks in these accompanying moments? Damir smiles: “It was a long time ago when I prepared a variation on a Gin Basil Smash for a customer. It also contained neroli oil and musk. She had tears in her eyes after a couple of these drinks telling me the drink brought back old memories. After graduating from high school, she had spent a year abroad and met her first great love in Marrakech. She then said to me: Damir, please keep creating drinks like this! That’s what I did, and that’s how the Liquid Diary became the story of my life.”

The barman with Croatian roots has just been named Rolling Pin Bar of the Year 2023 with his Liquid Diary, and he is especially delighted that his colleague, Yannik Seeber, was also named Rising Bar Talent of the Year. Smiling the 45-year-old thinks back to his successes in the Diageo World Class competitions: “When I was named World Class Bartender Austria in 2018, it was a sudden rise to fame. At that time, our bar was still called ‘Eckstein’. A lawsuit promptly came and so the new name didn’t come about entirely voluntarily.”

Fragrances as an important part of the bar concept

Years of training and gaining experience followed. From k.u.k. Hofbeisl in Bad Ischl, Monkey in Velden and the Vienna Bar School to the big, wide world. Hong Kong, in particular, has been influential in shaping his work still today: “The mentality, the culture and the open approach, even with a touch of criticism, impressed me. And the diversity of flavours and fragrances.” An elementary component of his bar concept are room scents, an idea from Asia that has also inspired large department stores or hotel chains: “There was this chicken vendor in a side street. He had the best chicken but was invisible. One day he set up a fan so the smell of chicken wafted into the street immediately attracting customers. I remembered this when smoking was banned a few years ago and the smells in bars and clubs changed drastically as a result. Not always for the better, like overdone perfume scents or sweat.” In the Liquid Diary, an air system feeds the scent concept: “For four years now, I’ve been working with the fragrance firm Aromea from Carinthia and using their scent aroma concept. In summer, it’s a bit more intense, because in the heat it steams out faster and the aromas dissipate more quickly. The scent is fresh and is sprayed a little more often than in the cold season. In winter, woody aromas are added. We stick to this constant scent concept, so guests also recognise the familiar fragrances. Of course, the fragrances are anti-allergenic!”

© Liquid Diary

Attention is also paid to sustainability and the right drinking temperature

Damir makes a very clear distinction between taste and aroma, between palate and nose. Both should be stimulated. The details of the bar are well thought out: “The bar is in British colonial style and we don’t take bookings. Customers are all seated at high tables, so customers and staff are always at eye level. We don’t use straws, so the smell and taste marry better. Organically, a pleasant and quality-conscious regular clientele has developed. And yet from all ages and walks of life.” Much is homemade from regional ingredients, like syrup and essences. Honey from a regional beekeeper and vinegar are also used for sweetness and acidity.

Ice is a matter of the heart for the bar manager: “You have to bear in mind that every drink has its ideal drinking temperature. A Manhattan, for instance, can be a few degrees warmer, only then does it unfold its great aromatic richness. Ice should cool your drink, not water it down and it must be clear.” In addition, the Liquid Diary team uses a CO₂ gas cylinder so we cool the glass down immediately before use.

Of course, the bar is constantly evolving. The bar manager explains: “Sustainability and the conservation of resources are becoming increasingly important. In future, we also plan to use even more regional products as we want to save electricity and avoid waste. At the moment, there’s still too much greenwashing going on everywhere internationally. Nature sets the trends for us. Even more so in the future. Take what the season and the environment offer you. And it’s worth remembering tried and tested techniques like fermentation or preserving. You don’t need a clever book for that either, you just ask grandma.”

© Liquid Diary

Set special accents

And Damir’s parents are now also proud of what their son has achieved in the bar world. Modestly, he himself says: “We’re a small bar in Tyrol. But we like to create special accents. We also like to be a bit cheeky.” So, he also leans back sometimes after work to treat himself to a nice gentle drink, like a Martinez or just a fresh beer and a smoky whisky.

Damir expects the next exciting impulses at BCB again this year: “That’s when the bar shuts up shop for four days and the whole team heads to Berlin!”