One of the world’s best bartenders, Monica Berg, is coming to Adelaide for Tasting Australia 2025

Top international mixologist Monica Berg – named the most influential person in the global bar industry five years in a row – is coming to Adelaide for Tasting Australia 2025.

Monica Berg’s list of accolades is as long as the cocktail menu at her celebrated London bar, Tayer + Elementary.

Crowned the world’s best bartender by her peers in 2019, the trailblazing mixologist is revered globally for her sustainable and innovative approach to the age-old craft.

One of Tasting Australia’s international guests next month, her influence has extended as far as Australia, with one Melbourne venue naming a drink in her honour.

Berg’s journey to the top of the industry is one that surprises even herself. Born in Korea, she was adopted at a young age by a Norwegian family involved in agriculture and fishing, and raised in a house on an Oslo fjord.

“I grew up in a fairly small city, in a country that has one of the strictest alcohol policies in the world. So the fact that I am now in London, running my own bar, I have my own brand … it does feel very surreal sometimes when I think about it,” she says.

Monica Berg behind the bar at her London venue, Tayer + Elementary. Picture: Supplied

Berg mixing one of her famous cocktails. Picture: Supplied

Berg was still studying when she started working in venues as a teenager, immediately developing a passion for the world of hospitality – against her parents’ wishes.

“I didn’t take the route that my parents perhaps wanted for me … depending which of them you ask, they wanted me to either be an academic or work in finance,” she says.

Instead, she plied her trade in restaurants and bars around Europe, from London and Greece, to Iceland, Sweden and back home in Norway. She also taught at the prestigious H. Butlers Bartending School, aged just 23.

Berg quickly forged a reputation for creativity, highlighted by her use of native ingredients and sustainable techniques, ingrained from her childhood.

“I grew up in an environment where you were very much dependent on the season, understanding what’s in season and how you can preserve it, how you can prolong it to last a whole year,” she says. “It made me appreciate the value of something, even if it’s free from nature … I never thought of my presence in the industry as a short one so I’ve always tried to make choices that mean I will have a future.”

Six years ago, Berg was the first woman to be named top mixologist in the annual World’s 50 Best Bars list. Last July, she was also feted as the most influential person in the global bar industry for the fifth consecutive year by Bar World 100, a poll of 120 commentators and experts from 60 countries worldwide.

Monica Berg is regarded as the world’s most influential bartenders. Picture: Supplied

Berg has launched her own brand, Muyu Spirits. Picture: Supplied

“It’s a huge honour. Also it’s something that is hard to understand. I try not to think about it too much,” she says. “I do feel the responsibility and I feel the need to use the opportunity in the best way possible.

“I want to show the younger generation that there is really a lot of career opportunities in hospitality and that it’s not just a student job.”

Berg admits the global bar industry is mostly “male-dominated” and acknowledges her role as a female pioneer, though that wasn’t always the case.

“I was 10 years into my career before I realised I was a female bartender because no one had ever told me that before,” she says. “It was only when I started to be a little bit better at it that people gave me that label.

“I was in my mid 30s when I was told for the first time that I was a woman of colour … up until that point, I hadn’t even heard of that.

“A lot of the time we make these labels just to make ourselves comfortable because we have this need to compartmentalise. The new generation is ready to break those labels, they don’t care. They have such a confidence and a different way of seeing the world.”

That diversity among the hospitality workforce is now on display at the best venues around the world, Berg says. “It’s very important to have representation, not just with female employees but with anyone,” she says.

“If you want everybody to come to your bar, everybody needs to work in your bar. People come in and judge a place within five seconds of entering and if they see people that look like them, who are similar to them, they will feel comfortable being there.” It’s a philosophy she’s brought to Tayer + Elementary, the double-concept venue that she opened in 2019 with her partner, fellow bartender Alex Kratena.

Berg will host two events at Tasting Australia. Picture: Supplied

Split into two distinct spaces, there’s the front room called Elementary, an all-day casual offering with floor-to-ceiling windows, which serves up cocktails on tap, plus beer, wine and snacks. Look beyond the concrete partition and you’ll find Tayer, a more sophisticated cocktail bar with a unique, seasonal drinks menu.

Ranked number four on a 2024 list of the world’s best bars, Tayer + Elementary reflects the modern bar trends that are becoming increasingly ubiquitous.

Berg says venues are now designed to be “bright, open spaces”, with more patrons choosing to drink during the day rather than late at night. “Globally there’s a shift in the perception of what a bar is now,” she says.

“Bars don’t need to be dark, small places that play jazz music or loud music. They can be big and bright, and people are going out earlier and coming home earlier.

“So there’s a shift to longer, more refreshing, daytime appropriate beverages.”

Ask Berg what makes a good beverage and her answer is initially, quite simple.

“A good drink should be delicious, first of all,” she says. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be your favourite type of drink, but you can recognise it as a balanced liquid with complexity and layers. From the first sip to the last sip it needs to evolve. It needs to feel like a journey so you can discover things throughout the drinking experience.”

The classic martini is Berg’s preferred cocktail but she enjoys a range of “light and delicate” drinks.

“I also do love wine, I’m getting into that more … I also have a spritz every now and then. Sometimes I drink Champagne over ice and people almost faint.”

Tasting Australia’s Town Square.

Next month’s visit for Tasting Australia will be Berg’s first to Adelaide. She will host two events, including a cocktail party in Town Square on May 3, featuring top bartenders from Adelaide and Melbourne, and an intimate Tasting Table at Peel St nightspot Maybe Mae on May 5.

The latter will showcase Berg’s own Muyu Spirits, a “passion project” she co-founded with Kratena and Simone Caporale in 2019.

Inspired by a 2016 visit to the Amazon, their innovative liqueurs combine natural ingredients with modern distilling techniques, producing a complex and multi-layered spirit.

“Basically it’s about creating a product that bartenders want to work with,” Berg says.

“We wanted to rethink how we approach making a drink.”

Berg’s looking forward to exploring Adelaide and spending time at Tasting Australia, which she describes as “one of the country’s biggest culinary festivals”.

“They’ve packed my schedule so it’s very exciting. I’ve heard the festival really focuses on the local flavours of the region, it’s not just about bringing in outsiders like myself,” she says. “And for me, it’s always nice to see different cities and experience how they are.”

Tasting Australia, May 2-11, tastingaustralia.com.au