Annette Mulama

Breaking shells is an initiative to raise the bar for female bartenders in Kenya, giving them opportunity to learn and hone their bartending skills, encourage innovation and thrive in their unique elements.

My research on female peer bartenders revealed that often times fear and self confidence limit most female bartenders from taking on opportunities present in the bartending space. I aspire to loosen this barrier through intentional and consistent engagements. This will be achieved through planned weekly exchange sessions with female bartenders. The session will involve inviting groups of three to my current bar, for first hand experience of working behind a busy bar that has high footfall. They will have a chance at experimenting in our cocktail lab while interacting with bar equipment available.
I will also immerse the bartenders in an interactive demonstration of varied techniques that can be replicated at home and at work. Some examples being lacto-fermentation (they loved this one), fat washing, milk washing.
We also get to tackle issues facing the girl child working at the bar; such as intimidation and absence of enabling environments suitable for experiments. This will be done with the intent of creating achievable remedies. Having work life balance and maintaining a strong sense of community to promote mental health, are some ideologies I value and would wish to inspire more bartenders to embrace.
My ambition is to impact about 100 female bartenders by March next year, through partnerships with Diageo Kenya BA teams.
My cocktail creation supports Kenyan local farmers through direct purchase of fresh ingredients.
This initiative will ensure we have more females showcasing unique serves in their bars and participate in competitions both locally and internationally.

The light fairy is a cocktail we created together in an attempt to marry ingredients together and to my surprise it was easier than I thought!!

Light Fairy

50ml Ketel One vodka
20ml Sugarcane juice purchased from mumias in Kenya
30ml Lacto- fermented goose berries
10ml Fresh ginger purée
Top up of Brut sparkling wine
Glass: flute
Garnish: edible flower and a side of sugarcane sorbet with lime granita on top

How to make lacto-fermented goose berries:
On a scale, measure 400g of goose berries
Add 8g of sea salt
Slightly blend to crush the berries or break the berries using a muddler
Put it in a vacuum bag and seal
Place it in a dark place at room temperature for 3 days
Once the bag is inflated, it means fermentation is done
#ketelone #CommunityheroesKENYA