For Bartender Alf del Portillo, Sharing Is Key
We Basques are resilient. We are proud of our land—Euskal Herria, split between Spain and France, where the western Pyrenees lead to the Bay of Biscay—and our culture. But we’ve also always been open to discovering new cultures (often out of necessity).
We learned how to mix our culture with others, embracing new influences while keeping our traditions and our language (Euskera) alive.
People often think of Basques as a closed society. This is partly true: The social structure of cuadrillas—tightly knit groups of friends—is historically difficult to access. But as kingdoms and countries have risen and fallen around us, and as many Basques left our country to seek better prospects, we learned how to mix our culture with others, embracing new influences while keeping our traditions and our language (Euskera) alive.
The first person to successfully circumnavigate the world? A Basque: Juan Sebastián Elcano, who in 1522 completed the journey that Magellan started. Basques founded cities such as Buenos Aires. And in keeping with our love of good food, good drink, and good company, Basques also founded distilleries (La Vizcaya, established by José Arechabala y Aldama in 1878 in Cardénas, Cuba, and the progenitor to modern-day Havana Club), and breweries like Cervecería Modelo, established in Mexico City in 1925 by Martín Oyamburu and Braulio Iriarte. Only a few years after opening the brewery, their flagship beer—Corona—had sales in the millions of bottles.
Basques imprinted American culture, as well. A Basque surname, Zatarain, is synonymous with spices in Louisiana’s Creole and Cajun cuisine. Boise, Idaho, has been home to one of the largest Basque communities in the United States for more than 100 years. And in northern Nevada, the Picon Punch lives on many decades after the simple cocktail was introduced by Basque immigrants.
As a Basque, I’ve carried a resilience and drive to evolve throughout my life and work. I’m from Bilbao, probably the best city in the world. But when I was younger, after several business failures and a bit of personal chaos, an opportunity arose to work in a bar in India. Without thinking twice, I packed my bags for Bangalore.
In every place life has taken me, I’ve made an effort to integrate and absorb other cultures …
Like many Basques before me, this journey was just the start. Over the years, my life as a bartender has taken me around the world, to London and India, Amsterdam and Ireland, and now to my current home in Lisbon. In every place life has taken me, I’ve made an effort to integrate and absorb other cultures, which have ultimately defined both my personality and my way of working.
My uncle Luis (or Eto, as I’ve known him since childhood) taught me a lesson he’d learned from his Japanese colleagues, that a project should be 90 percent preparation and 10 percent execution. I’ve tried to apply that idea, and that collaboration of cultural lessons, to every place I’ve worked. And no matter where my travels have taken me, I’ve also kept my Basque heritage close—listening to music in Basque, following the news and politics, and of course, cheering for my football team: Athletic Club de Bilbao, which only recruits players born or raised in Euskal Herria.
While I’ve learned much from other cultures as I’ve migrated from one to another, I’ve also brought something from my own to each place: the Kalimotxo. This simple mix of red wine and Coca-Cola (sometimes with a splash of berry liqueur) has been my partner in crime around the world. I’ve ordered it in bars (earning stunned looks from some bartenders),served it at events, included it on menus, and experimented with it. I’ve made Old-Fashioned–style versions, created a spiced cola with curry to mix with white wine, and—at Quattro Teste, the Lisbon bar I run with my Italian wife, Marta—a Kalimotxo with amaro.
Knowing where you come from, enjoying the journey, and seeing who you become along the way—that’s what matters in life. At Quattro Teste, our story follows a similar path. We proudly blend our Basque and Italian drinking cultures and share the results with our Portuguese neighbors, and with guests from around the world. Every culture we’ve crossed paths with has helped us grow, just as learning from each other has always meant progress.
Immigration and cross-cultural engagement are still frequently seen as problems by those who feel threatened by such things. But like Cervecería Modelo, the Picon Punch, and Quattro Teste itself, migration helped put many stories in motion. And like many wandering Basques before me, my time and my travels have taught me that migrants are nothing without a place to call home.
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