The Lemon Society, beginning and end of a day in Palencia
Javier San Segundo decided to open a bar one fine day. So far everything normal. Shortly after, he discovered that it was time for Palencia to accompany the aperitif with a good tapa, and many people from Palencia thanked him, blessed him and even copied him. Later, he began to like himself, to grow and to offer a successful wine list where having a glass of Vega Sicilia did not require a monocle, morning coat and checkbook. Well, friend, this is something else. Because yes, just half an hour from the best wineries in Ribera de Duero there was no wine bar in conditions and without nonsense. And then came the challenge in the form of gin.
This timeline is an application of an economics class brought to real life. In other words, “invest in the midst of a crisis”, according to its owner. This 33-year-old economist has traveled enough to know what Palencia lacked but without wrapping himself in that arrogant posture that he has seen the world about and drowns in his fish tank. Four successful years since in July 2009 he opened this place in the middle of the Paseo del Salón, a risky bet that could have been satisfied with its powerful terrace in summer and football matches on a plasma screen in winter. “Any business that settles for what it thinks it does well, stagnates.” He plated.
But no, he wanted more. And then the gins appeared… why? "For pure marketing" (well, without speeches). Javier would have liked to exhibit a cellar full of oenological rarities as if he were the best sommelier in the world, but he was left with the magnetism of a good gin and tonic and with the transcendence of reaching a massive public that is unaware of a drink that he has come back to stay. Two years ago he started with the ambitious project of being the bar with the most gins in the world . The first? The classic ones, the ones that could be ordered from any clever distributor. Then came the trips through the Spanish geography, finding oddities and even finding bottles of drinks that are no longer made and that today rest on a special shelf. A kind of museum that would make any fetishist collector cry with emotion.
Javier San Segundo and gin: a love story
A trip to Andorra came in handy to get by on the most demanding drinks from supermarkets without taxes. But above all, there is the Internet. Surfing the net, searching specialist forums and gourmet shops, he contacted people from all continents in pursuit of his goal: a bar to have them all, a bar to serve them tastefully, a bar to attract all the gin-lovers and tie them up in revelry supreme. And so on until the record figure is added: 362 different gins.
The figure is staggering, but is it a world record? It is true that no fluorescent diploma with the Guinness signature shines on its walls, but the owner of it is convinced that it is practically impossible for anyone to find and keep what he has in the Lemon. His conviction and the contacts he has made in his Geneva epic are the best notaries of this feat. Until now he only has two thorns in his adventure: not finding neither the Brooklyn nor the Ginbraltar, a challenge with which to approach the magic number of a gin every day of the year.
Among so many bottles you can find rarities from all over the planet, good, better and wonderful gins . Gourmet sips like the ones given to your collection of Dutch gins, where the most expensive drink in the bar is found: the Zuidam 20 years. Or what is the same, two decades curing in oak barrels . The price of this cup is around 40 euros very well paid. But the collection is not just an attraction. According to its owner, 90% of the bottles are uncorked, since many parishioners come here to be oriented and advised. And to top it off, more than 50 tonics capable of being the most beautiful in the dance in each cocktail.
And that's it, this is the news? Well no. The Lemon Society isn't just a shop window with slick stools and efficient waiters. It is love for a good drink. And for that you need the best lemons, the best ice and even the best citrus fruits that aromatize without bathing the cocktail. And no one is scared by the price, since **for 4 euros you can enjoy a gin and tonic with a tapa (glorious pairing) ** which delights the well-to-do children of Palencia, who at 7 in the afternoon They look good to be perfumed with pure Lemon. Because this bar has somewhat sophisticated the city's nightlife, making a good Seagram's dethrone the more traditional Larios and be the most requested gin at its bar.
Although, as Joaquín Sabina would say, "in Antón Martín there are more bars than in all of Norway" it would not be unreasonable to speak of the Lemon as one of the best bars in Spain. he has that iconic punch with which he begins to put Palencia on the map , becoming one of its most outstanding and surprising tourist and leisure attractions. And then there is that ability to evolve with the day without mistreating the liturgies: in the morning, for good wine or beer, with the juicy terrace and the door wide open. The afternoon, for the most presumptuous cocktails, forty-year-old loves and the most luxurious tapas. And the night, for plaid shirts, DJs and unique concerts in the city . Because a good gin and tonic enhances a moment, but building that moment is everyone's task. That yes, that by the Lemon does not remain…
palentine nights