Stanley Tucci’s foray into the world of drinks is often referred to as his “second act”. A captivating – if not slightly bizarre – narrative, considering the actor’s Hollywood acts have spanned four decades, six Emmys, and two Golden Globes alone – not including his Academy Award, BAFTA and Tony nominations.
“It was completely unexpected. We just did it as a lark, really,” says Tucci of his first viral video, preparing a Negroni in early lockdown 2020. “We did it originally with a cocktail…shaken,” he takes a moment to apologize to master mixologist Ago Perrone, sat beside him in London’s Connaught Bar. “It’s water under the bridge.”
The pair laugh over Stanley’s technique as he continues. “I did it originally for Curtis Brown. The agency my wife works for. She said do it as an internal thing – ‘people will get a kick out of it!’ – and she said let’s put it on your Instagram, which I didn’t know I had.”
So they did. Gaining more than one million highly unexpected likes, and “it changed everything”. Not least of which, the relationship Tucci now has with Diageo – the parent company of Tanqueray. “Suddenly my life became not more about food and drink, but very much about food and drink.”
A few best-selling cookbook memoirs and award-winning food series later, Tucci’s influence in the industry has superseded that of most people at its helm.
Tucci sketching as he drinks a TENacious cocktail
Tucci and Perone at The Connaught
Take today’s Big Drinks Industry News; the announcement of a new partnership between Tucci and Tanqueray No. TEN, set to launch a series of exclusive residencies across some of London’s leading bars.
Not least of which, The Connaught Bar in Mayfair where Tucci’s favorite bartender, the aforementioned Perrone, is Director of Mixology.
“I feel a connection with him,” says Tucci. “One, because we’re both Italian, even though from different parts of Italy, and two, because we share a desire. Because we believe that hospitality is really, really important, whether it’s in your home, or hotels, or in a bar.”
The collaboration hopes to cross all three, collaborating with top bartending talent – known as the Tastemakers of Tanqueray No. TEN – including Perron, Giulia Cuccurullo from The Artesian, and Yoann and Keila from Satan’s Whiskers over the coming months.
Of course, Tucci and Perrone are up first, debuting the “TENacious” today; a fusion of Tucci’s signature cocktail and a classic martini, personalized to suit individual taste preferences. 45ml Tanqueray No.TEN, 20ml “StanMix” (dry vermouth, sweet vermouth, bitters), 5ml sundried tomato distillate, 30ml Citrus grove and peach stone shrub, and a spritz of Green Mandarin essential oil.
A true mixologist’s cocktail. And one,Tucci tells me (while Perrone gets to work behind the bar, of course), he has taken great pleasure in collaborating with him on.
“In fact, I was just skiing in Italy, and a wonderful bartender at the hotel we were staying at and he goes, ‘we have a friend in common,’ and he said ‘Ago’, and I said, ‘oh my God!’.
“Then I saw the way this young fella was dressed. He’s one of his proteges, this fella. I saw the way he poured, and the way he clearly modeled himself after this person,” he turns to Perrone. “But it’s just so nice that you have that connection, you know. He’s taught me so much and that I always want to learn.
Perrone agrees: “It doesn’t matter if you go to bars, restaurants…even a shop. If you know two or three key people in hospitality, you become part of the family.”
As it happens, these qualities don’t feel all that dissimilar from Tucci’s so-called ‘first act’. “In theater or film, you run into people that you know everywhere you go. You have connections with people, because the lifestyle is very peripatetic and it is performative, too,” he says.
“What Ago just did [making the cocktail] is a performance of sorts,” he says. “If you noticed, I did not go behind the bar and do that because we would just be mopping it up.”
Ago Perrone and Stanley Tucci share a cocktail
There is a sense, as our conversation continues, that Tucci can’t quite believe his career has taken this turn.
“I grew up with a family that loves, particularly my father’s side, loves cocktails – and wine, of course – but there would always be cocktails around the holidays,” he explains. “When my parents threw a dinner party – and, mind you, it’s not like I grew up in a fancy house, like there was no money – but everybody dressed nicely and you made cocktails.”
“When I graduated from university and I had no money I would go to this one bar in New York and I would get martinis. I discovered that I liked martinis, and because I also loved old movies – I loved the movies from the 30s, 40s and 50s when people were drinking martinis all the time – it was so romantic. I thought ‘I want to live my life that way’.”
His self-described penchant for cocktails grew, paving a path towards viral video infamy, and the rest became gin-tinted history. “I became someone who learned how to make them on TV, I wrote about it, and then when Tanqueray No. TEN came to me I was like, ‘are you kidding? I’ve been waiting for you to call for 40 years!’ I was just thrilled.”