ESEA Heritage Month Blog Series – Meet Iain McPherson
ESEA Heritage Month Blog Series – Meet Iain McPherson
Owner and bartender of Panda & Sons, which is currently listed as #30 in 50 Best Bars. Iain was named Best International Bar Mentor at Tales of the Cocktail’s Spirited Awards this year, with his bar taking awards for World’s Best Cocktail Menu and Best International bar Team. Iain was also named industry’s most influential person in the bar world this year, by Drinks International Magazine.
“I am the owner of Panda & Sons, in the busy central Edinburgh, which we opened in 2013. and I live in the slightly more quiet area of Leith. I grew up all over the place – I was born in Sydney, Australia, then moved to Hong Kong, back to Scotland for the first time in Pitlochry. This was followed by Vietnam, then back to Scotland and this time Auchterarder. Then I had five wonderful years in Bangkok, before moving back to Scotland permanently when I was 12. I did live in Melbourne for 8 months back in 2017.
My journey into hospitality was the well-trodden path of needing money to pay for rent and alcohol, whilst attending University. What started as a secondary part-time priority, soon became my full-time priority, and University secondary. I love how cocktails and alcohol brands are steeped in such diverse history, how you can express your creativity in cocktail creations. And I also the social aspect of the job – with your team and the customers. The skills you learn from bartending are very unique to other careers.
The Power of Community
Community has always been strong in Edinburgh; it’s really deep rooted in Scottish culture. We do have a funny way of expressing love and admiration for each other (usually insulting each other), which other cultures may find rude, but it always comes from the heart. The bar scene is very mature in Edinburgh; it really was one of the first cities to be a part of the second cocktail renaissance some 20 years ago.
My mother is South Korean, and my father is Scottish. I love my mix, and I feel both cultures are blended into how I work. The Scottish in me is playful, silly, charming and outside of the box thinking. Whereas my Korean roots bring efficient hard-working ethos, attention to detail, focus and precision and determination to keep going. Both our tough cultures in terms of thick skin, so I have a really nice hybrid version of this.
It’s been a difficult few years for our industry, especially from 2022 onwards. We are seeing this globally, in the UK you are seeing bars and restaurants close every week. There are certain things I would like to see happen in the industry: There needs to be more support from the government. Real inflation since 2020 is around the 30% mark, but they lower this by manipulating data. Quantitative easing needs to happen this year, or my fear is our lovely industry might never fully recover and will go on a different trajectory.
We need to keep positive though, and in the next few months I’m looking forward to visiting Beirut and Sao Paulo for the first time and the heavy weights of the travelling bartender calendar, London Cocktail week and Athens Bar Show.”
To read more community spotlight interviews, click here.