September 15, 2026
For Michal Dojčák, head bartender at Bratislava's Sky Bar, the craft doesn't end at the counter. He draws the menu himself, judges his ingredients with uncompromising strictness, and grows his herbs right on the roof.
The menu they hand you with your drink at Sky Bar, seven floors up, was drawn by the same person who mixed it. Michal Dojčák illustrates every new menu the venue puts out — and that's exactly where you see how he thinks. "It means the drinks pick up a slightly different handwriting," he says. For him the bar isn't just a counter lined with bottles but a creative discipline, where craft, flavour, and image meet in a single glass.
That this approach resonates well beyond Sky Bar was confirmed by his recent Bartender's Choice Award. Dojčák took it modestly, though, with plenty of praise for his colleagues. "There are so many skilled, talented people here; I don't think of myself as the best bartender in Slovakia," he says, shaking his head. What did please him was that the winner was decided largely by the bartending community — people who really understand the craft.
From scratch
At Sky Bar the craft rests on two pillars: the team, and building from zero. There's a whole hierarchy of people behind the Sky Bar counter, and the menu comes together collectively. Bar manager Dominik Tapušík picks the brands and spirits they'll work with, say, and the bartenders then "build" ingredients onto them. "The previous menu I mostly handled entirely on my own," Dojčák admits. "Now we've got a line-up where we can take it to another level." The one in the works, he reckons, should be among the best they've ever made.
Making ingredients "from scratch" is the part of the craft he enjoys most — and he doesn't hesitate to look for inspiration behind the kitchen door. "Bartenders worldwide rob chefs blind," he says with a smile. But working with the kitchen has a second dimension: zero-waste. Total waste-free operation is nearly impossible in hospitality, he says, but at Sky Bar they try to use everything down to the last scrap. Plums reduced under vacuum, for instance, become a molasses the bartenders hand over to the chef. Ideas travel the other way too: right now they're working out how to get amazake from koji into their drinks, with advice from a chef who works with fermentation.
The drive to keep their ingredients under control eventually led them straight into the garden. Frustrated by unreliable suppliers of herbs and edible flowers, they grew their own herb garden on the building's second floor; from March to October they grow most of their garnishes themselves. Colleagues — not just the bartenders — have turned into part-time gardeners and foragers. "I'd never have believed I'd be upset about a deer eating my tomatoes," he laughs. The plan is a bigger garden on the edge of Bratislava, with a greenhouse and raised beds — and a bonus almost anyone in hospitality would appreciate: "There's no signal, you really switch off." In April alone they made roughly 80 litres of elderflower cordial there, prepped for the new menu.
While the new menu is being fine-tuned, the current one already shows what Michal loves: detail and a hidden story. His current favourite is Tony's Margarita — to the tequila and lime he adds distilled habanero, stripped of capsaicin and therefore of heat, plus a savoury cordial from the brine of his own olives. The result is a margarita with a touch of pepper and bergamot that doesn't bite.
Animal Farm goes further still, served in a "hot tub" printed on a 3D printer. It has Singleton whisky for depth and complexity, aged blackcurrants, passion fruit underlining the acidity, and gooseberry syrup with rooibos liqueur bringing the sweetness for a soft, fresh finish. The menu currently runs to 35 drinks — from the "wild ones" to gentle, neutral drinks for those who'd rather not risk it.
To keep that obsession with detail from staying with the initiated alone, they came out with mini highballs in the summer. Sky Bar is also a Johnnie Walker ambassador bar, so for the summer snacks they created four smaller, fresh drinks. One — a combination of oolong and plum that together tastes like coconut — they pair with a refined langoš topped with arctic char, crème fraîche, and caviar. The smaller portions and lower price have a single aim: to let a guest have a full-fledged cocktail tuned precisely to the bite in front of them.
And what does Michal himself reach for when his shift ends? Nothing complicated — a dram of whisky, a highball, or a beer; inspiration he then gathers on his travels, from Tokyo to Rio. To Sky Bar's guests he offers a simple equation in the end: good mood, good drinks, food and wine — and a view of Bratislava that, he says, never gets old in any season.
