Igor Zukowiec was born in the small town of Ruciane-Nida, a quaint village nestled among the gorgeous lakes and forests of Masurian Lake District in Poland. While there, Igor immersed himself in the world of flavor pairings, for both food and beverages. His passion ultimately led to his career in catering, bar consulting and beverage styling after moving to New York in 2006.
Igor’s expertise grew along with his passion, and it wasn’t long before his work was featured in the New York Daily News in December of 2008. The article praised his cocktails created for Lola restaurant in SoHo. Igor went on to work on bar programs and cocktail recipe development for several establishments, such as Hakkasan, RedFarm, Decoy, La Mar and Barraca.
In 2009, Igor started building ALCHEMIQ Catering, a NYC-based company with quality hors d'oeuvres, finger food, cocktail catering and a bartender for hire service. After opening in 2010, the company gained clients such as Google, Jo Malone, Visionaire and Patron Spirits. The success of ALCHEMIQ Catering was recognized by a variety of critics, including Jay-Z’s blog Life+Times, which featured a video of Igor’s Grapefruit & Fire cocktail. Igor’s cocktails were also featured by several other prominent media outlets, including The Cooking Channel, Sirius XM Radio and The Daily Meal.
While building ALCHEMIQ Catering, Igor found a new skill in beverage styling for photography trough his photo shoots for the company’s website. Igor’s attention to detail and understanding of mixology made him an outstanding stylist, which was noticed by many photographers. Igor has worked on many photo shoots for brands, including Patron Spirits, Global Spirits, Compass Box Whisky and Palm Bay International.