Humble Beginnings
I am often asked how I got started in the craft cocktail game. Once upon a time, I was in college attempting to wrap up my Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts (Graphic Communications) and I was unemployed for a prolonged stretch of time. One day, I received a phone call from a friend who was a line cook at a local restaurant. They were looking for someone to fill in for a couple of days to wash dishes. I jumped at the chance just so I could scrape together a few dollars. It also turns out I professionally washed dishes for a couple of years during high school. Because I had been unemployed for so long I was bound and determined to take this opportunity and make the most of it. I had two days to show off and make it really hard for them to let me go.
After wrapping up my tour of dishes, I was approached by the bar manager at the time who was in need of a barback. Having absolutely no clue what that was I agreed to the task anyways. I’m relatively trainable and I had the intangibles such as work ethic, punctuality, and determination. I went home that day and Googled “barback” and also reviewed some clips on Youtube (bless the Barback Olympics if that is still a thing!) just to get a vague sense of things. To summarize, a barback is a bartender’s assistant who performs every single bar related task under the sun not specific to mixing or pouring drinks.
As I grew to know and work alongside the bar staff I was eventually allowed to pour beer and wines on occasion and eventually I was allowed to pry and ask the bartender on duty any questions I had in mind. My “down time” involved polishing glassware and running/emptying the glass washer. During those moments I always had my eyes up watching and observing everything. So between watching the act of bartending and asking pertinent questions - I began to discover I had a mild interest in the gig. If we happened to survive any shifts where we really felt we fought together in the trenches, we would all band together and head out to another cocktail bar where I would begin to learn I was curious about the craft.
Previously, I had really only drank whiskey and a couple varieties of beer but that was only when my mission was to get hammered. Cocktails, however, began to speak to me deeply. Not that beer or whiskey do not have depth or lack unique characteristics but watching a craft cocktail bartender live mixing and blending and pouring and straining an assortment of ingredients into a glass to create a balanced sensory experience of taste, sight, smell, and touch was an enlightening experience for me.
It was during this time that I started juggling any cocktail book I could get my hands on with books I was assigned to read in class. The obsession began. I eventually wrapped up college (finally) but a few decisive factors started to become apparent at that time. I could either walk away from cocktails and pursue a career more closely related to my degree or I could really hitch my wagon to this particular path I had stumbled upon by happenstance. My bottom line was always wanting to create something, anything, and make a decent sustainable living out of it. I could always draw and paint or design graphics on a computer.
When I was finally given more opportunities to shine behind the bar, I could tell the immediate feedback I received from guests and regulars alike was vastly positive. This type of feedback had already been immensely greater than any feedback I received as an artist or designer. In my mind, this was another way to create and to be an artist. The two other massive advantages this gave me were I could do this gig without much travel and working a high volume bar kept me out of a dreary cubicle situation. Everything was on the up and up.
And this concludes the broad strokes of my introduction to craft cocktail bartending. I know everybody is different and situations/experiences may vary but my overarching point here is you at least have to show signs of interest in whatever it is you want to do for prolonged periods of time and you also have to devote extra time and energy investing in yourself to further succeed in whatever interest this may be. Sure, you can always just get by but once you sink your teeth into something you have passion for - the sky is the limit.
In my next entry, I will dive deeper into specifics that helped me get started but, for now, I wanted to get this introductory ramble out of the way.
