bartender culture

(twenty-first century) is experiencing a zenith; current wisdom says that the twenty-first century is the second golden age of bartending (the first being roughly 1862–1929). Having finally gained much of the same respect and professional stature accorded to chefs and sommeliers, bartenders are once again admired for their skills, not just for their position as dispensers of social lubricants.

No longer the stop-gap job of the young, the uncertain, or the socially flawed, bartending is now a fully fledged career and profession that is attracting motivated and passionate individuals. It could be argued that this is be the first real golden age, as the bartenders of the twenty-first century would, on many levels, surpass their nineteenth- and twentieth-century forebears.

Certainly, if one looks at the knowledge of the bartenders of today, there is no competition at all. The internet has effectively allowed human knowledge to be freely shared and accessible to all, no matter how arcane the topic. Between websites, discussion forums, social media, and databases of books and periodicals, information on almost any brand, drink, liquid, or trend, much of it accurate, is available to anyone with wi-fi, fingers, and curiosity. Now bartenders can discuss mash bills, the different species of agave plants, the terroir of botanicals in gin, and the specifics of distillation with an ease and confidence that would often set even a master distiller on the back foot. Whereas early bartenders relied upon the railroad for the dissemination of ideas, now the information superhighway is the font of all knowledge.

It is not just new media that has gotten on board. Whereas in the late twentieth century there were very few bartending books (normally hiding quietly at the end of the wine section), a quick visit to any decent bookshop (or a search on Amazon) will show a huge array of books from coffee-table-style cocktail porn to hardcore in-depth tomes on previously recondite categories.

As drinks companies have grown in size and sophistication, the bartender has come to be recognized as the ultimate salesperson, someone who can make a guest love or hate a certain brand. As such, vast resources have been expended educating and inspiring them—from sending brand ambassadors or roving master distillers to talk to them, to creating schools and classes for them, to global bartending competitions that share recipes and techniques from around the world.

Technique has also always been an important component of a bartender’s skills, and in this modern era mixologists are streets ahead of their nineteenth-century counterparts. Bartenders now know the “why” behind the “how” and the science of shaking and stirring, layering and muddling are now understood and incorporated into drink making. But also the skills, tools, and creativity of the kitchen have been incorporated into the bartender’s repertoire. Creatively as well, the twenty-first-century bartender has an almost unfair advantage over his or her historical predecessors. The vast array of products, both alcoholic and non-, from around the world, available often year round due to global shipping and modern farming advances, gives the mixologist a vastly expanded palette from which to choose. And, as with the foodie in culinary circles, the drinking public has shown an increasing thirst for the bold and the new and the creative. No longer is a bartender judged only by their classics and staple drinks but also by their signature creations and envelope-shredding new concoctions.

But if one sees the function of the bartender as a key provider of hospitality rather than primarily a creator of consumable concoctions, then perhaps we are not as advanced as the giants of the past upon whose shoulders we stand. There has developed an increasing focus by the bartending community on the product and not the person. Drinks snobbery is becoming alarmingly commonplace, and focus on the guest is becoming increasingly rare. But this is a trend that food and wine have already encountered and have overcome, and no doubt the bartender, always known for his or her adaptability, will overcome this to provide the perfect cocktail of product, service, and ambience.Morgenthaler, Jeffrey. The Bar Book: Elements of Cocktail Technique. San Francisco: Chronicle, 2014.

Petraske, Sasha. Regarding Cocktails. London: Phaidon, 2016.

Soloarik, Frankie. Bar Chef. New York: Harper, 2015.

By: Angus Winchester