The Aging Bartender

The Atypical Eight Bottle Bar

I worked a wedding this past Saturday and only brought eight bottles. But listen closely, I didn’t take my own advice and bring the typical eight you’re “supposed to,” but it worked out just fine. Number one, this was atypical in the sense that the people who hired me, M&J, knew exactly what they wanted…

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  • The Atypical Eight Bottle Bar

    I worked a wedding this past Saturday and only brought eight bottles. But listen closely, I didn’t take my own advice and bring the typical eight you’re “supposed to,” but it worked out just fine. Number one, this was atypical in the sense that the people who hired me, M&J, knew exactly what they wanted…

  • Bar Hack: Pamperol

    Ah yes, pamperol. It does sound like something a baby’s dirty diaper has sat in for a moment, no? Alas, it’s just the name for another combination of two delicious alcoholic libations. Two is better than one. Bartenders often do this as a time saver. It’s easier to pour one bottle than two. It’s also…

  • Wedding Bells in Lompoc

    Your friendly neighborhood aging bartender went on a little 15 hour field trip yesterday. From LA to Lompoc, CA, on a fourth of July weekend. Yup. The Perceived Stress Scale ticker went through the roof as me, and my trusty, beautiful assistant, Jo, sat in gridlock traffic for almost five hours on our way into…

  • New/Old Cocktail: The Cure

    There’s a select group of cocktails that sell like the proverbial hotcakes of yore no matter what. This is one of those cocktails. The Cure. Not named after the damnable emo band. Sorry. I think the original name was supposed to be some sort of pun on getting married. I can’t remember the whole thing.…

  • When Bartenders Dream

    They dream of their own place. Something small, minimalist, maybe on the corner. No investors to pay, just a small loan to start it all off. Somehow, someway, the liquor license comes easy. A turnkey establishment. A few renovations here and there, a coat of paint, clean bathrooms, a new, less sticky floor, and then…

  • The Original Banana

    Does anyone else have a 50% depreciation in their banana investments? What I mean is, do you throw out half of the bananas you buy? We do. Yeah, yeah, I know you can wrap the stalk with plastic or whatever to help keep them around longer. I’m not doing that. The benefit is bananas are…

  • Bar Hack: A Better Army & Navy Cocktail

    Why do it the old way? I say we do it Rustic Style instead. What does that even mean? My friends M&J are having themselves a wedding this Saturday and they wanted me to whip up a couple of their favorite concoctions, one of those said drinks being the Army & Navy. Ok. Ok. Not…

  • Nothing to Say…Notes on Inspiration…

    Woke up this morning after two days off with nothing to say here. In terms of the usual inspiration and how drinks come about, I’m not much of a wanderer when it comes to going out and seeing what other people are doing in their cocktail programs. Yeah, I guess that’s not good on my…

  • It’s Getting a Little Weird Over Here

    In the beginning, when I took over as bar manager, I had no idea what the hell I was doing. My first couple of seasonal cocktails on the list were…Hmmm…Let me think a moment here…Something called Alpha Carotene. Ha. Fresh carrot juice, cardamom, bourbon, some grated nutmeg over the top. Not a big seller. Also,…

  • Bourdain Day, 2023

    To say this man, Anthony Bourdain, had a profound impact on my life would be a massive understatement. In 1999 I was handed a torn out copy of the New Yorker article, Don’t Eat Before Reading This, by my boss, Tom, chef and owner of the Trattoria Delia in my hometown, Burlington, VT. I took…

  • Why Are You All So Afraid of Rum?

    I get it, we all did the same thing. Young, stupid, cheap ass bottle of Bacardi rum in hand and hours later head in the toilet, retching, blaming the rum. Shame on you, you blamed the rum. As you went forward in life, aged a little, everyone you knew gravitated toward vodka. It’s clean they…

  • New Cocktail: Green Hornet

    Full confession, I’ve never seen one episode of the show or even watched the remake in movie form starring Seth Rogan but the drink came to me and I thought it would be a damn good name for a cocktail. No? It does have some martial arts reference and history. We like martial arts references…