What IS an “Advanced Modern Bartender”, you ask?
Modern Bartenders aren’t simply bartenders born after a certain date. That said, not all pre-prohibition bartenders were true craft bartenders either.
As you know I was born after prohibition and before the days of the Craft Cocktail Revolution. Yet at the same time I learned craft before craft became famous again, and before craft was PERMITTED in “Corporate” bartending (such as the NY Hilton, Midtown, where I worked not too far away from Dale DeGroff later on when he is credited to be the Father of Modern Mixology. (“Dale DeGroff, widely celebrated as the Father of Modern Mixology, single-handedly sparked the craft cocktail renaissance. During his tenure at New York’s iconic Rainbow Room in the 1980s and ’90s, he replaced artificial pre-mixed ingredients with fresh juices and resurrected long-forgotten, pre-Prohibition recipes.” Liquor.com )
So we’ll refer to post 90s bartenders who actually developed themselves into “Modern Bartenders” (through continuing education and constant practice) as Advanced Modern Bartenders, whereas simply being a Modern Bartender (not Advanced) merely means working in an advanced bar and performing (as instructed) to perform in alignment with defined Modern Bartending standards.
CORPORATE Doesn’t Get It, Never Will, And Can’t – Here’s Why:
CRAFT COOKING – The truth is that people go to restaurants expecting consistency. Each dished plate – burger, steak, fish, steamed broccoli off of the line should come out of the kitchen tasting and looking exactly the same each time. The Line Cooks are automatons endlessly reproducing each thing exactly to specification. People visit a place to eat for the Chef (and the kitchen staff follows that Chef’s recipe, means of execution, and plating and appearance EXACTLY as ordered by the Head Chef. Big Corporations have a similar model, only that Head Chef (if there is anyone alive holding that position) is not on premises in each location.
The CRAFT is controlled by the Head Craftsperson – the Head Chef. Any improvements, tweaks, are determined by that person.
CRAFT BARTENDING – The quote “I don’t go to bars, I go to bartenders” was popularized by legendary mixologist and “King of Cocktails” Dale DeGroff. He uses the phrase to emphasize that the true heart of any establishment is the hospitality and personality of the person behind the stick rather than the physical space itself. It has since become a staple mantra in the hospitality industry, frequently quoted by other prominent bartenders like Tony Abou-Ganim to highlight the importance of customer connection.
Chefs and Line Cooks can’t and don’t do that – they’re locked up in the kitchen – and Servers? Servers are great – but they’re not standing in front of you the entire time you’re eating at a table, and have nothing at all to do with cooking meals.
CORPORATIONS don’t get that, refuse to get that, and never will get that. Corporations are all about t themselves, their image, their brand identity, their marketing, their market share, their Public Relations, etc.
Bartenders run stations, not lines – Bartenders don’t have Craft Master Mixologists or Advanced Journeymen Bartenders, …they now have “Managers” who aren’t craft practitioners. Their job is to squash craft bartending – to crush creativity, development, learning and the application of that learning, and everything else that has to do with Craft Bartending – Modern Bartending – and most particularly and especially Advanced Modern Bartending, skills, techniques, tools, and everything else Craft. They want “Kitchen Line” rote, slave galley “Shut up and do it this way” since 1960 – right or wrong – NO thinking! They want Robots. And now that robotics will soon make that a reality – the LAST thing Corporations want is the reality of continually developing and growing skills of Modern Craft Bartending.
MY SAGE ADVICE TO ALL OF YOU WHO CARE IS TO GET OUT AS SOON AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN, AND FIND A REAL BAR THAT WILL APPRECIATE WHAT YOU DO.
