On Rolling in the Deep
Bartenders: In packed neighborhoods teeming with nightclubs (Chelsea, The Village, MPD, LES, Bedford), filled with weekend bridge-and-tunnel drunkards, bartenders are expected to handle a bar 3 or 4 deep for hours, without suffering a mental breakdown or losing money.
Mixologists: Doesn’t happen. A lot of mixologists hone their skills either in boutique or high-end hotel bars – places like PDT and Apotheke, and The Four Seasons, Le Bernadin, and Le Cirque. They take their sweet-ass time, blending Employee Manual certified house cocktails to perfection. However, put them in a club setting, with an extremely loud DJ, and shirtless cokeheads begging for Goose-Redbull and a Gatorade, and they’d run crying for their Mamas.
Wine, Beer and Spirits
Bartenders: Sadly, most bartenders I’ve come across over the years have little interest in or knowledge about the varieties or origins of booze. They’re simply in a massive hurry for you, the customer, to place your order, pay and move on. Time is money.
Mixologists: You’d be hard pressed to not mistake a mixologist for a Sommelier or Brewmaster. Unlike clubby barkeeps, a ton of mixologists are extremely well-versed in (1) wine pairings (2) the differences between Lager, Ale and Stouts and (3) base ingredients and processing of various spirits. Get them going, and they’ll happily school you for an hour on Sour Mash v. typical corn Bourbon, or Potato v. Corn Vodkas and distillation frequency. They speak incessantly of weird stuff like top/bottom fermentation, IBU, texture, pith, tannins, mossy, legs and will bore you to tears with talk of hops, charred oak and metal barrels, temperature and time, etc.
Benefits
Bartenders: You’re joking, right? Most will never have any type of written job security, insurance, mid-shift breaks, paid vacation, or any other nice perks corporate drones enjoy. Aside from bartending’s guilty pleasures, the biggest benefit they get from the house, is the occasional hookup the kitchen throws in their direction – a dry old hamburger that they woof down in the dishroom when the manager’s not looking.
Mixologists: There are a handful of highly sought-after union gigs at some of the upper echelon hotels. Mixologists sometimes occupy these positions. IMO, unions are beyond evil – especially for the small business owner. For example, most union electricians, carpenters, and iron workers I know bilk the system terribly and make projects and products cost three times as much as they should. Union mixologists live high on the hog. Those jobs are extremely rare. They’re the antithesis of your average bartending gig.
House Cocktails
Bartenders: Every bar I’ve worked in has required me to memorize anywhere from 10 – 50 house specials. This is not unusual. They’re not terribly complicated in most cases. Some require considerable prep time – which can slow you down when you’re in the weeds. Try as you might to memorize ingredients, the only real way to actually get down with them is to make the actual drink. For this reason, the bar has a direct investment in you, as you waste a considerable amount of liquor and time familiarizing yourself with the house cocktails.
Mixologists: They have to commit a whole lot more to memory than bartenders. The owners are usually sticklers when it comes to consistency or veering from the documented preparation. The house cocktails are unique – part of what the establishment is known for. There is typically an extremely high degree of pride going on there.
Beverage Programs
Bartenders: More often than not they will have little say in house cocktail programs. It’s rare that a bartender will contribute to a cocktail menu in a fast-paced club or a packed bar.
Mixologists: In contrast to bartenders, mixologists are obsessive-compulsive types in terms of attention to detail with craft drinks. Bartenders usually focus on pumping out a drink as quickly as possible and moving on to the next customer. Mixologists are often owners/managers themselves and come from years or even decades of experience, having paid their dues at other bars. They have a high degree of influence in putting together the house cocktail list, if not concocting it outright. Often, they’re hired to put one together from the get-go.
Rings
A “ring” is industry-speak for how much, in dollars, a particular bartender has sold.
Bartenders: At busy spots, the higher-end bartenders can easilly ring four, five or six thousand dollars alone. It can sometimes go even higher if bottle service comes into play.
Mixologists: The focus here is on quality over quantity. Craft cocktails are typically higher in price than your average bevvie at McGinnley’s corner pub. They’re usually not as pricey as what you’d pay for a call or premium Martini, let’s say, in a fashionable West Side club. As a result, the ring in these spots tends to be lower.
Longevity
Bartenders: As a rule of thumb, bartenders don’t stay in one place all that long – especially in seasonal gigs. It can take years to find a quality gig where you make consistent money and enjoy decent working conditions. There are a lot of dues to be paid and you have to be really lucky with timing when looking for a job. Bouncing around from one club to the next is the norm for a number of us. One benefit of doing so is that bartenders in this town get to know a lot of industry people – opening doors that are otherwise inaccessible.
Mixologists: They tend to stay put significantly longer than bartenders. The money they make comes in on the regular. It may not be club money but you can bank on it like a Swiss watch. Work atmosphere trends towards a fun, laissez-faire party rather than a shift on an assembly line. There also tends to be significant notoriety and respect as their reputations build and they develop rapports with regulars – something which is highly improbable in a club setting. As result, mixologists are often happier and stay put longer.
Eye Candy
Bartenders: Bottom line: us guys are pigs. Boobs reign supreme almost all the time at just about every gig. Even my friends in management are guilty of bypassing talent in favor of the hot-ass chick (who can’t bartend to save her life). This business is overrun with massive discrimination in favor of young, foxy girls. They draw men. Smart management will have a good balance of chicks and super efficient male bartenders, doing the heavy lifting. That’s not to say that chicks can’t be speedy and tend bar as well as men, but in my decades in this business, that’s generally not why they’re hired. A foxy girl who is a wonderful and lightning-fast bartender, and who can stack full kegs all night, is a rarity.
Mixologists: This is one area where the playing field is leveled. Guys, particularly older guys, take back the reigns. By older I mean, someone beyond their 20′s or 30′s. Eye candy isn’t a consideration. It’s all about (1) personality (2) attention to detail and (3) knowledge. “Sexy” is not a job qualification.
On Obscure Drinks and Brands
Bartenders: Sure – there are a handful of us here and there that can properly make you the odd French 75, Pimm’s Cup, Americano, or the Martinez. There are even those whose game you can’t throw off by ordering simpleton drinks, with unusual names like: a Salty Dog, Cape Codder, Greyhound or Cuba Libre (all very easy to make). Ask a Bartender for a Hot Toddy, and they won’t even ask you which Whiskey or Cognac you might like. They might return with some Jamesons and hot water in a coffee cup – that’s all.
Mixologists: They understand what “Up Against the Wall” means. I’ve never met a bartender, other than myself, who’s familiar with this term (think the tallest liquor bottle at the bar). They also know what “With a Bang” translates to, as well as “In and Out” and “Perfect.” Ask for a single malt Scotch, and you won’t hear usual suspects: Lagavullin, McCallan, or Glenlivet. Want a really flavorful bourbon? They won’t recommend Makers, Jim Beam or even Knob Creek. Instead, you’ll get boutique, small-batch, deliciously obscure brands in pretty bottles and they’ll tell you why you should opt for one or the other. Ask for a Hot Toddy in this setting and they’ll suggest a particular Rye or Brandy. They’ll come back with your beverage in a stem glass, served with a spoon, honey on the side, dried anisette and cinnamon and full lemon wheel stuffed with cloves. They’ll instruct you to give the lemon a light squeeze, and drop it in the concoction.
