Whether you’re Canadian or not, it’s tough to ignore the Olympic craze surrounding us all. Tune into ‘The Straight Pour’, hosted by Paul and Ann Tuennermann, organizers of Tales of the Cocktail, tomorrow morning for some insight from myself and Darcy O’Neil on what impact the Olympics have had on Canadian bars and bartenders.

In addition, you’ll get a sneak peek as to what you can expect from this year’s Tales of the Cocktail event – I’ll be hosting a seminar entitled “Social Media: Creating Cocktail Legends” alongside Brian Rea and Camper English, and Darcy has a few, much more intelligent, seminars he’ll be presenting as well.

The show starts at 11AM EST, and you can tune in at http://www.wistradio.com. And yes, this mean’s that the downtime around Cocktails and Cordials is finally over.

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Should you ever make it to my office, it becomes apparent very quickly that I’m a very unorganized person. In an effort to remedy this, you can often find the outside of my computer laden with an assortment of Post-It Note reminders reminding me to do everything from paying bills, to emails I need to send, or in the case of the only permanent Post-It.. to update my website a minimum of three times per week.

At the slowest of times, that can be a serious challenge. To keep up with the likes of Camper English’s Alcademics, or fellow Canadian Darcy O’Neil, and his Fix the Pumps project, can be an uphill battle for sure — throw in the hundreds of other full time cocktail blogs spanning the internet, and Cocktails and Cordials quickly falls to the wayside.

But my greatest challenge, in my opinion, is the cause of an advantage that most cocktail bloggers have neglected — I’m a full time bartender and Bar Manager here in Niagara Falls. Why don’t you see this website updated nearly as often as the others? I’m so incredibly lucky to spend 60 hours per week in a bar still, 40 or so of those hours being behind the wood full time. Over the course of the past few weeks my time for Cocktails and Cordials has drastically declined, and I’m only just beginning to find more time to devote to online cocktails.

What’s taking up my time now? After an exhausting few months of setbacks, delays, and disheartening slowdowns with construction, we are getting very close to launching the second bar and restaurant for Johnny Rocco’s Italian Grill (if you’re American.. Carabba’s is a very similar concept) here in St. Catharines, Ontario. The next few days will be devoted to unpacking countless cases of glassware, and receiving a $50K wine and liquor order, and I couldn’t be more excited.

I’m going to do my best to keep you posted with our progress, but for the time being.. thank you so much for your patience. I have plenty of very exciting news to share with you over the next couple of weeks, so please stay tuned!

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Earlier this week, the National Post published a story entitled “Are you going to drink that tequila or just talk about it?”, which has prompted more than a little bit of discussion within the Canadian bartending community. The article’s author talks about suffering through a tequila tasting in Toronto, claiming that the hosts spend too much time talking about how the spirits are made, and not nearly enough time shooting them back. Canadians, he claims, don’t care to learn more about what they’re drinking or about what makes it superior – they want to just skip to the shot.

He goes on to describe the bartender as “hapless”, and the discouragement to the profession has left more than a few bartenders feeling more than a little upset, but does he raise a good point? How many extraordinary bars or bartenders have you heard of within Canada? Sure there are a few Canadian headliners, but compare that to the news coming out of New York, or San Fransisco, we don’t even come close to the same notoriety.

Bartending in Canada can be significantly more difficult than in other parts of the world, for many different reasons — the most significant of these reasons being our government. Unlike New York State, whose Liquor Authority, which deals with license issuing, and Liquor Store Association, which oversees liquor retailers, each Canadian province has their own, government-run liquor store. What this means to bars and bartenders is that any product introduced to Ontario is subject to the approval of the Ontario government. The result of this is a market dominated by the brands with the biggest budgets, leaving little room for the smaller spirit and liqueur companies to make headway.

How long have Domaine de Canton and St. Germain cocktails and competitions been making news across the United States now? We still don’t have those products here in Ontario. The only reason I have them, along with products like Cherry Heering, G’Vine Gin, and Maraschino Liqueur is that I smuggled them back into Canada when I was at Tales of the Cocktail this summer.

With that said, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) is the single-largest purchaser of wine and spirits in the entire world.. yet our variety and our quality offerings are minimal. Hell, the only spirit-based bitters you can purchase in Canada right now are still simply Angostura Aromatic. Head on over to Liquid Revolution and ask Shawn Soole about the nightmare he’s had trying to set up “House of Bitters” as a Canadian bitters supplier.

So what does it take to succeed as a bartender, especially in Canada? A whole hell of a lot of passion, and a persistence and commitment to the craft that’s sure to drive everyone around you nuts. Anyone can make drinks – it takes very, very little to stand behind the bar and pour wine, beer, and rum and cokes all night. To take that step beyond, requires more than a head full of drink recipes, and a cocktail shaker at hand. How you progress beyond that point depends directly on what the National Post suggests Canadians don’t do – care about what you drink.

Help us prove them wrong.

In case you missed the post on my facebook profile, here’s a copy of my response to the editor of the National Post.
My name is Nick Nemeth, and I’m an incredibly passionate bartender from Niagara Falls, Ontario. Recently, one of my peers from New York City pointed out one of your articles that, even now, I find difficult to craft the appropriate response to.

Besides myself, across Canada there are an ever-growing number of bartenders building a career out of providing exemplary service and quality cocktails to our guests. With that said, there are a good number of us that feel Adam McDowell was phenomenally out of touch with his article discussing a recent tequila tasting, published in the “Happy Hour” section of your newspaper…. See More

Speaking as one of the so-called “hapless” bartenders that Mr. McDowell refers to, I find it incredibly discouraging to think that someone in an influentially significant position like his would talk down about a career that so many of us are working so hard to elevate.

The “great” cocktail cities like New York, San Fransisco, and London (among others) cast a fairly large shadow on the beverage industry, often eclipsing the talent of many equally talented Canadian bartenders. Pair that with the legal red tape and limitations our government-run liquor stores impart on us, and it’s very difficult for an upstanding Canadian bartender to succeed.

Be that as it may, there are a rapidly growing group of professionals across Canada who have built careers out of tending bar. We’ve found much more within that glass of tequila than simply a shot to suck back, and there are a good number of us who are baffled as to how a beverage writer could be so ignorant to the quality cocktail culture flourishing around him.

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While I haven’t yet had enough of an opportunity to reply to Darcy Oneil’s bartending school post quite yet, here’s the jist. Ask any manager in charge of staffing a bar their thoughts on a recent bartending school graduate — and I’m sure you’ll be hard-pressed to find one eager to put that graduate behind their bar.

But why? Most bar schools fall short on many key points to creating a great bartender, including the following:

Great cocktails take time and practice. The best bartender isn’t the one who can push out 250 Sour Apple Martinis in an hour, it’s the one who can create one cocktail, or provide the service that their guests will come back for, time and time again.

There’s an intrinsic set of skills key to becoming a great bartender, very few of which can be learned. Charisma, patience, and hospitality are traits all too often overlooked. As both a bar manager and a former Bar School Instructor, there are very few of my graduates I think are close to qualified to work in my own bar, most of which have to deal with these very traits. More on that in a later post..

Disclaimer: Not only have I attended bar school, but I used to instruct for one. They’re a great way to begin your bar education, but very few graduates will continue to further their knowledge after that.

As a graduate of a bartending school, I know full well the benefits they offer, but many keep too narrow a focus in their curriculum, and fail to properly prepare their students for life behind a real bar. For now, for the bartenders among us eager to further their knowledge, here are a few opportunities that came across my desk this week, with aspirations to improve upon the standard bar school model.

Shaker Bar School – Molecular Mixology Course
London, England http://www.shaker-uk.com/
“Molecular Mixology” by no means is a new technique, nor is the idea of an organization (ie. Cointreau) instructing bartenders on it’s applications. However, in one of the first commercial moves, Shaker Bar School (London, England), has added molecular courses to its lineup of otherwise standard introductory mixology and flair bartending instruction. From their website:

“The world’s first course covering the applications of molecular mixology for practical use in a bar environment. This course covers the techniques used in cutting edge luxury cocktails and the practical applications of science in the bar. We kick things off with an introduction to the science of taste and flavour and explore the sensory experience of drinking.

Starting with the basics we teach homemade sodas and foams and teach students how to make their own bitters from scratch.. “

Their next offering runs on the 29th of this month, and the one day course will set you back £249.00 (approx. $422 CDN). For more information, visit Shaker’s website, or read this article here.

Flairco Bartending Institute – Extraordinary Moments at the Bar
Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada http://www.flairco.com
For years, Dean Serneels, a personal mentor and close friend of mine, has been staffing and training bartenders across the world. While the majority of Flairco’s courses covered flair primarily, with a high end mixology component splashed in, Dean’s new course seeks to do something different.

A bartender provides no benefit to themselves or their bar if their guest leaves and never mentions it again. Dean’s latest course seeks to show students how to monetize interaction from behind the bar, and build a lasting base of returning customers. From the press release:

“Extraordinary moments are a brief section of time where a guest experiences something beyond their belief. Imagine a taste, a sensation, or a second of time that holds something so astonishing that you remember and talk about it for many years to come…

…Open to all hospitality staff Serneels will teach you how to turn these extraordinary moments on your bar into better sales, bigger tips, return guests and improved word of mouth advertising.”

Flairco’s next “Extraordinary Moments” course runs on October 26, and costs $50 CDN ($40 if you RSVP online). For more information, view the press release here.

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Well in the spirit of the recently-passed Canadian Thanksgiving, and a new contest being hosted by The Bitter Truth and A Dash of Bitters, I figured I’d turn things around – rather than share what I’m thankful for, here’s what I’m bitter (and envious) about today.

Camper English and Alcademics
My first intention was to write about jealousy of Camper English and the extensive traveling he is privileged to as he updates his posts. If you’re a follower of Camper’s blog, Alcademics, you’ll be all too familiar with his recent trip to Cognac, France, and the different Cognac houses he visited, including Courvoisier, Pierre Ferrand, Remy Martin, and many more.

The Beefeater 24 Bitters Competition encourages bar bloggers to give a "shout out" to those their envious of.

Frustration with the LCBO
But today, I’m bitter about something else. Here’s how the plan for today was supposed to go down. I went to bed last night, reveling in discovering the last remaining bottle of Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection Sweet Mash (I know, quite a mouthful) for sale in Ontario. The drive would take about an hour and a half.. but it would be worth it.

I woke up early, around 9AM, and got ready for the drive.. an hour and a half, and $130CDN away, this bottle of bourbon was about to be mine.

But alas, it wasn’t meant to be – before I had a chance to leave, the trip was over. The last bottle has disappeared from Ontario, and short of a trip to the United States (which will involve smuggling it through US Customs), I won’t get a chance to taste it, and display proudly on my home liquor cabinet.

Darcy O’Neil and Art of Drink
So in the spirit of the competition, I turn to fellow (Canadian) blogger Darcy O’Neil in envy. If you haven’t read Art of Drink yet, get on it.

A former chemist turned bartender, Darcy often (but not exclusively) takes a scientific approach to dissecting spirits and cocktails in a refreshing blog that’s updated frequently. I attended his seminar “Sugar: The Science of Sweet” this year at Tales, and believe me, Darcy brings a unique, and educated voice to the world of bartender education and communication. As a fellow resident of Ontario, I’m sure he can share in the often resentment of our liquor practices and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO).

Why so bitter with him? You might want to read this post of his here. As for now – Cheers, Darcy on raising the bar for bartending blogs worldwide.

For more information on the “Don’t be Bitter!” competition, visit A Dash of Bitters

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