Today (February 24) is World Bartender Day!
World Bartender Day is a day to appreciate your local bar staff. Bartenders are the favourite person on a night out, and they will help you to stay well provided with drinks.
Celebrating this day is quite easy and very simple to remember.
You can observe the day by honouring the works of bartenders and in celebration, some of South Africa’s best bartenders share below their bartending journey in the bar industry and advice for those wanting to join the industry.
Alecs Powrie
Alecs Powrie, head bartender at Art of Duplicity, found her way into bartending by serendipity.
“It was never on my radar. I actually started as a florist, then I was a barista for four years. Coffee got me into hospitality, and then I started working in bars. I landed up in Cause Effect Cocktail Kitchen and Cape Brandy Bar, and that’s where my passion for bartending started,” said Powrie.
Her studies in musical theatre have proved useful, she says.
“When I started to think of a bar as a stage of its own, that’s when my mind started to transform. Besides skill, creativity, persistence, passion, and pure hard work, there’s an elusive extra element to excellence in bartending.
“It takes a certain kind of personality to be behind a bar and to deal with customers, whether they’re at their best or at their worst. Reading their minds when it comes to making them a drink, knowing how to handle them. You can teach somebody skills, but you can’t teach them personality,” she said.
For those thinking of making bartending their career, Powrie said: “It’s hard work. If you make it your passion, your career, and your life goal, you really can get so much out of it. Be persistent and treat it like a career.
“Keep on picking up skills from other people, and keep on being inspired by global bartenders. It doesn’t stop when you learn how to make a drink. It goes so much further than that.”
About her favourite cocktail, she said she loves a Trinidad Sour.
“I love a dark and stormy cocktail, rum, lime, ginger beer, and Angostura aromatic bitters – it’s for all seasons with not too much but enough depth of character.
“However, my all-time favourite is a refreshing and all-day-drinking rock shandy: eight dashes of bitters please and mixes it in thanks,” said Powrie.
Jody Francis
“Since my start in this industry, roughly 12 years ago, the entire industry has changed. We have developed techniques, strategies, methodology, and community that have revolutionised our industry,” said Jody Francis, co-owner of Fable.
Francis grew up in the hospitality industry from the age of nine. However, his path into the bar industry and passion for drinks started as a night-time side hustle while he was working in construction.
One memorable experience that determined his career trajectory was being part of the opening team of Lucky Shaker behind the legendary Michael Stephenson. For those thinking of making bartending a career, Francis advised: “Find multiple mentors that speak to different focus areas you want to learn and develop.
“Engage with these mentors regularly. Focus on developing all skills, as a well-rounded bartender beats a master of one area every time.”
Melrick Harrison
Head mixologist at Radisson Blu Hotel Waterfront, Melrick Harrison grew up in Atlantis on the West Coast. Harrison started his bartending career at the age of 19 at a local pub.
At the time, the place was popular with a crowd in their 30s and 40s, who were into beer and tequila shots, along with the live jazz and R&B that was performed.
“It was long before my name in the industry grew and I was head-hunted to work at a nightclub in Mamre. In this position, which I held for five years, I got heavily into cocktail creation – mixology intrigued me, and I loved putting together unique beverages for regulars based on their chosen flavours.”
It is a talent he is still proud of.
“I followed my passion and went with a bartending course after gaining work experience, and emerged from the Shaker BarSchool with a world-class qualification,” said Harrison.
Concluding he said: “Not everyone has a refined pallet, but you can have the patience to educate and if the time allows, persuade them to try something new, even if it’s just one drink.
“Always take notes when creating something new, it might just be a winner. Use the base of the past and present in creating something original that speaks to all. And lastly, have fun with the creativity of it all, each day as a mixologist brings about new faces, ingredients, and experiences.”