BartendersTour.blogspot.com

  I immediately recognize the expression when I come into the whiskey aisle: A customer is standing back, just staring at the wall of bottles in front of them. Furrowed brow. Befuddlement. Angst. I am the certified Spirits Professional for the local location of a large national chain wine and spirits store. My job, essentially, is to work with customers who need some advice, want to talk spirits or - like the person in front of me - are completely at a loss. “Can I help you?” I ask. I get a relieved expression almost immediately. “Yes, if you don’t mind. I’m looking for a (fill in the blank) present for (fill in the blank…husband, wife, friend, boss). All I know is he/she/they like whiskey.” It’s a common conversation. The selection in our store is huge, and if you don’t know the category, it can be overwhelming. Plus, the term whiskey can refer to a number of things. I usually start these conversations with a series of questions designed to help me dig down a bit deeper....

Much is made of the lists generated by online and in print spirits reviewers. Oftentimes the very top echelon of reviewers - everyone from professional writers such as Jim Murray, Stephen Beal and Fred Minnick, to publications like Wine Enthusiast and Whiskey Advocate - love to publish their very own list of standout bottles from around the world. "Bob Smith's Top Ten Tequilas for 2020!" And that's great. Everyone should have a list of what is considered to be the standard bearers of the industry. Special bottles of bourbon, or scotch, or rums, gins and tequilas, etc. All fine and good. But what I have seen and heard for myself is that too many consumers will jump on bandwagons simply because someone else says "this is the best." They'll immediately run out and try to find a bottle of the stuff, regardless of what anybody else might say on the subject. Many of the unicorns - particularly in bourbons - have become to simply because someone say...

Last Halloween my neighborhood was deeply shaken by a tragedy which claimed the lives of an entire young family when an underage driver - given a bottle of Jack Daniels by a liquor store owner already known to have lost a liquor license - drove onto a sidewalk and hit them as they were walking. A mother, a father and their little boy. Countless lives impacted and a neighborhood in grief. As a certified bartender, spirits consultant and host of the upcoming A Bartender's Tour podcast, I thought I’d offer the following suggestions to make for a fun and safe holiday celebration for you and yours. Have a designated driver in your group. Or have Uber, Lyft or taxi service loaded on your phone and use it instead of trying to navigate home, even if you think you’re only a “little” buzzed. No underage drinking. Period. Not only are you keeping young people safe but you’re keeping the people around them safe as well. No offense to young people, but we were all the...