A Message from Scott Wenger

GUEST EDITOR SCOTT WENGER

The bartender is the aristocrat " of the working class."

That’s a great quote from Cocktail, a fun little movie about bartending. I’d been bartending a year when it came out, but boy, did it change everything. Suddenly, a noble profession of hospitality workhorses became about showmanship and flair. Popping corks and pouring shots were no longer considered professional skills but merely entry-level requirements to learning to juggle, flip, and blow fire! Flair wasn’t the first trend to hit bartending, but it was the first one that I remember, and it would be hard to imagine one that was more impactful to the industry.

Following flair, we collectively decided we needed to muddle every freakin’ thing we could find into our drinks. Then we all had to wear leather aprons, grow a handlebar mustache (thankfully, just the guys) and call ourselves “mixologists!” Now we’ve settled back into calling ourselves bartenders, but the acceptable term for what we ply now is “craft cocktails.”

To be truthful, I’m happy with where things are now. I spent years behind all kinds of bars waiting for my “real career” to take off, and one day I realized that this was it. I just didn’t know it, and that all those trends led bartending to evolve and become legitimized. Yeah, it is a real profession now. Trends come and go, but perfection seldom goes unnoticed. No matter what kind of bar you’re behind—the most important thing you can do is strive for perfection and take good care of your guests.

I’m honored to be CHILLED’s guest editor for its bartender issue because ours is a profession that often composes a tightly knit clan of nocturnal professionals that’s an absolute necessity in our crazy world. We hang together in packs and make fun of those that aren’t us. We brag about war wounds and look out for each other, like immortals who don’t mind that the people we’re taking care of don’t really understand us. So, I raise a glass to all of us who have ever gotten behind the stick. Yes, we are the aristocrats. Scott Wenger

Before launching his consulting company, Bungalow Consulting Group, Scott worked in some of the nation’s hottest bars and restaurants in LA, San Francisco, and Seattle before settling in the Tampa Bay area. Now with over 15 years of experience, he has won awards for his cocktail programs and cocktails alike but has never left behind his first love of creating great drinks for the guests in front of him.