EDUCATIONAL SEMINARS

AT ITS CORE, CHILLED 100 ELEVATE FOLLOWS THE IMPORTANCE OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATIONAL ADVANCEMENT FOR BARTENDERS. HERE ARE SOME OF THE AMAZING SEMINARS THE CHILLED 100 BARTENDERS HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO ATTEND.

“As a bartender, you are your own brand,” explained Natalie Migliarini, founder of Beautiful Booze. “And if you want to become a brand ambassador, you have to be at least half famous on social medi.” Migliarini and James Stevenson of Little Lane Media are social media and content development specialists who spoke at the Chilled 100 Elevate event to offer information and advice to bartenders hoping to enhance their social media efforts. While the seminar mainly focused on Instagram accounts, the presenters also answered questions from the audience about other platforms and the headaches of constant algorithm changes.

Mental Health

Grey Goose Sensory Lab

The Grey Goose Sensory Lab seminar gave bartenders an interactive, hands (and nose)-on demonstration of just how important the senses are. The seminar was presented by Jaymee Mandeville, Director of Education, TEAM Enterprises, Susie Stiers, Beverage Developer at Bacardi Martini, and Grey Goose Vodka Senior Brand Ambassador Marie Piraino.

Participants started by holding their noses and tasting jellybeans, it was difficult to identify the specific flavor until they unplugged their noses and could smell the cherry essence. The group then put blue dye on their tongues and placed a small cutout circle on the surface. Counting the number of bumps, or taste receptors, that were located within the inner circle determined if they were super tasters (a lot of bumps), average tasters or non-tasters. Not surprisingly, those who were super tasters did better than those who were not; after mixing water into five separate cups that held a second substance, participants were asked to identify whether each substance was sweet, sour, bitter, salty, or savory (umami).

CHINOLA: A PASSION FOR SUSTAINABILITY

CHILLED 100 bartenders were treated to sips of the divinely delicious Chinola Passion Fruit Liqueur while learning about the sustainability behind the brand from Chair and co-founder Andrew Merinoff. Sharing the story behind the brand, Andrew emphasized the importance of sustainability—not just from the vantage point of developing the liqueur, but also for residents of the community where Chinola produces the brand. Bartenders in attendance shared their experiences incorporating the Chinola Passion Fruit Liqueur into the cocktails they create for their bars.

Social Media

Everyone these days uses social media, including bartenders who use it to promote themselves and the places they work. Creating good, consistent content and engaging with the audience is the easiest way to reach a global audience and may even help you move forward in your career.

Being a bartender can be stressful, whether it’s working long, late hours, dealing with demanding customers or acting as counselors to your clientele while crafting the perfect cocktail. Self-care isn’t usually on top of the list, which can mean that your mental health can suffer if you don’t make yourself a priority. “You can’t help anyone if you can’t help yourself,” summed up Karla Green during the Mental Health Seminar. The seminar, led by Ashley Mac, program director of Baltimore’s iheardyou. org chapter, focused on things that bartenders can do for themselves and for their customers to promote positive mental health. The seminar included panelists Karla Green, a Louisville bartender and cleric-intraining; Chicago bartender Jeremy Barrett, Florida-based mixologist and wellness advocate Angela Dugan, and Tara Gillum, owner of Steiner’s Speakeasy in Ohio. The panel offered several suggestions on how to safeguard one’s mental health, from the physical—getting enough sleep, making time for doctors’ appointments, meditating, and practicing stretching and breathing exercises—to creating a safe space where both bartenders and customers can thrive.

WHEN TRADITIONS ARE KEPT, LEGACIES ARE BORN

Every bottle of El Mayor® Tequila begins in the rocky lowlands of Jalisco, where our skilled jimadors hand-select only the finest blue agave. It is a process our family has refined over four generations. And while it offers no efficiencies of time or labor, it creates the remarkably smooth tequila that has become our legacy.

The Science Behind Neat Glass

For George Manska, Chief of Research and Development for Arsilica, Inc. glass design is all about the science of nosing, tasting, and evaluating spirits. And to properly do any of those things, you need a glass designed to enhance the experience. In the NEAT Glass seminar, George debunked longtime myths of tasting practices starting with the tongue map lie. “There’s no advantage to delivering a beverage to specific tongue areas,” says George. “Manufacturers tout the invalid tongue map to sell glassware in an industry that ignores science.”

George also pointed out that flavor is mostly aroma. Flavor equals 90% aroma, 5% taste and 5% mouth-feel. “We don’t taste raspberries, we smell raspberries, taste sweet and mouthfeel fuzzy, acidic raspberry,” he explains. “Those experiences reach the brain giving us the aha moment when we realize it’s raspberries.” NEAT Glass used science to build a better glass, changing the way the world tastes spirits.

KEEPER’S HEART BLENDING

For many bartenders, creating new drinks is a favorite pastime. But when you get to create your own whiskey blend coached by worldrenowned Master Distiller Brian

Nation, it is truly a memorable experience. Chilled 100 bartenders got this opportunity during the Keeper’s Heart Blending Seminar. To try their hand at creating a new whiskey, participants were given three components and a measuring cylinder and let loose to see if they could make something as unique as Keeper’s Heart. The seminar ended with Nation offering an Irish toast, topping off a fun and informative hour. “May the roofs around you never fall in, and the friends around you never fall out.” Sláinte!

Real Infused Exotics Flavors

Dr. Isalde Aubuchon, Food Scientist specializing in fruits and vegetables who works with the owners of REAL Exotic Infusion flavors. Dr. Aubuchon personally travels the world to find the best fruit, not the variety. Methodically, Dr. Aubuchon took participants through tasting mango from different parts of the world (India, Mexico, and Florida) pointing out differences and contrast in flavors and textures.

Ford Media Lab

During the Ford’s Cocktail Photography seminar, bartenders walked through strategies and techniques to taking professionallooking cocktail images. Led by Rachel and Kyle Ford of Ford Media

Lab, the seminar was a hands-on practical approach to taking Instaworthy pictures. Rachel is an art director and Kyle a commercial photographer, both are awardwinning mixologists. Their company, Ford Media Lab, has been hired by brands from Absolute to Tanqueray for ads in publications such as Bloomberg, Forbes, and Town & Country.

THE THREE-TIER SYSTEM AND BAR OWNERSHIP

Picture being in a room with people who have worked in all facets of the three-tier system and being able to ask them anything. At ELEVATE, panels were compiled of industry professionals ready to answer any question and offer guidance to others who may want to explore another option within the industry. This panel included Emma Alexander, Managing Consultant and CEO of EHA Consultants, John Propelec Owner of Culinary Investments, Nicole Cooke Founder of VodkaGirlATX, Leah Dufresne of Cocktails and Grace, Bartender at Spiegelworld Entertainment and Beverage Consultant, Ohio Crawford GM of Backyard on Broadway and Bartender at Esquire Tavern, and Angela Dugan of Kapow Noodle Bar (Boca Raton & WPB) Penelope (Boca Raton FL) known as “The Creator of Things.”

SPECIAL SECTION CHILLED 100 ELEVATE