"Raising the Bar" news and stories

To put it mildly, Norway is not known for its beer.

"About 98 percent of the beer consists of light lagers," sighs tall, bearded Kjetil Jikiun, cofounder and brewmaster of Nøgne Ø, one of Norway's scant microbreweries. "Norwegians," he laments, "don't know much about craft beer."

Jikiun is the exception: Since launching Nøgne Ø (naked isle) six years ago, the gregarious, bespectacled Norwegian has begun altering his country's carbonated landscape. He crafts bold, flavorful beers more in line with American microbrews than Norway's watery lagers. "Most bars there just have one beer on tap," he says, holding court in New York City's multi-tap beer bar Jimmy's No. 43. "You just order a beer-no choice needed." But Jikiun, an ex–airline pilot who sampled suds wherever he landed, liked choice. He began homebrewing, looking toward American microbrewers for inspiration. "Everybody I served my homebrews to liked them, so I though there'd be a market," he says of launching Nøgne Ø.

Today is a special day for me. It is a special day for all spirit and cocktail enthusiasts throughout the state of Washington. For in a few hours, several of the nations premier absinthe producers and our own resident experts will gather downtown in a small artists loft for the first event produced by the Washington State Bartender's Guild.

This event will be the exclamation point on a long process that began last summer when I cornered Andrew Friedman, owner of a wonderful local bar named Liberty, and we began discussing how to form a collective of bartenders into a guild, similar to what the bartenders in Oregon had recently done. We recruited several talented bartenders and began laying the groundwork.

We started with a Mission Statement:

The WSBG exists as an organization of professionals and enthusiasts with an enduring mission to elevate the standard of bartending as a craft. The key to this goal is simple: we are a state- wide collaborative community dedicated to a heightened expectation of quality cocktails, spirits, wine and beer, the promotion and recognition of an excellence in service and an ongoing education of our membership.

When it comes to rum, I have to admit a definite prejudice: after years of drinking Polynesian cocktails with names like Zombie, Suffering Bastard, and Planter's Punch, I have developed a definite tendency toward dark rums. This makes sense; while white rums are great for degreasing engines or cleaning wounds, there's a lot to be said for flavor!

The classic dark rum is Myers's, a rich and flavorful potion with notes of vanilla, molasses, and a very slightly burned taste. Unfortunately, at $23 for a fifth, it is also fairly expensive. On the other hand, Cruzan Black Strap Navy Rum is a lot cheaper ($14), and even more delicious. Made with a heavy wallop of molasses, it has a very rich, sweet flavor, a lower alcohol content, and a dark, almost impenetrably black color. Best of all, like Myers, it holds up very nicely against fruit juices, egg nog, and all the other rich flavors that make most lesser rums quail.

For more refined tastes, there is nothing like a golden rum. Unfortunately, this is one of those places where low quality translates pretty directly into low taste. Luckily, Appleton Gold ($14) and Mount Gay Eclipse ($16) are both outstanding and relatively cheap. Steer clear of Bacardi.

If you absolutely must go with spiced rum, you're probably better off making it yourself. That having been said, I have to admit a deep appreciation of Rogue Hazelnut Spiced Rum. It has a subtle, adult flavor that tastes fantastic in a simple grog. Unfortunately, at roughly $30 per bottle, it's a little pricey!

Before we get started on the continuation of your goal of being a good bartender, I'd like to address publicly a great point brought up by one of our Slashfood readers.

Suzy pointed out in the comment field in the last post that as an alternative to becoming a barback, another way to get your foot in the door is as a cocktail waitress. Great point, and I'd elaborate that to include anybody in the restaurant business. If you're a server and your restaurant has a bar, try asking if you can step behind the bar and train. This is how I got into bartending. Now, ordinarily, this will mean you will be back there for free. Again, this is how I got in. I put in several volunteer hours until I was asked to cover a shift and until finally getting my own shifts. The point is, any way you can get yourself behind a bar and start learning, paid or not, do it.

In fact, I'll go so far as to say that starting as a server is probably the optimal way to go, though the process will take longer. As a barback, you'll get behind the bar quicker and your learning curve on how to work a bar will be shorter, but you'll be missing what I consider a key element of bartending, namely, service. Going through a server training program through a restaurant gives you an eye for the details of good service, an element I think is lacking in many bartenders today. A server in a restaurant would never skimp on the basics such as a) providing water for your guests, b) acknowledging new guests right away with menus and c) patiently explaining the product being offered if asked. I cannot tell you how many bars I go to that skip the bare minimums of good service, as if the bar were a rarefied plane of existence in which these standards don't apply. Good bartending means good service. Period.

Okay, stepping off my soap-box and moving right along . . .

My wife wants to be a bartender.

Makes sense; we have a dream of opening our own cocktail lounge someday, so it'd be nice if she could step behind the bar with me and know what she's doing. Better yet if she could stand alone with her arsenal of cocktails and be known about town as a great bartender.

Seeing as how she is married to a one, I'm the obvious choice to begin her training. The question for me is, where to begin? How do you build a bartender from scratch? There is no real established training program or apprenticeship blueprint that I know of that doesn't either a) cost a bunch of money or b) get you physically involved behind a working bar, so I've decided to take a whack at coming up with my own.