A new generation of passionate bartenders is emerging into cocktail competitions and bars near you. In our February edition of Bartender magazine, Cara Devine interviewed five of these personalities.
Story by Cara Devine. Cara is our Melbourne-based drinks writer. She is the manager of Bomba in Melbourne and the face and talent behind the cocktailing YouTube channel Behind the Bar. You can email her at behindthebarchannel@gmail.com
From globally recognised cocktail bars to cosy neighbourhood pubs, afternoon wine bar snacks to 2am seafood feasts, Australia prides ourselves on our hospitality scene. As we all well know, this industry is all about the people. After a shaky year or two of staff shortages post Covid it has been exciting to see a new generation of passionate bartenders emerge into cocktail competitions and bars near you. Even better, they are shaking off the stereotypes of bartending and doing things their own way. Here I chat with Thomas Svensson.
Thomas Svensson
Bartender, Boston Shaker Bar, Mooloolaba QLD
@bostonshakerbar
Svensson has been bartending for a year and a half and was in the Top 25 of the Top 50 Best Bars in the Blend Scholarship last year. They have always been creative and, having autism, had to find alternative ways to communicate their feelings. Bartending offered a platform to do this. “Through this craft, I was able to anchor my personal experiences and relate them to craft cocktails… The bar became a second home where I could create memorable moments for guests. It didn’t matter if I struggled in other aspects of my life, I was helpful in a way, and this inspired me to believe in myself.”
What keeps you in the industry?
[Being recognised in The Blend] pushed me to ask myself a lot of hard questions about what I would change about our industry. It was the beginning of my life as someone who was now open about LGBTQIA+ rights, mental health, individuality and sustainability in our industry. This pursuit to encourage others to speak out in their situations drove me to continue working towards a brighter future for our community. Whenever I travelled to other cities and met with others like me who wanted to see more, do more, love more, I honestly felt so moved to be with them through bartending competitions because they are the reason I am so passionate.
“Through this craft, I was able to anchor my personal experiences and relate them to craft cocktails… The bar became a second home where I could create memorable moments for guests. It didn’t matter if I struggled in other aspects of my life, I was helpful in a way, and this inspired me to believe in myself.”
What do you see as opportunities for growth?
I want to continue advocating for safe spaces for queer and neurodivergent bartenders. I would love to work with queer-friendly brands and venues to promote safer nightlife experiences for our LGBTQIA+ community. There are still so many conversations to be had about the mistreatment of gender non-conforming and trans people in hospitality and what we can do better to make everyone feel secure. Bar owners, operators and brands all have the power to redefine the boundaries we currently have on our bodies and identities in the workplace. Although I am a resource and my story is only one of many, we need the brands to see us and know that we are also ‘marketable’ and I hope we can deconstruct how ‘bar personalities’ are represented in our industry.
What do you see as areas for improvement within the industry?
We need to challenge the outdated systems in our Australian bartending scene, which often exclude queerness. Most of the time, we sacrifice our comfort and gender dysphoria to perform for ‘service’, and this is something which I know we can work on as a community. Our industry needs to include more gender-neutral bathrooms for our non-binary and trans community, along with normalising our existence in bar programs by improving our approach to pronouns and respect. By including us, you also include our creativity, our vulnerability, our fluidity, and our tenderness, and I promise you we are worth it.
Trend predictions for 2024?
It is time to stop gendering glassware and cocktails for real! We have had enough.