However, the thing he couldn’t live without – was foot pedal-activated taps. “Once you have worked with foot pedal tap, it is so hard to go back; they just make sense and become part of your movement behind the bar,” says Conor O’Brien.
Otis is a small, owner-operated, suburban bar with a big heart. The owners, Conor O’Brien (ex-Baxter Inn) and Dan Teh (ex-Butter) took over an existing bar site and kept it trading to win over the locals and learn what they wanted from the site.
Perhaps one of the best examples of this tableside service is the famed Martini Trolley at The Connaught. A white-gloved bartender preparing a Martini to your specs is the level everyone hopes to achieve, the theatre adding to the beverage and the admiring looks from other diners around the room.
Riding the gin wave, a large portion of distilleries started with a native botanical gin and used that as a stepping stone to build a brand before their aged spirits could be released.
I was impressed by how calm the competitors were and how well they presented. Kate, Liam and Priscilla were incredible, and I am so happy that Priscilla took out the 2022 Bartender of the year title. She truly deserved it!
Here are a few things I’ve picked up along the way: learn from your mistakes, put in the work, and you may just get that prize money/international trip/bottle of booze that has caught your interest.
What goes into a bar becoming a bartender’s bar? It could be the proximation to a bunch of other bars, a late-night license and something to snack on after a shift. Perhaps an extensive back bar, Resch’s on tap and the ability to get a drink into your hand swiftly.
As our guests become more knowledgeable than ever, it’s also a good time to whip out a fun fact about Scotch Whisky to flex as they consider your well thought out offering. Here are some well-known tidbits and perhaps a few new ones for your arsenal.
“We wanted to tweak and twist every little bit of the venue to have that transportive power – to flip reality a little bit and really give people the chance to have that once in a lifetime experience.” – Daisy Tulley