One of Shanghai’s newest bartenders, Josh Freund recalls his first night at newly-opened tequila bar and taqueria. He borrowed some money from the manager – who was still dealing with the cops – and had to break into his house by jumping through a 14th-floor window before realizing he had to be back to do inventory four hours later. At 8am, he goes to change out of his uniform and realizes someone took his pants, leaving him with a pair of yoga pants with no keys or money. The party was so crazy his boss knocked over a pyramid of champagne glasses, and the police kept stopping by. He recalls a New Year’s Eve where he allowed himself to get particularly loose. The next story comes from the That’s Shanghai 2018 Mixologist of the Year, Geo Valdivieso. “Tomato juice exploded all over my white shirt and covered customers’ faces like blood,” he says. One time, he shook a bottle without noticing the carbonation, and it went off like a bomb. When he worked at a renowned hotel bar in the city, they used fresh tomato juice in the Bloody Mary recipe, and too many bubbles in the juice means that it has been sitting there for a while. One of my favorite stories comes from my good friend and world-traveling drinking buddy, Daniel ‘The Man’ An (owner of Atelier by Taste Buds, Antique and Shrine). It was an all-around-winner except it was missing teeny, tiny ingredient that the judges were really looking for – Chivas. He presented a cocktail with a great story and excellent technique. The Case of the Missing IngredientĪ while back, one of the coolest bartenders around (hint: his name rhymes with Freddie Bang) was competing in the Chivas Masters Cocktail Competition. My face turned as pink as the drink I made for him. You can find a bunch of single guys all over the place here and happy hunting.” He said, “No, I want a single guy.” Now flummoxed with a buildup of drink orders, I apologize for my chiseled good looks, runway-ready body and smoky come-hither eyes and said, “Again, thank you, but I’m not the droid you’re looking for.” He let out an exasperated sigh and explained a ‘single guy’ is a cosmopolitan made with tequila instead of vodka. The music is loud when a man walks up and asked for a “single guy.” I replied, “I’m flattered but that’s not my thing. One night in the early 2000’s, I was working at my first nightclub bartending job. Image by Betty Richardson/That's Shanghai This month I am sharing column space with some of my delinquent cocktail slinging friends for a bloopers reel of drinks and debauchery. We’ve all had bad days at work, from messed up sales to missed deadlines, but when it comes to the service industry, our worst moments happen in public. In between hangovers, he puts pen to paper in his column for That's to record his pontifications on the drink industry. Brouse, proprietor and mixologist of Logan’s Punch and Tacolicious, has run bars and clubs in Shanghai for over eight years.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |