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January 2025 – Growing & Looking Forward to the Coming Year

From Jessica Blaine Smith, co-founder of Bartender Atlas, presented at Independent Study Day on Tuesday, January 21st, 2025.

We are so excited to welcome everyone back to Independent Study Day! When we began this monthly program in 2024, we had no idea how it would be received so it really lights us up that you all have enjoyed it! In 2024, we hosted 11 of these events and learned a lot at each one. Throughout the year we took notes on what we felt was great and worked and what we felt could use some improving on. After our last Independent Study Day in 2024, we sent out a feedback form to every bartender who attended ISD throughout the year to let us know their thoughts. Thank you to everyone who took the time to do this – we really appreciate it. Please know that when we ask for feedback, we take it seriously and to heart. ISD is not about the two of us – it’s about all of you.

So with all of the feedback in mind and with our own pondering and scheming… here we go for 2025!

MORE HANDS-ON
A change with ISD this year is that we are going to incorporate a theoretical as well as a more hands-on component for each monthly event. We have done our best to make these events not like a typical seminar or “masterclass” where someone stands in a room in front of a bunch of people and yaps to them while flipping slides on a projected screen. We know that these types of events work well but we also know that there are already a lot of them taking place.  Going forward, each ISD will have an industry leader or some professional speaking or being interviewed by Josh and then we will move into some sort of hands-on component. Something to get you moving or challenge you in your knowledge.

We do want to recognise that everyone learns differently and some people really love having that visual component of a slideshow to go along with the talk or to have access to it after the fact for reference. Every month’s ISD will have a webpage on the Bartender Atlas website that gives information for what was shared at the event plus key takeaways for it. We want to make sure that the kind of experience we are offering you all here is constructive and useful and we think that this is a way to make that better. To access this month’s ISD – and all going forward, you will want to head over to the ISD webpage and from there, click the coordinating month’s link.

FEEDBACK & SUGGESTIONS
Reading all of your feedback and suggestions in the fall made us realise that we would really benefit from getting this from you all of the time, not just at specific moments. So we have created a Google form that is available for you to fill out anytime you have an inkling. This is a way for us to improve how we do things with ISD and Bartender Atlas but also for how we go about doing all of the other work we do within the industry and when we work with different brands. If you have an idea for something we should do at ISD or for anything going forward. A brand suggestion. A speaker suggestion. An activation suggestion. Anything at all, we want to hear about it. The form can be filled out anonymously or with your name – whatever you feel comfortable with. We thank you for taking the time to do it. It is seriously so beneficial to us.

GETTING BACK ON TRACK & ENGAGED
We are always thinking of how we can make things better but we also know how hard it can be when the world – especially lately – feels so bleak. It’s hard to feel motivated to get going. To care about anything really. A way that we ourselves often work out our thoughts and issues is by writing it out. So with this in mind, we have created a webpage with a list of writing prompts as a way to inspire all of us to keep going, to get our spark back, to simply feel motivated. 

We want to offer up these questions to all of you as a way to feel inspired again. To get you thinking more about the industry and what you want from it. What you like. What you don’t like. Why you feel this way. To remind you of why you do this drink-making thing. The questions listed on the webpage are meant as journal prompts so you can really write out how you feel or simply give them a read and let them sit in your mind as you go about your day. We want to encourage you to be more active in your job, in your bar and in your community, however that feels best for you and we think that this is a great way to get going on that.

 

Before Josh jumps into the hands-on aspect of today, I want to leave you with some of my recent thoughts and observations for how to embark on this new year:

  1. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. This means attending any seminar or guest shift that sparks your interest. That means introducing yourself to that person who you look up to. This means entering that cocktail competition or other brand initiative. Sitting at home and scrolling through Instagram just isn’t going to do it if you are really trying to do something with yourself.
  2. Don’t be afraid to push yourself and work hard. I didn’t just become a professional photographer one day. I studied hard, assisted with many photographers for years because I was ready to call myself one. Josh worked for years as a barback before becoming an actual bartender. We have been doing Bartender Atlas for nearly nine years now and at times I still feel like an imposter. Put in the time and the work.  I know that these days everything seems to move quickly but know that you don’t have to. Know that there is advantage in taking your time and in learning the proper skills.
  3. Read that thing twice. We are living in rapidly moving times where everything seems rushed. I cannot tell you how much extra time I have had to spend answering questions about activations or events that we are doing – questions whose answers were in the messaging that was sent to said person. Pause, take a beat. Before replying or reacting to that message – give it another read to see what you may have missed. This is just general life advice but if you want to come across more professionally and not annoy everyone around you.
  4. No one will take what you do seriously if you don’t take it seriously yourself. Commit to what you do and then do it. This doesn’t mean that your job has to become your life but it does mean that you may have to make some life changes in order to make room for that commitment.
  5. Don’t be afraid to lose or not be accepted whether that be to not get one of your cocktails on the menu at your workplace, to not get chosen to compete in a cocktail competition, to not win that cocktail competition or not be chosen to participate in that industry opportunity you applied for. What is most important is to use every opportunity possible as a learning experience. I fully believe that we learn more from losing or failing than from winning. We interviewed World Class winner James Grant on this subject and I encourage you to give it a read.
  6. Finally, have fun. Get curious. Lean on one other. Rising tides lift all boats.

 

INDEPENDENT STUDY DAY TEST
Josh did this test with the guests at ISD. We encourage you to answer the questions below on your own. You will find the answers at the bottom on the page – but no cheating until you are done! Challenging yourself is how you can grow and improve your skills.

  1. When you arrived, Josh made guest a welcome cocktail for the guest which was a Grand Lemon Drop. Write down what the drink was as though you are writing it on a menu.
  2. Same drink, write the recipe and method as though you are writing a bar manual or a person that has never made a cocktail before.
  3. We, from Bartender Atlas, have done a lot of work with Campari as a company so as an example, if a representative from Campari Canada asks you to talk about a Daiquiri, what rum are you talking about?
  4. Same question, except it’s a Paper Plane. If Campari has hired you to work with them, or if we have hired you on behalf of Campari Canada, what are the ingredients of a Paper Plane?
  5. What is the difference between a classic cocktail, a vintage cocktail or a modern classic cocktail?
  6. How are The (Toronto Maple) Leafs (or your local sports team) doing this season?
  7. What’s the feature exhibition at the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario – or your local gallery) right now?
  8. What four questions should you ask a guest when they order a martini?
  9. Imagine I am sitting at your bar and I have had 2 or 3 of your drinks and I am looking to have one more somewhere else, where should I go?
  10. What is the ABV of Tio Pepe Fino Sherry?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANSWERS

  1. Menu: Vodka, Grand Marnier, Lemon
  2. Recipe: 1.5oz Vodka, .5oz Grand Marnier, 0.75oz Lemon Juice, 0.5oz Simple Syrup.
    Combine all ingredients in shaker tin. Fill tin with ice and shake hard for 10 seconds. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. No Garnish.
    You could also include directions to make simple syrup.
  3. Appleton Rum
  4. Wild Turkey, Aperol, Italian Amaro, Lemon Juice. Why is this important? Look, giant corporations are giant corporations and they have rules and one of the rules is to sell THEIR STUFF. Campari, as a group, owns dozens of brands and it is important as a bartender to have at least some knowledge about who represents what. Wild Turkey and Aperol are both Campari properties. So if Campari is paying you to work for them in whatever capacity, it’s important that you know what you are talking about and with whom. This goes for most spirits that we deal with in Ontario (or wherever you live). There are some independents, obviously, but more and more distributors are seeing the value in working with spirits. Just something to keep in mind when writing recipes or even working with brand reps on menu placements for your bar.This extends to what you are wearing, depending on the event or venue you are at. Showing up to a Jack Daniel’s event wearing your Lot 40 hat is a bad move. Wearing your sweet Altos Jean jacket to a Patron party is disrespectful. If you have been invited on a brand trip or are competing for a prize from a brand, don’t wear another brand’s shirt or shoes or hat. The brand reps had to work hard to get the money to bring you wherever you are going or whatever you are participating in with them. So don’t wear your Fernet hoodie to the Campari comp. We all love free stuff, just be choosy about when and where you use or wear it.
  5. A Classic is a drink that was popular before and slightly after WW2. A Vintage drink is a drink that was created before the 1970’s but didn’t come into popularity until …the modern era. Which we will say started around the year 2000 but really kicked in around 2005. So for instance, I would say that a Manhattan is a classic, a Last Word is a Vintage and a Penicillin is a Modern Classic. Of course, this is just where I sit and I encourage you to think about it and explore the history and nomenclature of cocktails on your own.
  6. For The Leafs: Top of their division. Way Above 500. For your local team, you will have to look into that yourself.
  7. Hip Hop in culture is the cool show at the AGO right now. Neither this nor the above question have to do with making drinks or running your bar, but they do have to do with being able to have conversations with your guests. The main reason that we even started Bartender Atlas is because we want bartenders to be the ambassadors of good times in their cities. You have to know what’s going on and be able to talk with guests about whatever they want to talk about. That is as much part of being hospitable as being able to balance a Vieux Carré.
  8. Gin or Vodka? How much vermouth? Olive or Twist? Up or Down?
  9. Everyone’s answer will be different but that’s what’s important. If I, as a guest, trust your opinion, that’s a show of confidence. So whatever you answer here, you should be able to answer confidently.
  10. 15%. There is a lot of talk about low-alc and light cocktails but you have to know the ABV of your ingredients as a starting point to working on those drinks.