Akinde Olagundoye

00:00Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, a podcast for and about the people of the Nashville restaurant scene. Now here's your host, the CEO of New Light Hospitality Solutions, Brandon Styll. Hello, Music City! And welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. My name is Brandon Styll, and I am your host, and this is the podcast for and about the Nashville restaurant scene. Our guest today is Akinde Olegandoye, and he is the president of the Nashville chapter of the United States Bartenders Guild, and he is also a bartender at Skoll's Rainbow Room, and we are going to talk a little bit more about him in just a second, but first I want to talk to you about Prime South Meats and Gifford's Bacon. Previously you could only get their bacon and the famous smoked bologna at your favorite restaurants throughout the city, but now because of the pandemic they, like a lot of places, have had to pivot, and now they're selling and delivering here in Middle Tennessee. They will also ship bacon all over the country, so go visit our website at www.nashvillerestaurantradio.com.

01:21From the home page, just scroll down just a tiny little bit right there from the home page, and you will see the Gifford's Bacon and Prime South Meats. Click the button that says buy bacon now. For as little as $12 you could have Gifford's Bacon sent straight to your home. They have all kinds of butcher box packages, lots of different options, lots of different meats for you to take care of your weekend at the lake or by the pool. So I also want to take a moment to talk about Springer Mountain Farms Chicken. I talk about them every single episode because they are an amazing sponsor and great people, but I talk about the amazing restaurants that serve their chicken, and today I want to name a few. So just to name-drop a little bit, we have Arnold's Country Kitchen, Party Fowl, Peg Leg Porker, The Oaks Steakhouse, The Marsh House, Cane Prime, Whiskey Kitchen, The Farmhouse, Husk, and Etch. Just to name a few, just a tip of the iceberg as to who out there is buying them. So if these chefs are choosing to use Spring Mountain Farms Chicken, you know that it is the best chicken on the planet. Check them out. Next time you're at the grocery store, make sure you pick up some Spring Mountain Farms Chicken to take home. So I know you were ready for a kind day. We are almost there, but I want to talk to you guys and thank you for just the response that we're getting. Every one of you out there who's liking the show, liking the Instagram posts, who have followed us on Instagram, I can't tell you how much this means to me and just every time, every single one of you that likes one of these pages, I get a notification and I look at it and I love it and it makes me happy and I want more. So my ask from you today is will you go please help me out? This is a grassroots campaign. Don't have a ton of money to do advertising. We are really solely providing word of mouth advertising. So if you could, if you would, if you love the show and you want to tell your friends about it, create a post. Tag me in the post. Say something. Tell some

03:22people. It means so much and that is exactly how we're gonna get this show to everybody. So we want to get the perspective as to what we're talking about to as many people as possible and I know you guys are just gonna be warriors for me out there doing this and I appreciate it so, so much. So this interview with Akinde is done on his porch in East Nashville. We're sitting there. It is hot and there we're right on the corner and cars are just coming up and pulling away so it kind of sounds like we are in the middle of an intersection because we kind of are. So I apologize about that but I don't think it detracts too much from the interview and I'm excited to be interviewing some more bartenders coming up soon. Got a whole bunch of options. Been talking to a whole bunch of people. Very, very excited to bring this aspect of the show to you and I will continue to get better and learn really cool questions to continue to ask and hopefully can share some really great stories. So let's get into this thing. Thank you all for listening. Thank you for sharing. I love each and every one of you and I hope that you enjoy my conversation with Akinde.

04:34Alright, so I want to welcome into Nashville Restaurant Radio Akinde Olegundye, who is the bartender extraordinaire at Skulls Rainbow Room, who is also the president of the Nashville chapter of the United States Bartenders Guild, USBG. Akinde, how you doing today, man? I'm doing great. How are you doing? I cannot complain. It's hot. Yeah, it's very hot. I'm sweating a little bit. So I want to jump right in. So I made a post on the Nashville hospitality page and I said, I want to know the hands-down best mixologist in the game. Who is this mixologist? And I overwhelmingly got a hundred and eighty plus responses but your name came up so many times and I've met you back in the day when you worked at Amendment 21 in Huntsville, Alabama. But the thing also that I thought was really interesting was people were responding and saying, you're not gonna get a mixologist because mixologist is it like that's a part of the job but if you want a really good bartender then they would give a name. What's the difference? Help me out. So the layman, like the difference between a mixologist and a bartender, what's the difference?

05:45I think the mixologist is a term that's used in a complimentary way but it's just one aspect of bartending. So that's gonna be using ingredients to create cocktails and you know somebody that can design a menu. But a bartender does a lot more as a job. They interact with people. They kind of manage a room and multitask. You know, do things quickly and serve people. So it's not just taking ingredients, putting it together to make a drink. It's opening a bar, cutting fruit, setting everything, cleaning, being able to recognize when somebody's intoxicated, when they're not intoxicated. There's a lot more to being a bartender than just being a mixologist. Exactly. Okay, so good. So that clears it up. So when you call somebody a mixologist you're saying that you make good drinks. Yeah, bartenders are encompassing. But they might not be able to actually handle a room or handle a group of guests. Where do you get that skill? Is it just from time? I say a lot of it comes from time. I started out as a server so waiting on tables helped me learn a lot of skills as far as just service. So I've talked to you a little bit and so your history, you kind of started off with, I think it was Red Lobster was your first job, right? Yeah, Red Lobster in Brooklyn. Red Lobster in Brooklyn, New York. That's where you're from, Brooklyn. And then you went to Huntsville, Alabama where you went to school. What's the name of the school you went to?

07:09Oakwood University. Oakwood University, absolutely. And then from there you did a short stint at Applebee's and then you went to, you kind of got into the craft beverage or you kind of started taking this whole thing seriously. Tell me about your experience at Amendment 21. Yeah, when I went to Amendment 21 it was the first time where I was able to contribute as far as the menu. So while I was there I would look up different spirits that we had and study at night looking things up online to create recipes that would work with the ingredients that we had. Did somebody teach you this? Like how do you, where do you all of a sudden just know how to do this? I worked at the Sea Lounge at Monaco. Okay. While I was there one of the bartenders would show me how to do stuff. Who was this bartender? Who was this person's name? The sad part is I don't remember her name. Oh. But I also used to watch the other bartenders and I could see that it was a certain rhythm that they had when they made drinks and that was before we used to use a lot of jiggers and measuring devices so things were done by free-pouring. Yeah. Which is based off timing. So did you have to pour into the little test tubes to like, did you have to do the Accupore? I never really was tested anywhere that I worked. So how do you know like what an ounce and a half is, ounce and a quarter, how do you know all that stuff? For me it's like one two three four that's ounce and a half but now we use a lot of different ingredients to have different viscosities that pour at different rates so for more precise cocktails it's better to use an actual measuring device like a jigger. Okay. So using a jigger is something that is a good thing. I think so. I think a lot of bartenders back when I was bartending, to free pour was a level of trust. Like if you had to use a jigger it was something that was like people didn't trust you but I think that now the game has changed where the precision when it comes to making a cocktail is everything and getting a

09:10really good drink outweighs back in the day when I would make a Jack and Coke but just make it all Jack and you're the free pour that thing and you put a jigger and people felt like they were getting less. Right. The jigger is just there for consistency. You don't get any more any less. I know how to pour an ounce and a half with or without a jigger so for some guests they might perceive it as we're being tight with the liquor but it's not really that way. Hmm. What do you do when a guest does that? Like what's your perception if the guest says hey man what put a little more in there what do you got going on there? I like to let them know they can get a double or they can get a rocks pour which would be two ounces but you can't just give away extra liquor. Yeah I mean I think a lot of people there's a lot of guests that come in and say make it strong or kick it up for me or I'll tip you better and it's like I mean well that's part of I think that there is an aspect of bartending for people that that is a lot of bartenders do and people get response from that but that's essentially stealing. It is essentially stealing so for me I prefer to buy a guest a drink if I feel like it but like literally buy it for them. Like your own money. Yeah I'll put money towards it. Sending bars they'll help the bartender out you might have a little spill tab or maybe get a discount price whenever you decide that you want to buy something for somebody but if they ask that's when you generally know that it's not a good idea. And another thing that people ask bartenders to do is they're asking bartenders to gauge when people are intoxicated and I'm working at a place like Skulls Rainbow Room you're in Printers Alley but people are coming from all kinds of places you have no idea what level they're currently at what do you what do you look for when somebody comes in like what do you look for what are some signs that somebody's intoxicated? The first thing that I can see is the way that they're walking like I try to pay attention to the whole room so I can see from when somebody walks

11:14in the door if they're stumbling if they you know are there left and right and can't walk in a straight line if their eyes look a certain way the way they speak there's a lot of tells to it. People speaking really loudly and people loud people being rude using foul language bothering other people. How do you tell them you just you have you have that confrontation often? Not often but a decent amount. I just let them know that you know I can't serve you anymore tonight I'm sorry come back tomorrow and I gladly serve you but tonight you gotta go. So what are the ramifications? I mean if you're you guys when it comes in who's drinking I think that the perception there is you're doing this to them right so I mean I'm putting words into people's mouths I'm creating hypotheticals here but if I come in and I've drank too much and I said you're you're cutting me off what's your problem and they're mad at you you if there's serious ramifications for you the responsibility that you have to serve alcohol is pretty huge. Right that's why I usually try to handle it very delicately I'm not like oh you're cut off it's more like I'm sorry I can't serve you anymore tonight yeah you know I think you had a little bit too much if I have to keep on going hopefully the conversation just ends right there where I say I'm sorry I can't serve you anymore and but if it doesn't then occasionally you have to get somebody else involved either manager security so you have any good stories anybody I'm not you have to like name like the story in particular of where somebody got especially out of control yeah we had this one guy that works nearby that came in he comes in pretty regularly but this night he had too much and he started bothering these ladies and we coming to find out that he has told her sambuca is for sluts and so she was very

13:15upset and hit him in the face so we we kind of we diffused it very quickly but it happened and so she's drinking sambuca and the guy is in there he's drunk and he says sambuca is for sluts yes okay yes and she said I didn't know at the time what was going on I just saw him by them and then she's like say it again say it again and he said it again and she punched him yeah and so we had to remove him remove you know separate them and calm the situation down so when people drink they get under root people's inhibitions are freed right so they they're not making their best choices right one of the things I've learned through all of this just this whole pandemic is me looking in the mirror is that especially through the Black Lives Matter movement is that I'm not gonna allow it anymore like when I hear something I'm not gonna be okay I'm not just gonna turn on a walk away like by not saying something I'm complicit with it how hard is it being a bartender and listening to people have conversations are having conversations about things that you don't agree with do you ever interject like what do you do in that situation I've been doing this for 17 years now so I've kind of heard everything and at this point it's like I let other people handle it I'm not really I can't hear most every conversation but I'm not quick to jump into people's conversations and I just sum it up to ignorance and I let them let them be ignorant if they go too far then usually somebody else would step in and notify management or something like that and that's a tough situation to be in you know I think people are just he's a there's a bartend he's a service people but we're also real-life people you know in these situations where there's something that's not right it's hard to let somebody say something or be rude or racist or whatever the case may

15:18be and let it go right but like I had this one guy he was talking about criss-cross at a bar I was working at talking about what criss-cross their boats yeah it was like you wouldn't know anything about those that's rich white people stuff and I was just like okay and then but the thing is my co-worker stepped in said something to him and you know he kept on saying whatever he was saying and eventually they told the management and he left I just it's hopefully we start seeing a lot less of that going on behind the bars and just everywhere in in this world I think we're going the right way I think we're definitely going in the right direction so just off the front and just jumping in talking we just jumped right in talking about the bar yeah let's talk about you a little bit you're the president of the Nashville chapter of the United States bartenders guild correct how does one become the president of the Nashville chapter of the United States bartenders guild so I've been active in USBG for several years from back when I was in Huntsville Alabama we didn't have a chapter there but I would go to Birmingham and meet with their chapter and they were always like a family they always were big on education and that was something that interested me since I couldn't find it where I was at what about that interest you um just learning more about spirits learning more about cocktails trying to grow as a bartender and learn new skills did you know this was what you wanted to do like when did it click that like I want to put all of my energy and all of my efforts into the professionalism and becoming the best damn bartender I possibly can I think that was when I became the manager at amendment 21 because at that point I started to learn other parts of the business you know being responsible with the alcohol as far as you know not over pouring you know making sure everything is being charged for and also had the duty of making cocktails in a community that

17:20didn't really have a strong cocktail presence yeah so at that point I wanted to learn as much as possible I wanted to bring more diversity in the cocktails themselves as far as not just all fruity vodka but you know learning how to play with whiskey and scotch and mezcal things like that have you always been creative are you do you do any art not really I would say I'm creative but I've never been like a good artist as far as drawing I used to sing in the choir so I like to sing sometimes is your favorite band of all time my favorite band of all time I don't know if this counts but boys to men I mean they're vocal instruments I guess they're a trio yeah and take six take six would probably beat them out that just that just popped up but yeah take six take six is fantastic yeah okay take six boys meant both so you like the vocal styling I like the vocal stylings okay I gotcha tell us what the United States bartenders guild is up to right now okay so the whole purpose of the USBG is to promote professional bartending as a profession and during this time we've basically been doing a lot of philanthropy since the tornadoes we raised a lot of money to help bartenders and service staff in the community and now with COVID we're we're trying to continue making programming for people to learn things online we've done virtual tastings we recently did a workout session and we're just trying to be creative to keep our industry engaged and in good spirits so when the whole pandemic started and every you know everybody's losing their

19:21jobs there was no financial assistance there was no stimulus it was there was no unemployment but it was 275 a week right the US bartenders guild really stepped up and created grants I guess for bartenders that were out of work right I mean that's huge yeah so far we've given away close to nine million dollars Wow and that's that's a that's a worthy cause do you know do you have a bunch of members here in town as their members of the bartenders guild yeah we have about 60 members in Nashville 11 board members in Nashville in Nashville Wow and we're still trying to keep growing so how does if I'm a bartender out there and I want to get better at what I do right so let's just say I'm a bartender I've gone through the pandemic and I think I'm good but I want to make this a professional thing where I really get better I hone my craft I really start wanting I want to start collaborating with like-minded people is this something I can join where I can do that this is something you can join that you can actually join as a service industry professional or also as an enthusiast and you'll be invited to any tastings that we do any educational programs any charitable work that we do like last year we haven't been able to do it this year because of the pandemic but we worked with Second Harvest Food Bank and we sorted over 10,000 pounds of food when nice yeah and yeah we try to do as many things like that as possible but we have a website it's a USBG org and anybody's free to check that out I encourage it so I've been encouraging people during this pandemic while we're in I don't know if we're gonna go back to phase one or if we're gonna close down completely again if there's gonna fall what happens but I've encouraged people to better themselves I've kind of said that this whole time on this podcast I've said use this moment as a

21:26reset button no matter what you did prior to the COVID shutdown you can start today to get better at what you do so if you're one of those people who doesn't you know that needs a little bit of a motivation needs something like to join this group there's gonna be different meetings there's gonna be things you there's probably an access online how much does it cost all right to 125 a year like $10 a month right it's not bad at all that's not bad at all it can be prohibitive for some people at this time but you know it's definitely worth it you you will get your money's worth pretty quickly just because our events are free generally I mean we do have some paid events that are higher end events but other than that they're generally sponsored by some brand and networking with people like yourself and other bartenders are involved that's awesome so thank you for doing that I we're talking a little bit about this one of the things that I've kind of recognized with bartenders and there's a lot of there's not as much diversity in bartending as a lot of other professions are you working towards how are you working towards advancing diversity at bartending okay one initiative we have going right now is that we're trying to set up a program a mentorship program with local students and show them different aspects of the hospitality world as far as you know serving bartending cooking the supplier side and distribution side and just show them that there's different ways that you can approach this career is there's a lot of diversity in the actual work that you can do you don't necessarily have to wait tables to be in hospitality no you don't necessarily have to wash dishes you know there's there's a lot of opportunity and so hopefully this

23:29program will help us to share some of that knowledge with these the next generation do you have mentors lined up for people how would if I'm a person that wants to give back and I want to help students I want to help kids that are thinking about the hop industry and I want to mentor do you have enough people how would I volunteer for that and if I knew somebody who was younger that was contemplating a career in this business how would I get them involved in that I would say for now I would shoot an email over to usbgnashville at gmail.org gmail.com I'm sorry usbgnashville at gmail.com correct okay and then we'll reach out if this one's still in the works so we don't have it all fully planned yet cool well man there's a ton of people out there that are really interested in all of those things you know I think bringing diversity and everything that we do is super important and motivating kids I believe that children are our future right and if we don't model for them professionalism in this industry and show them what this industry can do I think that we're gonna have it's gonna be a tough go of it and people that are professionals in this business to mentor and model for people what the right way to do things is vital I love that you guys are doing that and I want to just help I want to help promote that any way that I possibly can that is on par exactly with what we're trying to do here at National Restaurant Radio so if I can help in any way reach out to me I'll continue to be in touch with you but if there's any way that I can help find people promote it whatever I can do I'm in okay all right yeah so let's get into a little bit more just about you and bartending and some of the aspects of bartending let's talk about right now COVID-19 we're back to phase two yeah good it's pretty odd we don't really we don't get to serve people across the bar and that's kind of what we love to do yeah have that banter have that interaction but now things are more

25:32table service so we we have a service well where you you know there's a bar tender that makes all the drinks for the restaurant and other than that it's table service so it's kind of hard to enjoy it the same way but we're taking this time to work on the mixology aspect which is you know creating new cocktails more time to play with ingredients since we don't actually get to interact with people anything you anything special like you know like if you've seen like Zulina you working on like Magnum or something what are you working on that you might be able to let us in on well at this point I'm in in the syrup stage where I'm just creating new things new syrups oleo saccharums are what I'm kind of playing with right now oleo what oleo saccharum so this is that it's literally sugar oil sugar oil right that would be the translation from Latin but it's a it's an old way of preserving citrus so you take the citrus peels and you rest them with sugar you muddle it leave it out overnight and the sugars will actually extract the oils from the peels and create a rich oily syrup so it adds to the mouth feel which you know texture you wouldn't really notice it unless you know but you would notice it and then kind of would that's the kind of stuff that when people go I'm not spending $12 on a drink I go okay we'll go get your long island tea at Ruby Tuesday I'm gonna get this $12 drink from the guy that's creating whatever that is you just oleo saccharums oleo saccharum yeah I mean that that's what it's about man okay so what do you do with something like that where do you what do you how do you make an oleo saccharum cocktail what does that work so one of my favorite ones I've ever done was with Patron and it was a tequila old-fashioned okay I made the syrup the oleo saccharum with different citrus peels there's a lot of grapefruit some and some lime and then I infused that with vanilla beans and cinnamon and just

27:38made it old-fashioned with Roca Patron and Yejo so aged tequila with the citrus flavors of the richer texture from the oleo saccharum and then the spice from the vanilla and cinnamon how the hell do I even know to order something like that like how do I know that like there's a cocktail that's like that good that you put that much time into how would I order this drink how do I come in and say like hey are you working on a really cool Patron old-fashioned with oleo saccharum like how that I don't know hopefully it would be on the menu that would that would be the easiest way for you to know that it's there but that's part of the interaction that happens at the bar that we don't have right now which is you can talk to the bartender ask them for recommendations and they can be like hey well I got this cool thing you want to try it yeah they can describe it to you like hey do you have any aversions to any flavors or you know any allergies what spirit you like and then we'll just pull something out from the cooler and surprise you that's always the best it's always the best one a bartender do you like that like one of my favorite things to do so I work a lot with chefs and I've worked a lot with chefs in my years as you walk into a restaurant make and I'm fortunate to have chefs who actually come out and said they're like what's up Brandon and I and they said you just want to feed me they go hell yeah dude so then they just go back and I go just do like four courses just feed us and charge us whatever like and then they come out and you know I'm not saying you should go to restaurants and say that because it's not possible I've been fortunate to have people but they just bring you out some of the coolest stuff you're like oh my god just whatever dishes you want to try try them out on me is that something that's making walk into a bar and say are you working on anything new do you need like a taste tester try something cool and I'll tell you what I think I love when people do that the only thing is that when they ask at that point I have to start asking them questions because the new thing that I might be making might be whiskey based you know spirit forward cocktail and maybe they don't like

29:41whiskey and they like rum but I'll probably have something with rum that's tropical for them as well so you know what kind of spirit do you like do you like spirit forward or refreshing and my spirit forward you mean something that has a stronger spirit taste in the front end versus like right it's more mixer or more tension like boozy boozy yeah that's my other word but some people think it's I'm saying bougie I'm not saying bougie I made this joke many times it's not a joke every time I drive on 8th Avenue at I think it's division right there were party foul is on the side of their building they have a huge neon sign that says boozy slushies and I don't care what time of day it was it's snowing outside I'm like I think a boozy slushie sounds good right now yeah I always think that a boozy slushie sounds fantastic fun there's not a time of the day where boozy slushies don't sound good and now that I'm a non drinker it just is torture but you know what do you have a plane slushie it's the plane slushie I got a sonic I gotta have my sonic drink stop now way too often need to stop doing that yeah so let's let's talk about guests so let's just imagine a time where people can go and sit at a bar I'm gonna roleplay with you is can we roleplay for a minute all right this would be fun hello bartender how are you doing great how you pretty good hey I like Long Island Teas you make me a long island tea sure I can so I have a long island tea is you got something like a long island tea back there oh absolutely I would you like to try something different yes so that all right that's the roleplay there's this side of this that like the long island tea is a flawed beverage isn't it it is a flawed beverage why is it a flawed beverage it's flawed in my opinion because it doesn't the sum is not greater than the total is not greater

31:44than the sum of its parts so you put vodka gin rum triple sec together that already sounds awful to me and then you add lemon and coke I don't think you need to put all that together in order to make a strong drink you can still have a strong drink that is in balance and that the flavors actually play well together yeah I would drink is a drink just to get drunk that's a drink that is usually intended just to get drunk and you can do that with better flavors right okay right so I would say that a person that likes that drink they like a more refreshing drink it would be considered a long drink since there's a lot of mixer in it so I would make them probably some kind of a sour if I had maybe some kind of fruit but they might the thing about the long island is that they probably don't think of it as a fruity drink so I would just say to the citrus maybe suggest them a sidecar which is totally different because it's cognac what's the sidecar it's gonna be cognac dry curacao lemon and some sugar you shake that up it comes served up in a cocktail glass or martini glass okay and it can have sugar on the rim or not but it's a it's a refreshing drink that has some character to it and better flavor so let's just say I'm driving all the way in from Dixon it's a skulls rainbow room nothing with Dixon I'm just I live out there so I'm just saying like I'm driving all the way in for big night on the town and I typically drink like your standard drinks right and I'm coming out to see you is there something I can do beforehand or is there on your menu I've always dreamed of this because I've gone to eat a couple places I'm a little intimidated by drink menus because I don't know what apparel is I

33:46do but like I don't know what a lot of the different ingredients are and I don't know what that drink is like I know I like a margarita or I know that I like an old-fashioned or I know that I like these five drinks that are the standard drinks is there something that has like a I almost wish that the restaurants would have like a key like if you like margaritas try these three drinks or if you like an old-fashioned try these three drinks or if you like this try these or if you want to be blown away by something completely different and you want to step outside of your three-foot box try any of these right versus just a menu that makes like if I'm intimidated by that do you am I crazy no you're not crazy at all a lot of ingredients that I use nowadays are either new like as far as returning back to market and they're not popular outside of the bartending world the craft bartending world yeah so what I've seen on menus that's really helpful is that some of them have like a scale that says refreshing to spiritus or a scale of adventurous to I guess more common flavors yeah and that's also part of the bar interaction that we miss you know being able to have this conversation because the menus can be intimidating I go to bars and sometimes I'm like I don't know what that is and do you kind of think at that point like what are they trying to out think the room sometimes in some ways some ingredients don't even need to be listed unless they're trying to be bougie they're being bougie they're being bougie yeah you don't want to confuse your guess by your menu that's the last thing you want to do my favorite story that I like to tell is from Christopher smithing who's the executive chef for Marable and Green Hills Grill and work them forever and we went done a lot of things together and he drinks blue moon he loves blue moon that is that is his jam right like one of the number one selling beers in the

35:48nation right and every time we go to a bar he'd sit down and he would look at me and he'd smile and he'd go may I have a blue moon please and they go oh we don't have blue moon but we have something that tastes just like it right and he'd go it never tastes just like it it's always some Mill Creek something or another that's that's not the same thing yeah why don't people just carry blue moon why won't they just have the thing that everybody asked for why do people have to go and everybody asked for Kendall Jackson why not just carry Kendall Jackson why don't you think we have this wine that's like Kendall Jackson what tell me the real answer to that okay the answer is not every place wants to be the same as everywhere else we're not not every place wants to give you exactly what you want in a way a lot of places have their identity and they want you to come there for what they do okay the other way around so it's like if you want to go get blue moon then you should go to a bar that has blue moon we have omegang wit it's a wheat beer it's good it doesn't it's not blue moon but also why can't you try something else today and try to enjoy it try to enjoy it yeah I think a lot of people with alcohol I'm a very I was a very adventurous drinker I always called myself an educational alcoholic before I called myself an actual alcoholic because I tried to drink so many different things I was like oh I'll drink a different whiskey every day and I'm learning I'm constantly learning I'm never trying the same thing but you know a lot of people that drink are creatures of habit that's true but you know I like Miller Lite I don't like Bud Light like it's really not a lot of difference like but they they're they're damn it I'm drinking Bud Light or I'm damn it I'm drinking Miller Lite and it's like why there's so many greater things out there but some of those people just like what they like yeah or just different things but you're right sometimes people just like what they like I've definitely had people that I've worked at bars that we didn't have Bud Light or Miller Lite of course like any of the big brews and some people

37:52yeah they say that they're they're leaving I'm just like all right well why don't you try this and they may or may not and if they don't then that's okay too so no I like your answer though the idea that try something different and there's a lot of places you can go and nothing is Christopher Smith he always drinks the other beer and he always likes it he just thinks it's funny he's like you know like everywhere I go I always ask for it everybody has something that's just like it but it's like and some place like yep here it is it could be cooler space you never know they might not have space for one more beer it's interesting you know sometimes it's like if you have enough people that ask for one thing then just just just go there and sometimes there's promotions and incentives and deals that they get on different beer that right if I can get a better locally made beer mm-hmm that tastes like Blue Moon I want to support a local brewery I don't need to go to Coors to get Blue Moon I want to buy it from Mill Creek and exactly Franklin or wherever it is you know that's what I want to do so how much does local effect what you buy I think it affects it a lot that's largely because that's what people request a lot of people they want to know what local craft beer do you have they do the same thing for whiskey they're like with what local whiskey do you have and so what do you have that's local whisky is that's the local whiskey I like a lot of whiskies yeah well of course here Bell Meade and of course Pennington's now has Davidson's Reserve yeah Davidson's Reserve is nice I really like the Genesis they come out with that once a year it's pretty good oh yeah Bell Meade 12 year I already like the Bell Meade yeah the Nelson's Charlie is really cool so I like to pick up his bottle and pour it but I really like their cognac finish their sherry cask finish and the 12

39:53year also the honey if you ever get a chance to pick that up that's awesome Nelson's yeah they age it in honey they take their barrels and they give it to the know what they call it but where they make honey yeah and then they fill it with honey empty the honey out and then refill it with bourbon and age it like that oh and that's awesome of course here outrage is probably my favorite that they make it's a oded whiskey it's it's different I don't like their smoked the triple smoke yeah I'm just yeah it's a little too much smoke for me it's not for everybody it's like a Petey Scotch yeah that's just not sure when you should try something else that they make it makes them get absent too I like they got a lot of good products at gin I love it and I definitely love using local good ingredients or even just in the region as far as Memphis you know even Kentucky we're pretty fortunate to have some pretty damn good distilleries within you would say regionally like yeah states that border Tennessee right we're looking pretty good for keeping a good supply of people in there let's let's pivot again here so I know we got to get going but let's talk about right now I want your opinion being as though you're a bartender downtown and you can't you've mentioned it multiple times today that you can't have people at your bar you were at a point last week where you could right and it's widely accepted right now that there's a few people downtown a few bars downtown that have in essence ruined it for everybody by allowing lines of people just people inside at the bar just completely throwing caution in the wind and I'm not saying these things happen I wasn't there so these are I'm gonna give the caveat this is allegedly from what I've read on the internet not everything on the internet is true so I

41:55don't know but it seems to be from my perception that some bars downtown namely some Steve Smith bars where they've just said we're not gonna do it and now they're suing Nashville and they're got a restraining or trying to get a restraining order from the city to hold them accountable right what are your thoughts on that I think restraining order against the city is silly I don't think that I mean how can you get a restraining order against the city they have to come and monitor what goes on that's just how food and beverage service works well I'd like to get a restraining order against the police because I want to drive a hundred five miles per hour on 40 on the way home and I don't want to be stopped for that I don't like anybody to hold me accountable yeah that's so I think that part is definitely silly and the worst part is that it affects a lot of smaller bars who have to shut their doors because they don't have whatever the the requisite amount of food sales is even though they've been following all the rules so you have people that are following the rules and now everybody has to go back because we've been spreading this virus from bars and now they're saying that well during the protest those people were allowed to gather and the mayor gathered with those people but it's the bars that are there they're saying it's unfair I think that protesting for human rights is worth it a lot more especially outdoors with masks on to take any form of a risk rather than cramming people into a bar to sell beer and liquor that's not a human rights issue no it sounds a little she said for actually made from contracting disease at this point yeah all right I think there's a lot of people that are pushing the narrative that it's so that the government is not doing enough to protect small businesses

43:58in this regard and I think it's a people issue not a business issue at this point for me yeah I mean I've seen businesses invest a lot of money in making their places safer just to then have to close which that that sucks and it's very frustrating so what have we not touched on what do you what do you want what do you want to talk about right now what's what's about bartenders bartenders we haven't talked about like what bartenders should be doing what should bartenders be doing so you're you're the president of the United States Bartenders Guild professionalism what can bartenders do better what are some common mistakes you see bartenders doing things the bartenders and you'd like to change I think one of the biggest things is a bartender is not being attentive to their guest needs there's different reasons some bartenders are like so caught up in their cocktails that they're too busy looking into the glass as opposed to looking at the people in front of them and making sure that they're actually taking care of making sure that their water is full making sure that you know this person's having a good day and are having a good experience at their bar just being quick about service as opposed to you know whatever conversation you might be having with a person that's one of the things I learned I would say at my current job and that is it's okay to break away from this conversation because somebody needs something and that's more important people understand you're at work right I mean I've always you know one of the things that I always felt and I felt this very strongly is that when I'm behind the bar I'm on stage and literally when I get behind the bar it's like me walking out on stage yeah do you ever feel that way I feel like that every day and you have an audience you have people sitting there watching you right and you have the every single thing you do they're watching you and you have a responsibility not to entertain but to

46:00recognize that every single thing that you do is being watched and that you have a responsibility to help create an experience for everybody some people kill that and some people I see I see you on your phone right I see you on your phone I see you talking I see you taking a sip out of a drink I see you hitting your vape pen I see you all of the little things that you're doing like that's all stuff I think yeah that's exactly what I'm talking about I think people forget sometimes that they are on stage and that their main purpose there is to be serving people we do weird servers we just make drinks too you know so I kind of feel like it's that it should be at the highest level of service whenever you sit at the bar yeah so my thing for bartenders is like just keep your head on a swivel because somebody's having a need every few seconds really maybe at least every minute so I would be looking around and looking for the cues because people will give them to you before they hopefully before they get rude and maybe snap or whatever things people do wave money hand in the air yeah what do people not need to do not snap they need to not waive money they need to just be patient understand that you know a lot of times when there's a crowd that forms at a bar you can kind of tell who got there first and they also should be considerate of each other knowing that maybe somebody's in front of you and you know as long as your bartender is there and working trying to get through all these orders there's no reason for you to lose your cool or be impatient about getting a drink because it's just a drink and you know what these people right now bartenders are frontline workers we're out there putting ourselves at risk to make you drinks

48:03and calm down yeah I calm down folks like it's gonna be okay alcohol you're gonna get your drink like you can you can take a deep breath count to ten like these are people they're real people that are working to do something for you that's they're making something nice for you they want to do it well like give them a second to do it yeah I feel the same way about the food too like your long it's just enjoy the company of the people you're with a little bit more instead of there were so many losing it there was a couple months where you had just died just to be at that restaurant talking to somebody just enjoy that moment yeah if anything I've just enjoyed that moment these one-star Yelp reviews are a real pain in the butt just people that are I went out and this person did this and that's like just calm down really stop what else you got it's good interview questions what else you got I was a huge Kobe Bryant fan rest in peace mm-hmm I was too man I was a really I was with my dad we're outside chopping wood in his house and we're listening to XM and it's a classic final and she came on it she said Kobe Bryant I was with my son and I just stopped I felt like I've been punched in the gut and they played let it be it was like this she's made the announcement and it was just like this what yeah play let it be and I sat there had tears just rolling in my face my dad was like oh my gosh and so did he and he's almost 70 we just stood there and it's like for his family never forget that moment it was crazy for me too because I just watched some videos I watched a lot of YouTube videos for basketball and I had just seen something it was like Kobe and LeBron I think LeBron had just reached a milestone and I went downstairs and then I my

50:07neighbor told me and I was just like what so it was a punch in the gut for me that's a tough one man so what do you think's next what's next for you um I don't know I've been at skulls rainbow room for a little over three years I really love working there the vibes cool the music is always great and it's kind of like a family so I'll be there you can find me at skulls anytime so if you want to come out if you're coming to Nashville you're going downtown and right now is really the best time in the world if you live here and you're listening to this get down there right now before the massive crowds come back I know they're starting to come back but like this is the time for locals to get downtown and go eat a good dinner like go to skulls get their prime rib the primary there's fantastic chef Gannon is besides the super cool guy like he does really good food yeah get the pork chop too get the pork chop too and then and yeah what's your favorite bar that's not your own bar another one you trying to get me in trouble all right my favorite bar is the Fox bar and cocktail club which just announced their clothes they're closed they're one of the bars that had to shut down unfortunately I really love pearl diver too that place is cool yeah pro divers awesome those are probably my two actual favorite bars to have cocktails at okay so the best mixologist in town let's say the best mixologist one of the best bartenders in town thank you for showing him you're saying go to the pearl diver or you're you're actually not saying that you're saying go there go there then it's gonna be packed you're gonna get a seat at the bar well yeah I don't know if they're open I hope they're open but even if that they're not open they're doing to goes so the Fox pearl diver that's are you gonna be my one and two I hear all kinds of people

52:10talking about attaboy I love attaboy too attaboy is there I just forgot that slipped me no I mean I don't go I got five and six year old boy I don't go out drinking I don't drink I'm a drink for a long time so I've said this like nine times on this episode it's so hard for me talking about alcohol because I don't drink anymore uh-huh and so it's it's a little weird for me to kind of like have this type of conversation but I'm I'm good I'm mr. boy mother's ruin mother's ruin they they started in New York and their second locations here yeah right I love that bar too yeah they serve food every day till 1 30 a.m. oh wow which is a positive thing I just a late-night food the right next door to Germantown pub mm-hmm yep Naima was on the show okay for us she's awesome it's a nice little cool place what do you got if you're to say something we're going 45 minutes what do you want to say to the Nashville bartending community you think if I always give the guests the final word like what do you want to say what's your words of wisdom what do you got right now I would say just keep your heads up we're going through some really rough times it's not a bad idea to try to work on some other skills and maybe even look at some alternative work right now just because you don't want to you really we don't know what's gonna happen so that would be what I say I love it man thank you so much for spending the time today and I'm gonna do so much more work with bartenders and kind of get the word out I know you're one of those people who absolutely cares about their craft and does a damn good job and respects the professionalism of this industry and it's a beacon for everybody who wants to get better in this industry go see a kind day at skulls rainbow room go meet him say hi tell him that you heard him on this podcast and ask him for the

54:11Patron old-fashioned so it was yeah it was a Patron Roka Patron in Yale old-fashioned and thank you so much for joining us today man thanks for having me all right so there it is a kind day well a good day on national restaurant radio my first real bartender we've had on the show and I learned a lot and I look forward to speaking with more bartenders and kind of getting a much more insight into kind of what's going on out there a bunch of different people out there a ton of talented people we're gonna jump into that immediately so thanks for hanging in there sorry about all the cars driving by he's got a super cool place and hope you guys are staying safe love you guys bye