THL: What are your other gigs and interests?

I work with aka winegeek, promoting spirits and bartending education. I represent Spring44 spirits. I'm also an amateur boxer and collector of vintage bar tools (some would say that I am a vintage bar tool).

THL: What is something that best represents your personality?

Many years ago, in Texas a man walks up to my bar (a loud nightclub). I say hello and ask what I could get for him. The conversation went something like this:
Him: "I'm shitty"
Me: "Pardon?"
Him (a little louder): "I'm Shitty!"
Me: "You're what?"
Him (even louder): I'M SHITTY!!!
Me: "You're shitty??? I apologize sir, but I don't know what I can do for you in that case..."
Him (screaming, and angry) "I'M SHITTY!!!!!!!!!!!!" wildly gesturing "PEN, PEN!!!"
So i hand him a pen and a bev nap. He scrawls "MGD."
So, it turns out he was from Iran and in his heavy accent, "MGD" sounds like "I'm shitty." Needless to say I bought his beer...

THL: What is your bartending style?

Beauty in simplicity.

THL: How do you find inspiration for new cocktails and recipes?

I found the last one under my bed. Once I found one in my sock drawer. But, I often find inspiration from everyday things. Tea: my blackberry sage cocktail came about on a bus while I was drinking Republic of Tea, blackberry sage tea. I usually let the spirits speak (the alcoholic type) to me. When I taste a new spirit, my mind starts racing with cocktail possibilities. It's the way I am built.

THL: Besides bartending, what things do you do well?

I have a Rain Man-like sense of direction.

THL: Ever had any strange customer requests while bartending?

I had a customer (who I had just met that night) offer to pay me $1,000 to shut down the bar down so we could go to a Strip Club. We stayed open.

THL: What is your favorite after-shift drink?

Green Chartreuse neat.

THL: What is the one thing you can’t live without from your home liquor cabinet?

Del Maguey Tobala. A little copita a day keeps me sane.

THL: What is the most underrated cocktail?

A Manhattan. Made correctly, it is one of the most sophisticated and refined cocktails ever created...and with only three ingredients. Unfortunately, it is hardly ever made correctly.

THL: What is the test of a great bartender?

Urinalysis. That test will always prove how great a bartender someone is...

Grace under pressure, the ability to remember someone's name, face and cocktail. As corny as it sounds, everybody wants a Cheers experience where the whole bar calls out "insert name here" when they walk in the door. As well, a great bartender is well versed in current events AND local sports. The excuse "I don't like sports" doesn't pass. It's not about you, moron, it's about your guests.