Tag: bartenders

Robot Bartenders in the News
While robots will eventually make all our jobs obsolete, they seem to be coming for bartenders first. Three robot bartender happenings have popped up on my radar recently.

Battling Cocktail Robots

San Francisco's DNA Lounge is hosting their annual Cocktail Robotics Grand Challenge. Actually it just happened on July 16th.

image from Cocktail Robotics

I wasn't able to attend but it promised judging based on:
- Style and Grace: How clever, how dapper is that robot of yours?
- Efficiency of Intoxication: Are the drinks it makes good?
- Full-Assery: The opposite of halfassery. Does the infernal device actually work, or do you have to stand there tweaking it constantly?
- This Will End Badly: Extra consideration will be given for terrible ideas and Mad Science.
Check their Facebook page for more info and future events.

Robot-Staffed Bar Opens in Vegas

Tipsy Robot is a new bar in Las Vegas where the robots make the drinks for you.

The press release promises:

A one-of-a-kind destination attraction that merges craftsmanship and high-tech innovation, Tipsy Robot features two cocktail-shaking robots that interact with customers in a social, digital environment. Customers can order one of Tipsy Robot’s 18 signature cocktails — or create a custom cocktail — through one of the bar’s 33 tablets.

The robots mirror the actions of human bartenders. They mix, shake, pour, slice fruit and even dance to the latest Top 40 and EDM hits. Each beverage takes 60-90 seconds (or less) from order to completion.

Robot-Made Gin Coming Soon

At the annual Tales of the Cocktail convention in New Orleans on July 21, there is a seminar called, "Bartending Robots: Friend or Foe?"

The seminar will talk about the future of cocktail robotics, as well as introduce a forthcoming robot-made gin that will be blended a la minute at The Long Now Foundation's bar The Interval. Can't wait to try it.

The seminar description promises:

What of a bartender’s skill can a machine replace? And what is it likely to replace? While people are (usually) much nicer than robots, our mechanical counterparts have been growing in speed, accuracy and number. Before you deride robotics as technology that denigrates the noble bartender’s position, let’s explore the ongoing evolution of bartending machines and how we can use them to further the craft. Taking a cue from European flavor houses that make bespoke gin for brands and bars, Jennifer Colliau, Beverage Director of The Interval in San Francisco, worked with St. George Spirits to make single-aromatic distillations that are combined via robotics to whatever specifications a guest would like. Jennifer is joined by Dave Smith, Head Distiller of St. George Spirits and the manufacturer of the single-aromatic distillates, Pierre Michael, owner of Party Robotics and the builder of The Interval's Gin Robot, and Alexander Rose, futurist and Executive Director of The Interval at Long Now. Join them for a discussion of the future of robotics and automation and how they can impact the bar, for better and for worse. During this seminar, you will taste finished St. George gins, investigate styles and recipes, then use the individual aromatic distillations to mix your own gin.
July 17, 2017
Cocktail Snobs

In the March issue of 7×7 Magazine, I have a story about Cocktail Snobs.

Now that customers know so much more about cocktails some us are becoming fussy about them, never ordering from the menu but insisting on on-the-spot creations, trying to stump or school the bartender with obscure drink requests, and trainspotting mixology by parking in front of the bartender's station and asking questions about every drink being made.

Note: I've been guilty of all these offenses at one time or another.

Kindly read the story first, but one aspect I didn't get room to touch on much was that snobs in bars are hardly a new thing; cocktail snobs are just a new species thereof. There are still and will always be people who get angry that a bar doesn't carry what they percieve to be the best brand of vodka/tequila, snap their fingers at the bartender and treat them like servants, and exhibit other forms of bad behavior.

At least, I hope, the new breed of snobs are cocktail snobs because they care about good cocktails.

February 26, 2011
The Bar Agricole Bar Staff
This coming week is the pre-opening of Bar Agricole, the big big big restaurant/bar project from Thad Vogler about which I am very excited. Bar Agricole opens on August 16th (15th according to the SF Chronicle).

I asked Vogler about his bar staff- and got a surprise. All the bartenders will work full-time at Bar Agricole. I know three of the crew pretty well already, and have a feeling I'll get to know the two others soon enough.

The Bar Agricole Bar Staff:
- Ben Krupp (Camino, Slanted Door)
- Rosa Lynley (Farallon, Slanted Door)
- Eric Johnson (Eastside West, Bourbon & Branch, Delarosa, Beretta, Heaven's Dog)
- Craig Lane (Farallon, Heaven's Dog, Slanted Door)
- Thad Vogler (Slanted Door, Bourbon & Branch, Beretta, Camino, Farallon, Jardiniere, Bardessano, Heaven's Dog)
August 6, 2010
Erick Castro to Leave Rickhouse at End of Month; Take Brand Ambassador Job

Erick Castro, bartender and general manager of Rickhouse in San Francisco (up for three awards at Tales of the Cocktail this year) has revealed that he'll be leaving the bar at the end of July. He'll now be the West Coast Brand Ambassador for Plymouth and Beefeater gins.

This is another bittersweet announcement in the San Francisco cocktail community, right on the heels of Neyah White leaving NOPA to become a brand ambassador for Yamazaki whiskies at the end of June and Jackie Patterson leaving Heaven's Dog (soon) to become a brand ambassador for Solerno and Lillet.

So congratulations to Castro on the sweet new job but we'll miss seeing you behind the bar.

I suppose the good news is that, like the rash of bartenders who were leaving bars for brands I wrote about in 2008, this makes way for a new crop of folks to step forward as mixological masters behind the bar.

July 2, 2010