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  • A Humbling Couple of Weeks....

    ...but in the best possible way!

    PART ONE: Last week I was featured in a story about the magic shop I work in. Even though I only work there one day a week, that was the day the people with one of the local free papers (that highlights, ironically, Key West's history) showed up, intent on doing a story on said magic shop. Purely by chance, as I had no idea this was going to be happening, I wore very nice clothes...the type I typically wear at the restaurant on Wednesday nights to do magic (business casual), whereas at the magic shop I'll typically just wear shorts and an amusing t-shirt or magic-themed shirt. For whatever reason, that day I decided to just dress once. Which was good luck on my part, as the story did feature a prominent photograph of me doing said magic.

    PART TWO: Sunday was the five year anniversary of my first day at The Bar. (There is only one bartender who's been there longer than me, and three front of the house people total, and they all opened the damn place!) I don't work Sundays, but on Monday the GM came up to me and told me he had a present for me. My immediate response was "Uh oh!" figuring it was some extra side project or something. (And I do enough of those, let me tell you.) It wasn't. It was an actual present for my five years of service. So I'm thinking a card or something, nothing major, maybe a little bottle of rum.

    Nope.

    It was a GORGEOUS framed print, about the size of my tv, depicting the evolution of the Oakland Raiders jerseys over their history. To a lot of people that would be a "so what?" thing. To me, a Raiders diehard fan, this was AWESOME! And it was a good thing I drove to work that day, rather than ride my bike, as there was no way I was getting that thing home on my bike!

    PART THREE: Yesterday at work, my boss surprised me yet again, letting me know that The Bar would be sponsoring myself and another of our bartenders for a prestigious mixology course. The course involves several weeks online and then one live seminar in Miami in May. The liquor company sponsoring it pays all but a small amount that the participants pay, but my boss told me that The Bar would be picking that fee up, along with gas money to get there and one night's hotel stay. (I will probably stay two nights and have fun...what the hell, right? I need to talk to the other bartender and see if she wants to commute together and spend the extra night, but she may want to go up separately and do other things, possibly bringing her boyfriend along, etc.)

    I should point out that there are hundreds of bars in this town, and so there are a LOT of bartenders...and the liquor company sponsoring this had only allocated ten slots for all of Key West. And our bar got two of them. And one of them was ME.

    I know this has a bit to do with my years of service, and my extra work as the Rum Guy at the bar, but I have to think I helped myself just a little bit last Friday. Kind of a dead shift, and the boss man calls on the phone from the upstairs office. Tells me he needs me to come up with a cocktail for each of the three Barbancourt rums we carry.

    JESTER: "Sure, no problem. When do you want them by?
    BOSS: "I was thinking the end of the shift?"
    JESTER: "Say WHAT?"
    BOSS: "End of the weekend? The Barbancourt people are going to be here next week, and I need this done."
    JESTER: "Okay...I'll see what I can do."

    And I'm thinking to myself, how in the flying fuck am I going to pull this off? I'm not even that big a fan of Barbancourt, as it is Haitian, and I tend to not be a fan of any rums that are made in the French style, as Haitian rum (or more accurately, "rhum") is.

    Fifteen minutes later, I knocked on the office door and handed him a slip of paper.

    BOSS: "What's this?"
    JESTER: "The three drinks you wanted. Hope you like them."
    BOSS:

    He emailed the Barbancourt people, and not only did they love the drinks, they loved the names I came up for them:

    For the rum Manhattan made with the Barbancourt Reserve 15 year: "Haitian Sensation."
    For the rum margarita made with the Barbancourt 5 Star 8 year: "Barb & Rita."
    And the consensus favorite, for the tropical cooler type drink made with the Barbancourt Pango, their flavored rum: "Banana Hammock."

    Yeah....good start to the year!

    "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is
    Still A Customer."


  • #2
    Banana Hammock sounds like an American term for budgie-smugglers

    But good call on the drinks and congrats on your very awesome start to the year!
    The best professors are mad scientists! -Zoom

    Now queen of USSR-Land...

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    • #3
      It's actually QLD one!

      Congrats Jester, I hope your year keeps running along like this.
      Don't tempt pixies, it never ends well.

      Avatar created by the lovely Eisa.

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      • #4
        Hope you don't get stuck with the feeling that the highlight of your year is already. That can lessen your enjoyment of future events.
        "Essence of my father, blood of my mother, I cannot throw this away," and he proceeds to swallow his own eye. Xiahou Dun

        Comment


        • #5
          Quoth fireheart View Post
          Banana Hammock sounds like an American term for budgie-smugglers...
          I think so...if budgie-smugglers are guys wearing Speedo type bottoms that leave pretty much nothing to the imagination. Which is what banana hammocks are.

          Yeah, I hope the year continues along this path as well....now I just have to get in better shape and get a date at some point. Preferably with a female. With a pulse.

          Yeah, I'm picky, I know.

          "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is
          Still A Customer."

          Comment


          • #6
            Quoth Jester View Post
            I think so...if budgie-smugglers are guys wearing Speedo type bottoms that leave pretty much nothing to the imagination. Which is what banana hammocks are.
            Down here it can refer to that or just to the briefs themselves.

            Down here, it's a lot more common to see them on younger boys because a lot of swim schools do not allow students to wear boardies for swim lessons.
            The best professors are mad scientists! -Zoom

            Now queen of USSR-Land...

            Comment


            • #7
              Swim schools MAKE the kids wear banana hammocks? Oh, that is just SO wrong....I would have drowned first!

              "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is
              Still A Customer."

              Comment


              • #8
                Back on topic, just remembered something I had forgotten to put in my original post. I did mention that the people from Barbancourt loved the drinks and the drink names, but what I forgot to say was that they also asked if it would be alright if they used those drinks, with those names, credited to me, in other printed promotional material they'd be using, not just in Key West, but elsewhere.

                Duh. What do you think I said? Of course! And make sure you spell my name right....

                "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is
                Still A Customer."

                Comment


                • #9
                  That is, all, wonderful news.

                  Now for the girl, well, the pulse is optional.
                  "Life is tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid" Redd Foxx as Al Royal - The Royal Family - Pilot Episode - 1991.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    The pulse is NOT optional. I do have standards, you know.

                    Amusingly, Barbancourt is NOT the first rum company to use one of my drinks on their promotional material (table tents, etc.). Pyrat was. If you ever see a Pyrat Rum table tent or promotional material listing a drink called the Keys Breeze, it's mine, and it's the drink I created to win my first ever bartending contest about 6 years ago.

                    Appleton Estate did use some of my creations on table tents a while back, but only within my bar, so I don't really count that.

                    That being said, Barbancourt is the first rum company to say they'll use THREE of my drinks on promotional material outside of my bar, and the first ever to say they'll attach my name to it as well.

                    Rum, thy name is Jester.
                    EDITED TO ADD: Damn it! Despite many promises from Pyrat that they would have my Keys Breeze on their website, it is not their....still....all these years later. Worse, a different recipe by me, which is FAR INFERIOR, is there. The drink listed is more of a pain in the ass to make, with less accessible ingredients, and would be ordered by far fewer people. Damn it, Pyrat.....why do you torture me so?
                    Last edited by Jester; 01-29-2012, 09:06 PM.

                    "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is
                    Still A Customer."

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Well, it's just like Yuengling beer for me. They have to torture me with their awesomeness, but I can't get it often because I live in Minnesota. Though, I did get some from people who went to Florida for vaca.

                      You can imagine what I'm doing when I get home from work tonight.
                      "Life is tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid" Redd Foxx as Al Royal - The Royal Family - Pilot Episode - 1991.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        People are often surprised to see Yuengling down here, and in Florida in general, as it is very prevalent throughout the state. What a lot of them don't realize is that, about 20 years ago, Yuengling took over an old Stroh's brewery in the Tampa area and made it into their second brewery, which explains the Yuengling availability down here, and technically makes Yuengling a local beer for us.

                        "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is
                        Still A Customer."

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Quoth Jester View Post
                          And I'm thinking to myself, how in the flying fuck am I going to pull this off? I'm not even that big a fan of Barbancourt, as it is Haitian, and I tend to not be a fan of any rums that are made in the French style, as Haitian rum (or more accurately, "rhum") is.
                          Just curious, but what are the differences (both process and results) between rum made in the French style and rum made in the British/Jamaican/Cuban style?
                          Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

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                          • #14
                            Oh, wow. That is one large question. And one I don't have time to fully answer at the moment, but I will come back to it tonight or tomorrow.

                            In other news, found out that one of the other ten Key West bartenders attending the aforementioned mixology class is my buddy Popcorn, which is rather cool. We may just roadtrip up to Miami together, which works for him, since he doesn't have a car.

                            "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is
                            Still A Customer."

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Quoth wolfie View Post
                              Just curious, but what are the differences (both process and results) between rum made in the French style and rum made in the British/Jamaican/Cuban style?
                              Build fire under rotted cane juice. Curse in local language for flavour. Lick condensation off tin roof until it tastes good. Sell to gringos.
                              I am not an a**hole. I am a hemorrhoid. I irritate a**holes!
                              Procrastination: Forward planning to insure there is something to do tomorrow.
                              Derails threads faster than a pocket nuke.

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