In today's Globe I've got a pretty big story in which I try to trace the evolution of the Boston cocktail revival back to its start, and a family tree style graphic that traces its path through the best bars today. Anyone who doesn't find that sort of thing interesting should promptly skip this post, because it's pretty nerdy and soooo long I can barely even process it.
In the interest of space in the paper we had to condense and streamline a lot of the data, because your average person probably doesn't need 15,000 words about which bar begat who and which dude worked with this other dude and where. I happen to find that sort of thing fascinating, so I've included all of my notes and interviews below, including lots of the people we had to edit out of the Globe piece. If you care about Boston bars and bar history, this is for you. Many many typos to follow.
↔ means a shared influence.
→ NAME means the person above influenced the person after the arrow.
NAME → means the person before the arrow influenced the person above.
Trying to pinpoint the exact moment when the genesis of a trend in any field took root can be difficult. But it's pretty safe to say that Boston began its evolution into one of the most exciting cocktail-focused cities in the country in 1998, when a handful of our most innovative bartenders teamed up at the long-lost, and dearly missed B-Side Lounge in Cambridge. Taking cues from legendary bar-man Brother Cleve, B-Side owner Patrick Sullivan and his dream team kicked off a movement that still effects the way all of us drink whenever we go out in Boston to this day.
“I think Cleve and I are a logical place to start,” Sullivan says. “Cleve was one of the opening night bartenders at the B-Side, Dec. 3, 1998. The other bartenders that night were me, Dylan Black and Joe McGuirk. For the record Dylan and Joe were late.”
Misty Kalkofen joined on soon thereafter, and her partnership with Cleve, Jackson Cannon, John Gertsen, and Scott Holliday in the Jack Rose Society helped lay the foundation for the ideas you see behind the bar at Eastern Standard, Drink, and the rest of our top cocktail bars.
Meanwhile across the city, two other branches of this winding family tree of cocktail creationists were expanding based out of No. 9 Park, where Gertsen took up the mantle thrown down by his predecessor Tom Mastricola, and Silvertone, where the consummate bartenders' bartender Josh Childs had just opened Silvertone. The rest, as they say, is history.
In the lifespan of any bartender's career they'll see hundreds of co-workers come and go, most of whom have influenced them in some small way. Charting out every meaningful bar crossover in the past fifteen years would be impossible. Instead I've tried here to use those three pivotal bars as a jumping off point to trace their influence through the best cocktail bars the city has to offer today. You'll find overlap between mentors and protegees, pivotal partnerships between peers, and a new generation of acolytes who'll be shaping the way we drink for years to come. In the interest of space, and of my own sanity, I've had to limit things to bartenders whose hand with a jigger I'm familiar with myself (don't worry, I go out a lot), and ones who fit into the main branches of the family tree.
Patrick Sullivan
(co-owner Brick and Mortar, opened B-Side Lounge in 1998, long time beverage director of Legal Seafoods)
Reggie St Paul → (Blue Room, influenced Sullivan.)
Reggie has been behind the bar for over 40 years. In 1993 or 94, the Blue Room was really happening. Reggie was amazing. It was the very beginning of the restaurant thing, and Reggie was making drinks that complemented the quality of the food. On a personal note, it was sitting at that bar watching Reggie and experiencing this type of dining experience that made me want to be a bartender and do something different, and in a gin fog it was at this bar where I first had the thought "I'm gonna open a bar.” As fate would have it. I didn't have to go far, just a few blocks away sat the dilapidated Windsor Tap at the corner of Hampshire and Windsor. Reggie is still behind that bar and still making drinks.
↔ Brother Cleve
I think Cleve and I are a logical place to start. Yes, we are contemporaries. Cleve was one of the opening night bartenders at the B-Side, Dec. 3, 1998. The other bartenders that night were me, Dylan Black and Joe McGuirk. For the record Dylan and Joe were late. Just saying.
I think Cleve and I are a logical place to start. Yes, we are contemporaries. Cleve was one of the opening night bartenders at the B-Side, Dec. 3, 1998. The other bartenders that night were me, Dylan Black and Joe McGuirk. For the record Dylan and Joe were late. Just saying.
↔ Misty Kalkofen
A month later Misty returned from Key West and joined us at the B-Side and it was officially on. It was the beginning of something great. At this point Jackson Cannon was a rabid cocktail enthusiast but within a year or two of drinking his way up and down the ever growing B-Side cocktail menus he found his way behind a bar and his career took off like a rocket. Yes, his name belongs and someone near the top. Dylan and Joe as well.
→ Dave Cagle (B-Side, now Deep Ellum)
→ Courtney Hennesy-Bissonnette (B-Side to No 9. to Toro/Coppa)
→ Rob Iurelli (B-side, now bar manager at Abigail's)
Brother Cleve
(Jack Rose Society founder with Jackson Cannon, Misty K, John Gertsen, Lizard Lounge, B-Side, now at Think Tank)
→ everyone
→ John Gertsen was a server at Salamander.
→ Misty Kalkofen
→ Dyan Black
→ Jackson Cannon
↔ Patrick Sullivan
It pretty much starts with Joe McGuirk at Chez Henri and Misty with me at the Lizard Lounge, both back around 96/97. I showed Pat Sullivan how to make a bunch of classic cocktails at Flat Top Johnnies in '95. I think it was in '97 when he asked me to get involved in the B-Side, which opened a year later. Dylan was at the B-Side at the beginning. We were the first bar to feature classic/craft cocktails, as well as the first to use rye whiskey (Old Overholt, the one of 3 ryes available at the time) and orange bitters (Fee Brothers. We had to call Joe Fee on the phone to get them shipped from Rochester, NY), amongst other things (like Parfait Amour, which was a "lost" libation)”
My first foray as in 1996, at the Lizard Lounge. They had just opened. I had known Billy Beard a long time. In Europe, when we were on tour with Combustible Edison, we had DJs playing lounge music, people would sit around and have cocktails. He said, I'm opening new plae, the Lizard Lounge, might be ideal place to try it out. I was like yeah... it was a quick hit. Next thing you know there was aline outside every Thursday night. At first they didn't know what to do , I said we gotta have cocktails, I'll write a menu. Turned out the bartender was Misty Kalkofen, she had just started bartending at the Lizard Lounge. She essentially knew how to pour beer. It's funny because now when people interview her, she talks about this how I was her mentor. Every week we had this menu, and she had to learn by fire. She's behind this tiny bar behind herself, making 8 drinks – every week I would come in beforehand and teach her another drink. By this point I had been amassing this cocktail library, I'm on the road, and you're sitting in some town, usually you find used record and book stores, you'd get a lot of these things dirt cheap. When we got out at end of night – she and I would go to my house, I'd make her a couple. Eventually we lived in the same house as neighbors, she was living with Jackson at the time, and we would sit around with all of our books and make all these arcane cocktails for each other. That's really where it started there. Around the same time I had a birthday party at Flattop Johnny's. Patrick Sullivan was bartender there. I asked if he knew how to make a Sidecar, he said no. I said I can tell you. He's like, I'm game. Turned out that was his his cocktail epiphany. He had been a bartender for a while. He got fascinated with cocktails. He stared getting books and ingredients. By this point I was at Lizard Lounge and Bill's Bar. I insisted Misty come with me. Every bar that would hire me,I insisted my own personal bartender would come with. We were like the A Team that would go around to all these bars. Patrick came into Bill's Bar and approached me – said he's opening a new place in the Windsor Tap in Cambridge. It's gonna be a classic cocktail establishment.
Jackson Cannon
(Eastern Standard, Island Creek, Hawthorne, maestro extraordinaire, influential on just about everyone in current generation, lots of arrows pointing everywhere from him)
Brother Cleve →
Patrick Sullivan →
Misty Kalkofen → (West Side Lounge in early 2000s, where Luke O'Neil happened to work with them both at the time).
Joe McGuirk →
→ Tom Schlessinger Guidelli (ES, ICOB)
→ Everyone mentioned who worked at Eastern Standard etc
→ Kevin Martin
→ Bob McCoy
→ Sam Treadway
→ Nicole Lebedevitch
I really had to give this some thought to see if I could remember that moment I first realized bar tending was a profession. I've got to say, it was Joe McGuirk that inspired me to look at drinks and service on a deeper level. I remember how he used to rule the bar at Toad, before I played there or booked the place. He is always calm, keeps it moving and can talk on a great variety of subjects. The impression he made on me then was the kind a man makes on a boy. I was a ways away from being done with music but something inside of me wanted to be him. And after he moved on to Chez Henri, before this little bar in cambridge called the B-Side came along, I visited him and he made me my first Periodista. I still remember I literally asked him what "else he did," a question that as a musician I'd heard constantly and hated. He was Joe Cool about it, just said he could see himself bar tendering the rest of his life. He even made a really funny (because of his delivery) future skit of himself being the old curmudgeonly bar keep telling the young crew, "I remember when pints were only $10.” Bear in mind pints at that time were $3 to $4.
Joe McGuirk
(↔ everyone, everywhere, most notably Chez Henri, B-Side, Highland)
Denny Lewis →
↔ Rob Iuerlli
↔ Brother Cleve
→ Andy McNeese
→ Nathan Bice
↔ Tom Mastricola (worked together at King's in 2003)
↔ Dylan Black
Around 1992 I meet Brother Cleve. While cocktails are not happening where I work, Cleve and I mix up drinks for each other from time to time at his home. (The Cambridge Wormwood Society?) Also around this time I meet Jackson Cannon. HIs interest in the bar scene consists of trying to finish a bottle of Jameson's in one evening. While working at Salamander, I meet John Gertsen, who is waiting tables at the time.
1995 Chez Henri opens. First bar I worked at that had a cocktail list. Mojitos and Periodistas dominate the scene. Chez Henri also features two choices for rye whiskey (Jim Beam and Wild Turkey, but these are only two I could find distributed in MA at that time). Meet Pat Sullivan sometime in next two years.
December 1998 B Side Lounge opens with me Dylan Black, Brother Cleve, Misty Kalkofen and Pat Sullivan behind the bar. Cleve and Pat did a lot of research for the opening cocktail list. As time went by this crew...added cocktails, either by finding classics or coming up with our own. This was all seat of the pants stuff. We found folks responding to the cocktail scene so we went with it. The B Side opening is the 'tipping point.' No doubt other bars in Boston are starting to catch on to the cocktail craze, but for me the B Side is where it all begins in earnest in this town. While at B Side I meet the rest of the city's bartenders. Around 1999 I meet Josh Child, Tom Mastricola, and Peter Cipriani, three of Boston's elite bartenders of the day. Beau Sturm and new fiancee Trina I meet in '99. I knew Beau from Flat Top Johnny's, I meet Trina on the day they get engaged.
John Gertsen
(Drink, No 9 Very pivotal bartender)
Joe McGuirk →
Tom Mastricola →
Misty K ↔
Garret Harker →
→ Corey Bunnewith 2009 (formerly of Drink, Coppa, Citizen)
First bartending job I "mixed" gin and tonics, margaritas, and the like at a red sauce Italian joint in Mashpee in 1991.
First Influential Bartender(s): Ted Rabidoux (formerly the Harvest, Blue Room), Joe McGuirk, Denny Lewis, and Nicole Pierce at Salamander Restaurant (Cambridge) in 1996. These guys were squeezing fruit by hand for Cosmos, Sidecars, and Margaritas. Also had my first Negroni here. Epic restaurant, completely forgotten by many. I still think that Stan Frankenthaler is a genius.
First Influential Bar Program: Tom Mastricola's work at No 9 Park before I got there. Tom should get credit for putting Boston on the map. Garrett Harker was the first person to mention Dale Degroff's The Craft of the Cocktail to me, and he heard about it from Tom. One read and I was in; then No. 9 hired Dale to work a Holiday Party where I organized and worked the bar. I haven't considered a change of profession since that day.
Watch out for any of those rascals who started up the Boston Bartenders Collaborative (especially Tyler, Ezra, and Naomi). They know their stuff. My favorite new bar? Backbar. Sam is such a nerd.
Dylan Black
(owner Green Street, former B-Side opener, Chez Henri)
↔ Misty Kalkofen (B-Side, Green Street)
Patrick Sullivan →
↔ Joe McGuirk (B-Side, Green Street)
Brother Cleve →
→ Andy McNeese (B-Side, Toro now)
→ Nathan Bice (B Side, Highland Kitchen)
→ Dave Cagle (B Side, now Deep Ellum)
Scott Holliday →
→ Rob Kraemer (Chez, Green Street)
→ Emily Stanley (Green Street, Deep Ellum, Brick and Mortar now)
→ George Jennich (Green Street, ICOB)
For me it all started at the B Side Lounge with Patrick, he was the first one to put a jigger in my hand. Cleve consulted with Pat on the cocktails and worked with us behind the bar for a few weeks. Most notably I worked with Joe McGuirk, Misty Kalkofen behind the bar. While I was there we hired barbacks Andy McNeeese (Toro bartender) and Nathan Bice (Highland Kitchen bartender). Dave Cagle of Deep Ellum was a manager at that time and was making the transition to bartending.
I got a job at Chez Henri, Scott Holiday (Rendezvous bar manager) was my boss. I met a waiter named Rob Kramer (Chez Henri bar manager).
When I opened Green Street I hired Joe, Misty and Rob as bartenders. When they moved on I hired Emily Stanley from Deep Ellum (Brick & Mortar), Pam McGuire from Deep Ellum (Gallows), Derric Crothers from The Alchemist, Annakarina Gente from Deep Ellum and John Baker from Flashes.
Keep your eyes open for George Jennich (ICOB). I hired him knowing I had a diamond in the rough, he is the future of cocktails and service. Period. He was trained by Pam and hammed into shape by me. Rob Kramer credits me for giving him the push needed to get behind the bar. I have one server who is almost ready to be trained, Hazel James but I'm gonna wait till she is 21, she is gonna kill it.
Beau Sturm (co-owner Trina's)
Josh Childs → (Beau watched Josh at Silvertone in late 90s. Co-owns Trina's with Josh)
Joe McGuirk →
Dylan Black → (Beau watched Joe and Dylan at B-side in late 90s.)
Mike Ray → (influential to Beau, now at Forum. Was at Towne)
↔ J Bellao (partner at Trina's now with Beau and Josh. Worked with Beau at Audobon Circle in mid 2000s). “I think he has had more impact on me than me on him but I did give him his first restaurant job and I would have blown Audubon Circle up to get him to partner up with me and Josh at Starlite.)
↔ Trina Sturm (wife. Now at Trina's. Worked together at Axis and City Bar early 2000s)
→ Jimmy Welsh (East Coast Grill)
→ Emma Hollander (now worked for Beau at Trina's)
Josh was definitely ahead of me. As a matter of fact, Josh would never let me get away with this, but I knew who he was long before he knew anything about me. I'd go to Silvertone after work and on my days off to watch him bartend. His manner behind the bar definitely had the biggest impact on me of any bartender I've ever been around. We have both been bartending for 20 years now, but he was so far ahead of everyone in this city for a long long time.
Trina Sturm
(co-owner Trina's, known from City Bar, Met Club, Beehive, Silvertone etc)
↔ Scott Marshall (worked together at Pour House in 90s)
Joe McGuirk →
Josh Childs → (sat at his bars and learned from him)
Mike Ray →
→ Leo Neves (now runs Metropolitan Club bar programs)
→ Emma Hollander (works at Trinas now)
→ Danielle Marshall (now at Gallows)
→ John Quackenbush (now at East Coast Grill)
↔ Beau Sturm “And lastly Beau Sturm who insists that I influenced him, but in my opinion, he had the biggest impact on me and the way I carry myself behind the bar.”
I started waitressing/ bartending at the Pour House, where I got to first meet and work with Scott Marshall. I went on to work at Axis, then Citybar, Silvertone, the Metropolitian Club and the Beehive.
For me, learning was all about reading whatever books I could find on classic cocktails and watching other bartenders and learning from them. I would sit at the bars of Josh Childs, Michael Ray and Joe McGuirk, and at places like the B-side and 9 Park to see how those bartenders did it.
I've had the opportunity to train over 30 bartenders and work with some of the best around. Some of the bartenders that I have worked with and hope I have influenced: Leo Neves, who runs the bar program for the Metropolitian Club group, Emma Hollander, who we are lucky to have at Starlite, Carlina Maldondado, who I worked with at Citybar and beehive and who although no longer lives and bartends in Boston was one of the best in the city, Dave Stuart and Kelly Davis who are both living and bartending in NYC, Stephanie Lauria, works at Beehive, Danielle Marshall, works at the gallows, John Quackenbush, who works at East coast grill.
And lastly Beau Sturm who insists that I influenced him, but in my opinion, HE had the biggest impact on me and the way I carry myself behind the bar.
Scott Holliday
(now at Rendezvous, formative at Chez Henri, formerly at Franklin Cafe)
→ Dylan Black (with Scott at Chez Henri)
→ Rob Kraemer (followed at Chez Henri)
Having spent most of my time working one-bartender bars, I haven't had many chances to cross pollinate within my peer group except as GM at Salamander for Stan Frankenthaler in the mid-late 1990's when I met many of the folks who are now movers in the industry. I spend almost two years at the Franklin (original) back when every other drink was a Cosmo. The cocktail culture wasn't inspiring but it did more to hone my physical craft of bartending than any place I've worked. You had to be organized, focused and consistently fast or that bar would "eat you alive" as Dave Dubois warned me.
From there I went on to Chez Henri for a 6-1/2 year tenure. It was there I was bitten by the classic cocktail bug and tried to add my piece to the cocktail revival. I've been tremendously inspired by and proud of John Gertsen who is a friend and a former Salamander colleague. Our drinks and conversations together over the years and especially our trip to New Orleans for the opening of the Museum of the American Cocktail opened my eyes to the phenomenon. Apart from that I was an autodidact, using books from Dale DeGroff, David Embury, Charles H Baker and Ted Haigh, blogs (Lauren Clark, Fred Yarm, Jeffrey Morganthaler) and stealing from every bar I sat at most memorably the two times I spent at the ZigZag with Murray Stenson bartending.
From there I went on to Chez Henri for a 6-1/2 year tenure. It was there I was bitten by the classic cocktail bug and tried to add my piece to the cocktail revival. I've been tremendously inspired by and proud of John Gertsen who is a friend and a former Salamander colleague. Our drinks and conversations together over the years and especially our trip to New Orleans for the opening of the Museum of the American Cocktail opened my eyes to the phenomenon. Apart from that I was an autodidact, using books from Dale DeGroff, David Embury, Charles H Baker and Ted Haigh, blogs (Lauren Clark, Fred Yarm, Jeffrey Morganthaler) and stealing from every bar I sat at most memorably the two times I spent at the ZigZag with Murray Stenson bartending.
There are several former colleagues who have gone on to do amazing things, John being the most relevant to your article and Dylan Black who was with me at Chez Henri before opening Green Street. Many more have left the industry to become writers, nurses, managers and to start families and in many ways, I'm more proud of them for having the conviction and courage to make big changes in their lives.
Josh Childs
(owner Silvertone, Trina's)
→ everyone, Josh a big part of second branch coming through Silvertone
Steve Olson → “The early '90s was the start of it, and because there wasn't a cocktail culture a lot of the guys I worked with were mainly self taught. But, the person with biggest influence to me was the legendary Steve Olson. Steve and I opened a place called Road Trip around 1993 on Canal Street in Boston. I learned firsthand his tasting techniques both with wine and spirits- focusing on quality ingredients and producers.”
→ Beau and Trina Sturm
(was at beehive with Joe McGuirk, Trina, Beau, Scott Marshall,Cedric Adams)
↔ Patrick Sullivan
Tom Mastricola →
↔ John Gertsen
↔ Cedric Adams “Cedric Adams is one of the old time guys like me and McGuirk. He started at the Rattlesnake. He and I went down to work at West Street Grill, which predates what we're talking about. On West Street Downtown, it was one of the first , not cocktail bar at all, it was first bar bar, the place to go that wasn't kind of a bar at a higher end restaurant. Cedric and I bartended there.
There was no such thing in the early 90s a cocktail place. Steve Olson was very interested in spirits, mezcal, tequila, he had a great tasting system. the first of its kind, Cocktail culture hadn't caught up. That's where I learned tasting methods.
As for the Beehive, I was a friend of Jack Barneys, and I came over work a night at Beehive. What was impressive about that first opening, that's where I met Trina and Beau, Joe McGuirk was there, Scott Marshall, Cedric Adams, kind of a who's who people who had been bartending. It was somewhat late in the game -- even then that was a precursor to Drink, and even then Boston kind of caught up late. We were doing cocktails there, that was kind of almost the start of it, almost the real explosion.
In the early days of Silvertone, I put a Negroni on menu, no one drank it, everyone was making Lemondrops. To this day it's funny how separation of Cambridge and Boston still exists. People drink a whole lot of vodka in Boston but not in Cambridge.
Beau had a little B Side in him, he knew Patrick Pretty well. Beau was making his own bitters before anyone else was talking about it.
Tom Mastricola was a huge proponent. He doesn't get much credit, because he moved out to San Diego just as he had gotten the real drink program started at No 9 Park. He and John had a huge influence on each other. I give a ton of credit for the start of while thing to Tim. I was lucky in that proess that they came down to Silvertone every night after work. People ask where Fernet started -- the was match lit at No 9. We were going through 6 pack case of Fernet in 1998 when no one knew what it was. Garret and Tom and John started drinking it.
Silvertone opened in 1997. At the time, downtown, No 9 was doing cocktail program. There wasn't really the... market is wrong word. Cedric and I were trying to throw an Aviation or Negroni on the menu, people were still just drinking vodka sodas . Our version of the higher end of thing had tons of bourbons and scotches, our bartending friends would all come down after work, do what bartenders do now, sip some whiskey and a Miller High Life. That's where we slipped through cracks on cocktail revolution, it's also part of the area... when tom was making drinks at no 9. he had people ready to try creative stuff Barbara was doing, so he has people sitting at bar with same culinary mindset. Tom, by the way, was a sous chef at road trip with Steve Olson.
Cedric Adams and I were at the West Street Grill. He's one of the old time guys like me and McGuir. We and I went down to work at West Street Grill, which pwredates what we're talking about. West Street Downtown, one of the first , not cocktail bar at all, it was first bar bar, the place to go that wasn't kind of a bar at a higher end restaurant.
Franklin Cafe opened about same time as Silvertone, kind of think of Franklin as the same -- more gastropub oriented, Mo who owned it with Dave Duboi had been at Anchovies in South End. She was of the old school, but it was a great bar, place to hang out, and I think it wasn't until, kind of like with Silvertone, wasn't until a decade later, they really started doing a variety of cocktails there. Same at Silvertone. The guys in south end were just drinking grey goose martinis straight up. It was different on the other side of the river, with Brother Cleve coming up for drink list for Patrick and all those guys executing it. It was more of a market to push forward, that's why that took off in that sense.
Ryan McGrale (Hawthorne, formerly of No 9, Flatiron Lounge in NYC)
Tom Mastricola → No 9
↔ John Gertsen (No 9)
↔ Courtney Bissonette (No 9)
Barbard Lynch →
Garret Harker →
→ Aaron Butler
→ Bill Codmann
→ Bruno Prado (Storyville)
For me it all started at No 9 Park back in 2001. There was not really a cocktail revival at that time. No 9 and the B-Side were the only ones doing "classic" cocktails. Years later eastern standard opened then green street and so on. My mentor was Tom Mastricola. One of the first tenders in town to focus on classic cocktails and using all fresh juice (sour mix and so on). It was unheard of to most. He taught me how to appreciate and evolve cocktails. I feel very lucky that i was, unaware, part of a small group building the ground floor to what is the cocktail culture today in Boston. Years later I met people like Jackson Cannon and a crew of others that shared in my new found passion for bartending and the craft of cocktails.
I was at No 9 Park for 8 years and was happy in the job that I and so many bartenders (Matt Mcclune, Doug Taylor, John Gertsen, Courtney Bissonnette) did in the current lifespan of the restaurant had done to make it what is is today. And the contribution to the cocktail culture in Boston. Kind of the core pioneers that were on the bar at No 9 Park. During those years I gathered many awards and honors. The best was in 2006 "Food and Wine" magazine named me one of the 5 top bartenders in the United States. Big honor, and only at 26. I couldn't have done what I have done if it wasn't for the people I had worked with in those years.
I moved to Manhattan at the end of my 8 year tenure at No 9. Got a job at the legendary Flatiron Lounge in NYC. The place is a pillar in the cocktail world. The first was the famous "Milk and Honey," then a few years later it was Flatiron Lounge. We couldn't have done what all have done if not for places like this and I was honored to be working for them and the legendary Julie Reiner. Years later I had the honor to be head bartender. During those years she was the continuation of my education and she taught me a lot. The bar made me lightning fast. The place is like eastern standard, not as enormous, but did bar business like Red Sox opening day, every night. And only cocktails, no food.
Now I'm back in town working at the Hawthorne working at another bar that is filled with talent and will soon be, the new beacon for cocktails in Boston. I learn from everyone and have only had a few mentors along the way. Tom Mastricola, Barbara Lynch, Cat Silirie, Garret Harker, and Julie Reiner. There are many bartenders that I have worked with over the years. Some younger, a lot older than me at the time. Im sure as i have learned something from them they have learned something from me. The most that I have really taught were in NYC. A lot of younger bartenders worked for me and went on to do great things. My biggest was Natalie Jacob who has gone on to kill it at competitions and working at some great bars in NYC.
The current crew at No 9 Park are notable. Ted, Brendan, Sam and Tyler. Though I haven't worked along side them, I love what they are now doing there without pretension and honoring the No 9 way.
Cedric Adams
(At Silvertone for a long time, been around forever at lots of other places)
↔ Josh Childs together at West Street Grill in early 90s
Steve Olson → At Road Trip in 92/93 (Olson is a world renowned sommelier)
Tom Mastricola → (worked at Road Trip)
↔ Beau, Trina, Joe McGuirk (worked together at Beehive)
Peter Cipriani →
↔ Domingo-Martin Barrerres (peers and friends) Cedric preceded him at Les Zygomates
I worked with Josh Childs at the West Street Grill in 1990. Before that I was at Cactus Club with Susie Diablo who owns Bukowksi. I worked with her, kind of my first bartending gig. The cocktail thing didn't really happen until I went to go manage The Federalist, that's kind of when pushing the fresh cocktail started. Steve Olson brought it up from New York. He knew more about booze than anyone I've met in my life. We'd play games where we put something in a glass and give it to him. 95 % of the time he would sniff and tell you what it was before tasting it. His palate was that good. That pushed us when we were there, and he was great about teaching us how things were made and how to use them. He was probably the first person ever made us aware a drink can be considered part of a food group. He said, remember when all bullshit is done, wine is just grape juice. It's still grape juice, you like it or don't.
At Road Trip with Olson is where I met Tom Mastricola, Pat Lynch, and bunch of people all worked there. I left there and went to Les Zygomates, I was kind of the wine guy there for a couple years. Silvertone was my base, although I opened a lot of bar, like 15 Beacon. Kevin Dick, bartender at Grille 23 now, has been there a long long time. He was really good with making drinks.
Tom Mastricola is one of the best drink makers. There are three people who make drinks, the rest are blowing smoke up our buts. Tom and Scott Marshall, those guys are 1 and 2. The best bartender hands down is Scott, if someone asked me who's the consummate. And John Gertsen. Those are the best three drink makers in the city, no one else is even close. No one from the history standpoint, to professionalism, to you want to sit at their bar. Tom started the program at No 9 and John took it and ran with it.
Then I went to the Beehive, where I met Beau, Trina, and bunch of great people there for bartending. You'd look to your left and right, and there was someone you wanted to work with but never had a chance.
I worked with a lot of great people, a lot of them ran with it and did their things. I believe if people want to learn, they take it up on themselves and get better at their craft. People have it in them to push themselves. I don't want to say I took someone under my wing. There's a whole lot of programs, Misty, who got great things going for example. The great thing about Boston is it hasn't turned into that NYC thing where it's all cutthroat. People get out and support people's events. I know Domingo from his wife bartending, I'm friends with him, for 12 years. He's a great guy, although we never worked together
I would pay money to sit at Peter Cipriani's bar. Sometimes you just want to have great drink, and good company. He's probably most intelligent bartender we have.
Peter Cipriani
(Franklin Cafe, started at 29 Newbury in 90s)
↔ Josh Childs,
↔ Joy Richards (Franklin)
↔ Joe McGuirk (Quote from Joe: “Around 1999 I meet Josh Child, Tom Mastricola, and Peter Cipriani, 3 of Boston's elite bartenders of the day.”
→ Scott Marshall (Silvertone)
I started back in '94 at 29 Newbury. I learned a great deal from Rob Mannke and George Makkas, who ruled the place at the time. They really gave me my start and I will forever be thankful for the influence and help. I have to include George Lewis as well who then owned 29 and was kind enough to hire me. At the time the I recall there was a bartender at Chaps named Lally (I think) that had a cable show and was always coming up with new drinks. At the time the emphasis was on masking the alcohol with fruity sweet flavors.
I've had the privilege of working with Josh Childs, Cedric Adams, Casey Riddles, Mike Stevens, Michael Ahearn, Frank Gibbs, Joy Richard and Chad Fox and I've learned from each of them in numerous ways. As have I learned from the many barkeeps that have tolerated my presence on the patron side of the bar, their numbers too large to count or to feel comfortable claiming. I can't really say or know if I have influenced anyone else, that seems a little self-congratulatory.”
I've had the privilege of working with Josh Childs, Cedric Adams, Casey Riddles, Mike Stevens, Michael Ahearn, Frank Gibbs, Joy Richard and Chad Fox and I've learned from each of them in numerous ways. As have I learned from the many barkeeps that have tolerated my presence on the patron side of the bar, their numbers too large to count or to feel comfortable claiming. I can't really say or know if I have influenced anyone else, that seems a little self-congratulatory.”
Ben Sandrof
(Drink. Formerly: No 9. Middlesex Lounge. Noir Bar)
Lolly Mason → (Upstairs on the Square)
John Gertsenen → (worked for John at No 9 and Drink)
B-Side crew → (was regular there)
↔ Sam Treadway (worked with at Drink)
→ Joe Staropoli (hired him at Drink)
→ Brynn Tattan (hired him at Drink)
→ Cali Gold (hired her at Drink)
→ Alice Marie (at Noir, instituted classic cocktails program she picked up and ran with)
I had been a bartender in Cambridge for a few years before moving over to the other side of the river. Upstairs on the Square was my first serious cocktail experience even though it was my third job behind a bar. I was working with Lolly Mason, who had been around forever, she had a crazy cult following. She opened the door and inspired me to utilize the kitchen as far as fruits and syrups go. Checking the list of what's in season and requesting special fruits, talking to the pastry department about making syrups and purees- things like that.
It was not until a few jobs later that I got more interested in the history side of things- from there I worked at Middlesex, mostly fast bartending, but some chances to make inspired cocktails. Then it was to be the bar manager at Noir, where I started studying old recipes and history, which led me to meet John Gertsen at No.9 Park. I would sit at his bar and pepper him with questions about just about everything, which he was more than happy to talk about, and that ultimately led me to work with him on that bar. If there was one person who was the major catalyst as to why I made drinks the way that I did/do it was him.
That job led me to be the Principal bartender at Drink. which brings me to your point of other notable bartenders who were up and coming in that era. Sam Treadway is someone who came on at the opening of Drink. He had a bit of experience at the time and has a great palate. He worked at Drink for a few years and then went on to bartend in Hawaii and then come back to open BackBar with the folks over at Journeyman, which is great.
Joe Staropoli had zero experience bartending when we hired him at Drink. He was an old friend of mine looking for work. I knew he had a great work ethic so we hired him as a barback. He has since grown into a great bartender which is awesome. Bryn Tattan and Cali Gold also had minimum to no experience and got really good in a short time. Oviously the B-side was in its heyday when I was in Cambridge. They have been credited with pioneering the classic cocktail movement if you will.
Scott Marshall
(Hawthorne, formerly Drink)
↔ Danielle Marshall (wife, now at Gallows, met at Pour House, in 97/98)
↔ Trina Sturm (worked together at Pour House in 90s, City Bar 2004, Beehive in 2007ish).
City Bar: “This is where I was first introduced to lemon and lime juice being used instead of sour mix. We were using bottled product, but I was introduced to classics such as the Sidecar and French 75.”
He and Danielle worked at CaliTerra, in the Wyndham Hotel, immediate predecessors were Cedric Adams and Dennis Cargill.
Misty Kalkofen → (Drink)
Josey Packard → (Drink)
2004 met John Gertsen and Jackson Cannon, learned from them.
Cedric Adams → (While at Silvertone)
Peter Cipriani → (While at Silvertone)
Works at Hawthorne with Nicole Lebedovitch, Kevin Martin, Bob McCoy, Tommy Schlesinger.
Jackson Cannon → (Hawthorne)
→ Aaron Butler (while at Drink)
I actually finished Boston Bartender's School on my 21st birthday, in October 1993. My first gig was at an Italian restaurant in Watertown, as I was going to Bentley at the time. That place was bought out by the Halfway Cafe, and I stayed there until I finished grad school in 1997. In the summer of '97 I made the move that set everything in motion, and came in to Boston to work at the Pourhouse on Boylston St.
At the Pourhouse I met two very influential people. First, Danielle, now my wife and bartender at The Gallows in the South End. Second, I met Trina Sturm and we became great friends. From there Trina went to the nightclubs on Landsdowne St, but we would meet again. Danielle and I went to the CaliTerra, in the Wyndham Hotel in the Financial District. Little did we know that we had just missed Cedric Adams and Dennis Cargill there!
Nothing changed until Fall of 2004, when Danielle and I bumped into Trina at a Jack Johnson/G Love show. She was running the bar program at CityBar, and I was able to join her within a couple months. Danielle was hired the day after me. This is where I was first introduced to lemon and lime juice being used instead of sour mix. We were using bottled product, but I was introduced to classics such as the sidecar and French 75.
While there, I was also working part-time at the Oak Bar in The Fairmont Copley. The hotel hired mixologist Ryan Magerian to travel to all Fairmont hotels and re-train the bar staffs and implement a new drink program. This training was the ultimate turning point, and during the 2 weeks he was here I met John Gertsen and Jackson Cannon. I also learned that the Fairmont was not the place for a cocktail program like that to take off.
When the Beehive opened, Clif Travers was coming over from Cuchi Cuchi to run the cocktail end of the bar program. i jumped at the opportunity to work in a prohibition era French music club. Clif only lasted until day 2 of opening, but his training kept my interest going. It was at the Beehive, however, where I made the best friends and mentors in the industry. It was there that I was introduced to Josh Childs, Cedric Adams, Frank Reardon, Joe McGurk and the 16 other bartenders on the opening staff. I was only there for 9 months, and worked at only CityBar for about a year.
I started to work at Silvertone on Friday nights with Cedric, and Peter Cipriani worked in the back room. At one point I was working with 5 people on Improper's Hall of Fame bartenders list. I stayed there during my transition to Drink, for almost a year.
In October 08 I made the move over to Drink, where I took a job as an apprentice. I had never measured a cocktail before, and had very limited classic cocktail knowledge. 3 years with John Gertsen, Misty Kalkofen, Ben Sandrof and Josey Packard multiplied my knowledge geometrically. I was principle bartender and John's let hand when the management load became a bit too much.
I took the opportunity to open The Hawthorne, and am now continuing my training with Jackson Cannon, Nicole Lebedovitch, Kevin Martin, Bobby McCoy and Tommy Schlesinger.
I would say that the one person I have influenced the most would be Aaron Butler, who recently left Russell House for Vaandaag in NYC. To some extent I saw Sam Treadway grow to start up Back Bar after returning from Hawaii.
With my travels and Danielle working at Tapeo, Post 390, the Franklin Southie and Green Street we have probably worked with over half of the bartenders in the city! I'm sure that's more than you wanted, but it was a long and windy road!
Tom Mastricola (No 9, now at Saloon)
→ John Gersen (No 9)
→ Joe McGuirk
→ Everyone (main branch of three part family tree starting No 9 program)
→ Ryan McGrale
I feel like I've been around spirits my whole life. My dad, Mike Mastricola, was VP and Controller of a Liquor company called Federal Distillers. It was based in Cambridge across from the Museum of Science. I was making martinis and Manhattans, (when I was 10) for his boss when he would come to the house to visit. That probably would be looked down on these days. Anyway, I bartended through the dark days in the 80's, (showing my age now), when peach schnapps and rumplemintz were the big things. Yikes!
I think going to Culinary school and working in kitchens in the early 90's changed they way I looked at bartending. When I went back to bartending, I wanted to do it differently than before. I wanted to build drinks not sling them. I wanted to make it like cooking, building on flavors and fresh ingredients and have a mise en place behind the bar. I wanted to educate and be educated. I wanted sugar syrups, more than one bitters, good ice, appropriate glassware, perfect garnishes, integrity and professionalism behind the bar.
It's great to see what is going on now. John Gertsen, Jackson Cannon and others have raised the bar, (no pun intended). Josh Childs is one of the most important bar/restaurant owners in the area. He is a constant professional and a true cornerstone for the industry. Joe McGuirk, Brother Cleve,(i have never met but know of), have fought the good fight for many years.
Bartenders now have cult followers and as you know there is a phone app that will tell when and where your favorite bartender works. Crazy stuff. people seek out bartenders like Ryan Mcgrale, Scotty Marshall, Franky Reardon, Dennis Cargill, English Bill, Misty and many more. It's seems as though it has become a profession now and not just a way to get through college.
It's nice to go out and get a proper drink these days. I even got one in Southie! never thought that would happen. Can we please keep it as bartending and not mixologist or bar chef. Bar chef is silly.
I think going to Culinary school and working in kitchens in the early 90's changed they way I looked at bartending. When I went back to bartending, I wanted to do it differently than before. I wanted to build drinks not sling them. I wanted to make it like cooking, building on flavors and fresh ingredients and have a mise en place behind the bar. I wanted to educate and be educated. I wanted sugar syrups, more than one bitters, good ice, appropriate glassware, perfect garnishes, integrity and professionalism behind the bar.
It's great to see what is going on now. John Gertsen, Jackson Cannon and others have raised the bar, (no pun intended). Josh Childs is one of the most important bar/restaurant owners in the area. He is a constant professional and a true cornerstone for the industry. Joe McGuirk, Brother Cleve,(i have never met but know of), have fought the good fight for many years.
Bartenders now have cult followers and as you know there is a phone app that will tell when and where your favorite bartender works. Crazy stuff. people seek out bartenders like Ryan Mcgrale, Scotty Marshall, Franky Reardon, Dennis Cargill, English Bill, Misty and many more. It's seems as though it has become a profession now and not just a way to get through college.
It's nice to go out and get a proper drink these days. I even got one in Southie! never thought that would happen. Can we please keep it as bartending and not mixologist or bar chef. Bar chef is silly.
Misty Kalkofen (B-Side, Green Street, Drink, Brick and Mortar, LUPEC)
Brother Cleve →
→ Most everyone at Drink, Green Street
↔ Dylan Black
↔ John Gertsen
↔ Jackson Cannon
→ Evan Harrirson (Brick and Mortar now, former Deep Ellum)
I would definitely list Cleve as my predecessor. I would not be making cocktails without him... Obviously working at the B-side was the first bar job I had that was specifically cocktail focused but Cleve and I had been doing the Saturnalia nights for two plus years at that time. Dylan and I were contemporaries at the B-Side and to a certain degree John and I were as well...just at different establishments. As far as the younger generation, definitely Evan Harrison. When he and I first met he was a bar guest who had never bartender and a student at UMass Boston reading Borges.
John Mayer
(now at Local 149, previously at Craigie on Main)
Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli →(predeccesor at Craigie)
Carrie Cole → (mentor a Craigie)
↔ Chris Olds (bar manager at Local 149)
I left Smith and Wollensky [in 2010] to join the Craigie on Main team, which is a descendent of Eastern Standard's program, being built by former ES bartender Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli. It was there, under Carrie Cole, that I learned to direct that knowledge and passion into creativity, first learning the vast library of great drinks that are called for at Craigie and then being mentored by Carrie to find my own sense of style in creating original unique cocktails.
Aaron Butler
(opening bar manager of Russel House, formerly of Drink)
Ryan McGrale → (watching at No 9)
John Gertsen → (watching at No 9)
Misty Kalkofen → (while at Drink)
Scott Marshall → (while at Drink)
Josey Packard → (while at Drink)
→ Alex Homans (bar manager at Temple Bar, Aaron's “prize pupil” at Russel House)
→ John McElroy (under Aaron at Russel House)
The way it worked for me is that starting in 2006 I started going to No. 9. Ryan Mcgrale was my first teacher and made me my first Negroni. John Gertsen made me my first Sazerac. When I started at Drink of course John was my mentor but I learned technique from Misty, speed from Scott, and history from Josey.
Ted Kilpatrick
(bar manager No. 9 Park. Opening bar manager at Sel de La Terre)
Esti Partons → “I earned my spurs under Esti Parsons, formerly of Radius, while I was a bartender then a manager at Radius.”
Matt Schrage → (GM, The Hawthorne, tutored Ted while both were at No 9)
John Gertsen → (Laid foundation for Ted at No 9)
→ Sam Olivari, Brendan Mercure, Tyler Wang (his No 9 staff)
Erik Johnson → beverage manager as Sel de la Terre. “After Radius I took the job as opening beverage manager at Sel de la Terre - Back Bay and spent a lot of time with Erik Johnson, the Beverage director. We tasted a lot of wine for the Summer and change that we were in limbo opening L'Espalier and Sel in the back bay and I learned a lot about wine but more importantly, balance in flavor. It was under Erik Johnson's tutelage that I launched a series of cocktail classes (a burgeoning passion of mine) that was probably too much for me to handle. That being said, I handled it.”
Alice Rodriguez
(Noir/Brick and Mortar)
Started at Noir in 2002
→ Sabrina Kershaw (now at Citizen's) “No one has really had the gusto and hunger to learn like Sabrina has had but I try to take all the girls at Noir under my wing like it or not.”
Jill Smagula → (Noir)
J.B. Bernstein
(now at Back Bar, formerly bar manager of Middlsex)
Ki Paschal → (worked with and learned from Kit at Miracle of Science and Middlsex)
Beau Sturm → (worked for Miracle Group at same time, influential)
Sam Treadway → (works for Sam at Back Bar)
Ben Sandrof → (predecessor at Middlsex)
My knowledge really only goes back to the original B-Side crew. Before that I was throwing up in the bathrooms of Daisy Buchanan's and Dad's with my fake ID. None of the bartenders seemed too memorable.
I know that I learned a lot from Kit Paschal and Beau when I was first starting out. I definitely learned most of my original techniques, if you want to call them that, from Kit, who I worked with at Miracle and Msex before he went to Eastern Standard. Ben Sandrof was also a big influence. It was his list that I was working with when I took over at Msex.
William Codman (Storyville, formerly of No 9, Woodward)
John Gertsen → (worked under at No 9)
Ryan McGrale → (worked under at No 9)
I learned the magical ways from John Lermayer, while we both worked under the Morgans Umbrella. I went down to the Florida Room to train with him.
I picked up the bug from working at No. 9 Park with John Gertsen and Ryan McGrale.
The bartenders under me are young and still learning, but I think a few of them are going to branch out and we can expect very good things from them.
I picked up the bug from working at No. 9 Park with John Gertsen and Ryan McGrale.
The bartenders under me are young and still learning, but I think a few of them are going to branch out and we can expect very good things from them.
Dennis Cargill
(everywhere, now at Saloon, previously of BackBay Social and Dante)
Sean Martin → (trained Dennis at Joe's American in 1990. Works for Abe & Louis now)
“A guy named Sean martin took my under his wing. He still works for that company at Abe & Louis. He has been a huge influence on me, even to this day 20 something years later.”
↔ Tom Mastricola (contemporaries while Tom at No 9, Dennis at Radius. Worked together at Back Bay Social Club and now at Saloon)
↔ Josh Chils (Sat at Josh's bar at Silvertone)
Kevin Martin
(bar manager at Eastern Standard)
Jackson Cannon →
Before ES I barely knew how to pour a beer, could make a tourist Mai Tai and a mean Miami Vice, but that's it. I undoubtedly credit Jackson Cannon with what I know and do today. A true mentor that has taught me directly, put me into situations that have taught me and continues to amaze me.
↔ Beth Cannon (worked together at ES married to Jackson
↔ Nicole Lebedevitch (at ES together, now head bartender at The Hawthorne)
Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli → (General Manager of ICOB)
↔ Any McNees (worked together at ES Bartender at Toro)
↔ Josh Taylor (Bartender at ES)
↔ Chris Olds (worked together at ES, now Bar Manager Local 149)
↔ Jillian Rocco (worked together at ES, now GM at The Salty Pig)
Sam Treadway
(co-owner Back Bar, formerly of Drink)
John Gertsen → (Drink)
Misty Kalkofen → (Drink)
Jackson Cannon → (ES)
Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli → (ES)
Ben Sandrof → (Drink)
→ Bryn Tattan (worked together at Drink, works for Sam now at Back Bar)
→ Aaron Butler (worked together at Drink)
→ Corey Bunnewith (worked under at Drink)
→ Tyler Wang (worked under at Drink)
→ Will Thomspon (Drink)
A lot of people give credit to Brother Cleve for starting good cocktails in Boston...John Gertsen and Misty Kalkofen both learned from him. Jackson Cannon learned from Misty while working at B-side lounge. Tommy Schlessinger-Godelli learned from Jackson at Eastern Standard. Ben Sandrof was taught by John while at No. 9 Park. I learned from all five of them while I was at ES and Drink.
A lot of people give credit to Brother Cleve for starting good cocktails in Boston...John Gertsen and Misty Kalkofen both learned from him. Jackson Cannon learned from Misty while working at B-side lounge. Tommy Schlessinger-Godelli learned from Jackson at Eastern Standard. Ben Sandrof was taught by John while at No. 9 Park. I learned from all five of them while I was at ES and Drink.
The other big group of heavy hitters has a different geneology that I'm not sure of. But apparently it stems from the Beehive in the South End. Scott and Danielle Marshall, Josh Childs, Beau Sturm, Trina of Trina's starlite lounge to name a few.
You also need to mention Jackson's army of amazing bar men and women at ES, ICB, and the Hawthorne : Kit Pascal, Bob Mccoy, Kevin Martin, Nicole Ledbedevich.
And of course there is also Joy Richards and her multiple teams in the Franklin group. Especially her awesome staff at Citizen Pub. Sean Frerickson and Sabrina Kershaw stand out in my mind.
Then you have to put the veterans in there, like Joe Mcgurk (sp?) and Pat Sullivan... Evan Harris and Max from Deep Ellum are some where on the chart as well. As well as Todd Maul from Clio.
For people I have affected... I can't take credit for much, because they all learned from John at Drink. But hopefully I've helped to shape some of them because I was part of the dream team of bartenders that opened Drink (John, Misty, Josey Packard, Ben, Scott and myself) The Drink disciples that have moved on are, Bryn Tattan (my head bartender at backbar) Aaron Butler (now in NYC but until recently the bar manager at Russel House Tavern), Corey Bunnewithe who now is a liquor rep. Tyler Wang now at No. 9 Park. And Will Thompson who is now the assistant manager at Drink. Josey, Will, Cali Gold and Joe Starapoli are now the star bartenders at Drink who deserve mention.
Rob Kraemer
(Chez Henri, former Green Street)
Joe McGuirk, Dylan Black, Misty K → (while at Green Street)
Scott Holliday → (Chez Henri)
Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli (now at ICOB, formerly of Craigie)
Patrick Sullivan → (watched him at East Coast Grill before B-Side opened)
Reggie St. Paul → (Blue Room)
Chris Schlesinger → (ECG chef owner is uncle, gave Tom first bartending job at Back Eddy in Westport MA)
Jackson Cannon → (Worked under at ES) “I had no idea what I was getting into when I started there and probably wouldn't have stayed in the business if I hadn't been able to latch on to his program there.”
Beth Cleary (now Cannon). → (influential to Tom while at Eastern Standard Formerly of No 9, Troquet and others)
Andy McNees → (influential while at ES, former B-Side, now at Toro)
↔ Dave Cagle (former B-side, now GM at Deep Ellum)
John Gertsen → sat at his bar at No 9 and learned
Scott Holliday → influential
Dylan Black → influential
→ Kevin Martin (at ES)
→ Bob McCoy, Kit Pascal (at ES)
↔ Nicole Lebedevitch (at ES)
→ Carrie Cole (after Tom at Craigie,now at ES)
→ Ted Gallgher (Craigie)
→ Paul Manzelli (Craigie, now at Bergamot)
→ Vikram Hedge and Devin Adams (under Tom at ICOB)
The first bartender I ever watched really do his thing was Patrick Sullivan back at the East Coast Grill just before opening the BSide. I have to say, he showed what it was like to be a confident tender. I had from a young age always enjoyed sitting at the bar at ECG. I
mean a really young age, the first two bartenders I remember working there were nicknamed Smiley (he never smiled) and Bobo, who was obsessed, as I recall, with Italian soccer. As a 5 year old just starting to play soccer it was pretty cool to have someone older and cooler to talk to about the sport.
There of course is Reggie from The Blue Room as well, I remember when he got my Dad drinking Manahttans. At age 12 I could see something different in Patrick and Reggie. Patrick was super dynamic, great sense of humor, no attitude when making blended drinks at ECG, great smile, jovial. He then of course went on to open the B Side and cement the revival of the craft cocktail culture in Boston.
It is Patrick that I credit with creating the venue and culture. This was a learning avenue for a number of people though and it is here that the culture of collaboration was born in the Boston cocktail scene. You have Misty and Brother Cleve collaborating with Patrick on the cocktail menu there.
Of course, I wasn't old enough to drink back then, but went and started bar tending at 18 for my Uncle Chris Schlesinger at the Back Eddy in Westport MA. Here I learned from a woman named Sally who oversaw the bar there and taught me a tremendous amount of the basics to bar tending. Though I had a vague understanding of bartending, it was my time with Sally that I learned how to pour a drink, this was not however where I learned how to make a great cocktail. That was of course under Jackson Cannon at Eastern Standard. I had no idea what I was getting into when I started there and probably wouldn't have stayed in the business if I hadn't been able to latch on to his program there.
There were two other members of the opening ES crew that were really influential for me, Beth Cleary (now Beth Cannon, formerly of No 9, Troquet, Pigalle etc.) and Andy McNees (former B Sider, now at Toro). Beth taught me what service was and Andy taught me a tremendous amount about what it is to be a fun bartender. I must also add the my
friendship with Dave Cagle who was at the BSide and is now the General Manager at Deep Ellum, was also influential, as was the opportunity as a young bartender to sit at John Gertsen's bar. Don't forget about the Jack Rose society which included, Misty, John, Jackson and Cleve.
There is also Scott Holliday and Dylan Black to contend with. Both former Chez Henri, Dylan former B Side as well and of course owner o Green Street and Scott Holliday of Rendezvous.
For three and a half years I worked for Jackson, eventually becoming the assistant bar manager there. I have often referred to my time at ES as an apprenticeship and think that if people really want to go on and be a great bartender they need to put there head down and learn from the great bartenders in Boston and elsewhere. I owe a tremendous
amount to him.
There were two other members of the opening ES crew that were really influential for me, Beth Cleary (now Beth Cannon, formerly of No 9, Troquet, Pigalle etc.) and Andy McNees (former B Sider, now at Toro). Beth taught me what service was and Andy taught me a tremendous amount about what it is to be a fun bartender. I must also add the my
friendship with Dave Cagle who was at the BSide and is now the General Manager at Deep Ellum, was also influential, as was the opportunity as a young bartender to sit at John Gertsen's bar. Don't forget about the Jack Rose society which included, Misty, John, Jackson and Cleve.
There is also Scott Holliday and Dylan Black to contend with. Both former Chez Henri, Dylan former B Side as well and of course owner o Green Street and Scott Holliday of Rendezvous.
For three and a half years I worked for Jackson, eventually becoming the assistant bar manager there. I have often referred to my time at ES as an apprenticeship and think that if people really want to go on and be a great bartender they need to put there head down and learn from the great bartenders in Boston and elsewhere. I owe a tremendous
amount to him.
In terms of who I have taught... It is strange to say this, but I guess I taught Kevin Martin, now the ES bar manager, but that was as much or more Jackson's work than mine, and that can be said of much of the ES crew, Bob McCoy, Kit Pascal, Hugh Fiore, were all hired and trained while I was there. Though I know I have had influence on Nicole Lebedevitch as well, she was hired at the same time as I was and I would feel uncomfortable saying she learned from me directly and primarily. We had a really collaborative view to how we all got better together at ES.
At Craigie, I had three people come through my program and really take it on and work to be awesome. Carrie Cole, who took over as the bar manager when I left and who is now tending bar at ES, really remarkable women, who knew how to bartend and cook (an underrated skill in a bartender), but who was new to the craft cocktail scene. I also taught Ted Gallagher who is now running the Craigie bar and Paul Manzelli who is running the program at Bergamot. On a daily basis I also get to work on some great new talents with the bar team at ICOB, both Vikram Hedge and Devin Adams have been with us from day one and I think someday soon you will start to hear a lot about them, both are
very skilled and only getting better.
Alexei Beratis
(Boston Cocktail Summit founder with Jamie Walsh, formerly of Forum, Towne)
Since I started slinging drinks way back in 1982 1983, I can't even remember any of my predecessors. That was back in the days of Happy Hours, and I was slinging out 2 for 1 margaritas like you read about. But they were all crap...It was the early 90s and people were starting to drink more interestingly. Flavored vodkas were being introduced, allowing new drinks to be made. It was around this time that I first started to pay attention to what I was making. I guess the turning point was around 96-97 when I started making all my Cosmos with fresh lime juice instead of Rose's lime. I think we ran out of the Rose's, so I squeezed fresh, tasted it and, hey the drink was pretty good. By 1999, at the Harvest in Cambridge, we were making our own simple syrup, lemon sour and lime sour. In late 2000, after a trip to Cuba, I came back and started making Mojitos the way they do in Cuba. I was at Lucca in the North End and that's when things really took off for me. The "drinks" I was making were now "cocktails", real, fresh ingredients and properly prepared. At the short lived Boston Public at Louis', [with Dennis Cargil] I started taking it further by making my own sodas, cutting twists to order and absolutely everything was fresh and every specialty cocktail was jiggered; my how my staff loved me. I got a lot of inspiration from our chef, Pino Maffeo, who was into Molecular and Asian cusine. I found City Bar was a place I could get "Cocktails" during the 2000s. Trina Sturm was doing a great job over there. And of course the B-Side held court on the Cambridge side of the river. I seemed to always see Joe McGuirk on the bar every time I was there, so he always made me great cocktails.
Kit Paschal
(Eastern Standard)
Jackson Canon →
Nathan Bice and Andy McNeese → (Highland Kitchen)
↔ Ben Sandrof(contemporary of Kit at No 9 while Kit was at ES)
→ Jared Sadonian (Craigie on Main)
Well the obvious one would be Jackson But the lesser know masters of the trade are Bice of Highland Kitchen. I learned a lot about serving and working different types people from both he and Andy Mcnees who now works at Toro. I worked with Bice at Beacon Street Tavern and Andy at Eastern Standard. Although we never worked together per say Ben Sandrof and I are very good friends and kind of grew as tenders at the same time while he was at No 9 Park and Drink and I was at ES.
As far as people under me the first person that comes to mind...Jared Sadonian who now tends at Craigie on Main. Lastly my co worker Seth Freidus who just got promoted from Bar back to bar tender at ES. We have spent many hours together behind the bar at ES and I would like to think I have passed on a few words of wisdom to him.
Paul Manzelli (Bergamot)
Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli → (at Craigie) “I learned more in one year from Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli than I had learned in my previous ten. All I know about how to construct a properly made cocktail I learned from Tom."
↔ Carrie Cole (at Craigie)
↔ Ted Gallgher (at Craigie)
Joy Richard (oversees bar progams at Franklin Group, Citizen)
→ Sean Frederick (works under Joy at Citizen)
→ Sabrina Kershaw (works under Joy at Citizen)
↔ Misty Kalkofen (LUPEC)
→ Corey Bunnewith (Citizen)
When I started bartending at Sonsie in 1998, after waiting tables there for a year, I would just taste everything I made. Because I've never been a fan of artificial or fake flavors, I would hand squeeze wedges of lemons and limes into cocktails that called for sour mix or Rose's lime, a huge pain in the ass, but I just couldn't serve that stuff. I honestly don't remember anyone I worked with doing that, and although I really liked the people I worked on the bar with and respected them, I guess I just remember watching their technique for speed, and then did the opposite of everything else, especially when it came to hospitality. The everyday comment I would get from bar patrons at Sonsie was 'how come you're so nice?'
Emma Hollander
(Trina's)
Josh Childs →
Beau Sturm →
Trina Sturm → (Trina's)
My first bartending mentor would have to be Peter White. He was FOH owner/bartender at Rouge in the south end, which was my first "real" restaurant gig in Boston. He was amazing, could schmooze the shit out of anyone, while sipping a Basil Hayden and Pelligrino all night.
Second is definitely Josh Childs. I had always admired him behind the bar at Silvertone, then (at the time) at The Beehive which was right down the street. He has a way of making every person at his bar feel like the most important person in the world, and can make an amazing cocktail at the same time. I knew immediately I would a) be friends with him for life, and b) that I needed to work and learn from him. Through josh, I met, and started working for Beau Sturm, who creates some of the most amazing cocktails I have ever made. He not only has created delicious cocktails, he comes up with witty, pun intended names for them. To be completely honest, any cocktail I have come up with, he has named for me.
Todd Maul
(Clio)
I started reading cocktail books on 1999 I was at the Four Seasons. It wasn't until 2004 that I really wanted to try my hand at making better drinks. I was at Rialto at the time. My wife came home with a cocktail recipe from NYC. From there I jumped in headfirst.
My peers. As for that I just know people from different bars. I work a little outside the bar circle. I have really only trained two people because I only work at smaller bars. I like the intimate feel. I trained Jonathan Stockel (aka Slice) at Rialto. He won mention as a bartender in the Improper. He now lives in Denver and works in health care and is a part time bartender. I also trained Randy Wong at Clio who won a tiki drink competition with at drink devised at Clio. He is now in Hawaii slinging drinks.
Tyler Wang
(No 9, Drink)
John G ->
Misty ->
Ted Gallagher →
John Mayer →
Carrie Cole →
Scott Holliday →
Kevin Martin →
Beau Sturm →
Evan Harrison →
Will Thompson → (Drink)
Unfortunately I may be the bottom of the food chain here. I'm in the process of establishing classes and training demos but I still don't have anyone that I really think came from my personal mentoring. Ezra and Emily from Drink started after me but their education is more guided by the full staff Drink. I may have had a hand but I can't claim them as my mentees. There is a whole group of bartenders in my Bar Collab that share a mutually taught education, again, not my wholly my own. I'm sorry I know that's not a whole lot of help.
Bartending, like writing I'm sure, tends to be a communal effort. The whole "it takes a village..." adage works well. People like John, Misty, Josey Packard, Scott Marshall, and now Ted Kilpatrick at No. 9, have been direct influences on my technique and a constant reminder of my goals and focus. However my style, my favorite drinks, my personallity behind the bar would never be what it is without my constant observation of bartenders like Ted Gallagher or John Mayer of Craigie, Carrie Cole formerly of Cragie and now ES,Kevin Martin at ES, Scott Holiday at Rendezvous, Beau Sturm from Stalight, George Jenich previously of Green St., Evan Harrison of Ellum, the Indo and now at Brick and Mortar, and probably 30 people I'm forgetting. Especially since we all hop around so much it's hard to break down a direct lineage.
I'd like to say that I learned a lot from Will Thompson, who learned a lot from John and Misty. John learned a lot from Scott Holiday, Misty and John both pay great homage to Brother Cleve, whom I also constantly cite as a great teacher. And then there is Patrick Sullivan of B-side fame that just opened Brick and Mortar with Misty at the helm.
I think, no matter what way you shake it the Boston cocktail scene came from two places: The B-side, and No. 9 Park.
I just thought of another tree that you could use. John Gertsen > Ryan McGrale > Bruno Prado of Storyville. A great young bartender at Storyville that Ryan has taken under his wing.
I just thought of another tree that you could use. John Gertsen > Ryan McGrale > Bruno Prado of Storyville. A great young bartender at Storyville that Ryan has taken under his wing.
You could even do the entire line of No. 9 Bar managers. They've all gone onto greatness. Tommy Mastricola ( back bay social club) > John Gertsen (opened Drink) > Ryan Mcgrale (opened Flatiron Lounge in NYC and came back to Boston to open Storyville and Hawthorne) > Matt Schrage (opening manager for Menton and current GM of Hawthorne) > Ted Kilpatrick (current bar manageat ushering in a new era of cocktails at No. 9) > and now he's teaching me.
Evan Harrison
(Brick and Mortar, formerly the Independent, Deep Ellum)
Pat Sullivan → Misty, Dave → (sat at bar at B-side learning from them)
Max Toste → (hired him as manager at Deep Ellum)
Ted Gallagher , John Mayer ↔ (friends and peers)
Misty and Dave are two major influences for me, certainly the main 2. Pat is more of a godfather, perhaps one step below Brother Cleve in the tree, but no less important. Max was one of my favorite bartenders before I was a bartender, and a bar-owner/my boss when I was his bartender/manager, so I can't exactly call him a peer. Though, Dave Cagle did make Max Toste his first Manhattan, so, you could take that into consideration for ranking their respective ranking.
As far as peers go I'm afraid I may fall short for your purposes. I'm privileged to have fallen into an incredibly talented, knowledgable, and quality group of friends who are as relevant to your family tree as they are diverse in their talents, interests, and approaches (i.e. Misty, Dave, John Gertsen, Joe McGuirk, Nathan Bice, Russ Green, Beau Strum, Josh Childs, and the list goes on). I certainly fell into a generational gap in this heritage. Having said that, I would consider myself lucky to be associated in this regard with people like Ted Gallagher and John Mayer from Cragie.
As flattered as I am that you would even contact me about this, I must stress the relevance of Dave, Misty, Joe McGuirk, Dylan Black, and Nathan Bice as the most significant names in the generation before me; and before them, Patrick Sullivan. These are the people that truly "get it." Whatever the fuck that means. I think it means a lot.
Emily Stanley
(formerly of Green Street, Deep Ellum, Bukowski)
Max Toste/ Aaron Sanders → (Bukowski/ Deep Ellum)
Andy McNeese, Nathan Bice, Dylan Black → (Green Street)
Sure, I guess I started out getting into beer via Aaron Sanders and Max Toste from working first at Bukowski Tavern and then managing at Deep Ellum. Max also introduced me to Classic and inventive cocktails. Aaron Sanders however taught me more of the behind the scenes of running a restaurant and management. Then I took a job at Green Street where Dylon Black, Andy McNees, and Bice were great in teaching me the proper use of tools behind a bar, and we all just work really well together in general. From bartending to managing I decided to go in a different direction and become the Market Manager for Bols Genever. I learned so much working for them and made many more connections in the restaurant world. Sadly, in the end, none of it was for me. I've given it all up and I'm currently in nursing school. But I will say, if I was to own a restaurant now, I would want it to run just like Highland Kitchen. Great drinks, food, service, neighborhood, staff. And the best part is, everyone that works there get treated with so much respect. That's inspiring.
Dave Cagle (now at Deep Ellum, was at B-Side from 2000-2006)
Dylan Black →
Joe McGuirk →
Nathan Bice ↔ (B-Side together)
→ Max Toste (together at Deep Ellum)
I started working at the b-side in 2000. I learned how to tend bar from Joe McGuirk and Dylan Black. I worked at the B-side for over 8 years. Bice (Highland Kitchen) and I were the two bartenders on the last night the B-side was open. In 2007 while still working at the B-side I went to work with Aaron Sanders and Max Toste at Deep Ellum where I learned about craft beer. After the B-side closed I moved to Deep Ellum full time. I have had the great pleasure of working with many awesome bartenders between the b-side and Deep Ellum ...
Max Toste (Deep Ellum)
Aaron Sanders ↔ (Bukowski, Deep Ellum)
Dave Cagle →
John Gertsen →
Ben Sandrof ↔
→ Evan Harrison
When we opened Deep Ellum five years ago, it was not that common for drinks to be small and concentrated. There was only B-Side Green Street, and No 9 park when we opened.
I started at Locke-Ober in 1996 as a bar back. I was Making Martinis and Manhattans and Rusty Nails for old ladies in the mid 90s. Then I worked at The Palm, the steak house, with a guy named Phil Richardson, who'd worked at the old Cafe Budapest in the 70s. He was the first guy I ever saw stir a drink, this was in the late 90s. I remember thinking that was different, I'd never seen anyone do that before. Then I became bar manager at Bukowski in Inman. I was hanging out out at B-Side in the late 90s. The way I see it now, the main people in the Boston bar scene at this point pretty much all came through Pat Sullivan and the B-Side, and the new wave of all the young guys are coming from John Gertsen at Drink. Scott Marshall at Hawthorne, Sam and Brynn at Back Bar, they came through John. Misty came through Pat as did Dylan at Green Street. Evan Harrison at Brick and Mortar was bar manager at the Independent, then came from us. He was influenced by Dave and Pat at the B-Side... My two cents is that the Boston bar scene is inundated by people who trained or worked with Pat. I don't know where I fall in, I think I'm in between new guys and old ones. I was young hot shot a couple years ago now I'm just a bartender owner.
I learned a lot sitting at John Gertsen's bar, talking about cocktails and whiskeys. We we started the cocktail program at Deep Ellum we wanted to do something different. My whole thing was to be more, not reinventing the wheel, but you make an Aviation you can use the recipe you read in a book, or take the ingredients and put them together in a way that tastes better. When Dave Cagle came over here, he was like, oh this is weird, and I said, yeah because it tastes better.
Jamie Walsh
(Stoddard's, Boston Cocktail Summit)
I really don't have like the lineage of that gang, B-Side, Chez Henri, that whole crowd over there. My background more based in Irish hospitality from the Emerald Isle in Dorchester, an old coke bar, fun place to work....I worked with Joe McGuirk at Game On! for a while, learned a lot from him. If you're in the industry you're in it, you see what's going on. I picked up that something was going on, and I needed to be doing something different. We all know John Gertsen, sitting in front of guys like that, or now at Hawthorne, watching ScotT Marshall make ice balls 50 at a time, thinking 'why am I not doing that?' To me, that whole atmosphere, here are three guys shooting the shit, never worked together, don't have lineage... more a cameraderie thing, think it's building more and more.
I think the story is six degrees of Joe McGuirk. He's worked at so many bars, and I don't think he's ever burned a bridge anywhere he's gone...As a bartender you want to sit in front of Joe and Josh Childs, bartenders' bartenders. Sitting in front of Gertsen and todd maul, that just blows you away.
Domingo-Martin Barreres
(now at Market at W Hotel, previously of Les Zygomates and many others)
As a graduate of The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, many last calls ago, I have always had a flair for visual aesthetics when creating cocktails. Sometime back in 2005, while working at Les Zygomates, I entered (and was fortunate enough to win) the Cointreauversial Cocktail Campaign. I was hooked and began focusing on not just the art of the cocktail but the science as well. I read everything I could, attended seminars, took classes and made a conscious effort to surround myself with people and places that I might learn from - for which Boston has no shortage.
While there are too many to mention here, some notable ones, in my opinion, that come to mind for their innovation in this cocktail culture resurgence, as well as a commitment and dedication to the classics, are the talented folks at Eastern Standard and Drink. While we're at it, throw the newcomers Hawthorne, Storyville and JM Curly into the mix as well.
Here are some of them, in no particular order. I know I am going to forget a few. Jackson Cannon, Scott Marshall, Josh Childs, Sabrina Kershaw, William Codman, Alexei Beratis, Ryan McGrale, John Gersten, Patrick Sullivan and Todd Maul. I never worked with any of them. I have competed against a few of them but I repect and admire all
I consider it an honor and great learning experience when I am able to participate and interact with rockstar bartenders at the various cocktail challenges around Boston or at industry events such as the recent Boston Cocktail Summit. Always a win/win.
The bar at Market by Jean Georges in the W Boston Hotel, where I work, is very much an extension of the kitchen. This philosophy, along with the attention to quality, fresh ingredients, provide me with a large palate of flavors with which to experiment, hone my skills and grow professionally.
I cannot say if I have influenced anyone specifically. I can only hope that I may inspire someone to pick up the mantle as others have done for me.
Corey Bunnewith (Formerly of Drink, Citzen, Coppa)
John Gertsen → (Drink)
Joy Richard → (Citizen)
Courtney Bissonette → (Coppa)
Chad Arnholt (at Citizen, formerly of Woodward, Back Bay Social Club)
↔ Bill Codman (at Woodward)
Tom Mastricola → (BBSC)
Dennis Cargil → (BBSC)
Michael Stevens → (BBSC, Silvertone)
↔ Will Thompson (of Drink, roommates)
Joy Richard → (Citizen)
Bob McCoy
(Eastern Standard/ ICOB)
↔ Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli, Kevin Martin and Nicole Lebedevitch (Eastern Standard)
My beginnings as a bartender go hand-in-hand to my personal lineage, having grown up in the business. As a kid I spent Thanksgivings at my Grandparent's catering hall and Christmas' at my Uncle's restaurant, where my Dad ran the bar. At an early age I was able to absorb the nature and culture of hospitality, and I was forever hooked. In the summer after my first year of college, my Dad trained me behind the stick; the things he taught me were essential to becoming the bartender I am today. I spent the following summers tending bar on Block Island and after graduation worked the next 7 years at the Wild Horse Cafe in Beverly. But I was becoming increasingly curious about the cocktail revival in the "big city", so in the summer of '07 I walked in to Eastern Standard for an interview and met Jackson Cannon. What I've learned, and continue to learn, from him and through his bar programs can't be overstated. My time here has also linked me to the long lineage of Boston bartenders and given me the opportunity to train and teach a number of young tenders to carry on the tradition.
Peers and colleagues I've learned from and together with are Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli, Kevin Martin, and Nicole Lebedevitch. And a couple that I've had the honor to manage and impart a bit of what I've learned are Devin Adams and Vikram Hegde.
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16 comments:
TL DR but yeah, nice work.
Whhhhhaaaaaatttt???!!!
I barely even read it while I was writing it down so I don't blame you bro.
@anon 2 What what now?
I used to walk to work via Hampshire St. noting the renovation work going on in the former Windsor Tap and anxiously awaiting the opening of the B-Sides.
Although I didn't participate very much in the consumption of the craft cocktails (being a Guinness drinker primarily) I really enjoyed the bartenders there as they knew, better than any other bartenders I have known, how to make a customer feel welcome without being over-bearing.
I miss the bartenders nearly as much as I miss the skillet gouda appetizer. ;)
The good old days were good.
amazing article o'neil...this is a book..send it to the publisher...or the start of a screenplay. gonzo journalism...fear & loathing at the b-side. what does it say that I've had a drink at 97% of the bars mentioned...Where was salamander? sounds v familiar...
You have good taste sir, in bars and writers ;)
I don't think I have another bar book in me. It's a pretty cool history though indeed.
intense sir! great job on the research. you are the mormon church of boston bartenders.
HEY THANKS. WAIT IS THAT SECOND PART A GOOD THING?
Hey Luke, I never worked at Salamander, though I visited John there when he did. My first bartending gig was at the Hoodoo BBQ (where An Tua Nua now stands) in 1988. I had classic cocktails on the menu, like Sidecars and Negronis, but nobody bought them. Sold a lot of Woo Woo's, Sex on the Beach, and Bud Light.
Woops, lemme fix that.
If Luke's the Mormon Church of Boston Bartenders, his liver must wear magic underwear so it doesn't turn into Swiss cheese.
As we covered in the Blogger meme post ,I don't wear underwear. If I did they would be magic though.
one person that hasn't been interviewed, and should have, is Ted from Craigie On Main
some of the best cocktails in the city today, for sure...
but he is kind of independent, not a part of any of these "family trees"...
Ted's name comes up a lot in there. Good stuff indeed.
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