Nightclub & Bar - July 2009

What’s the Difference?
Bartending vs. Mixology

By Robert Plotkin

Robert Plotkin is a judge at the San Francisco World

Spirits Competition and has ecently authored his 16th book, Secrets Revealed of America’s Greatest Cocktails. He can be reached at www.BarMedia.com or at robert@barmedia.com.

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With the cocktail culture back firmly in the limelight, the word mixologist is being bandied about so loosely that distinctions between a bartender and a mixologist are becoming blurred. Before the swelling tide renders the matter moot, we decided to make some calls, wake a bunch of people up and set the record straight. Is it just semantics or are there professional attributes that differentiate mixologists from bartenders?

For cocktail authority Julie Reiner, proprietor of New York City’s Flatiron Lounge and The Clover Club, it’s a question she’s been asked before. When the term mixologist was first applied to bartenders, says Reiner, it was an honorific title used to distinguish bartenders who excelled at creating interesting cocktails and had acquired a commanding knowledge of spirits and flavor pairings. “In short, those who showed up and poured Vodka Tonics were bartenders and those who took a more culinary approach to making drinks were mixologists.”

Aidan Demarest, director of spirits and beverage at The Edison in Los Angeles, contends the difference between a mixologist and bartender is roughly the same as between a chef and waiter. Demarest is frequently described in print as a master mixologist and, while appreciative of the professional recognition, he places equal value on being tagged an accomplished bartender.

“Achieving excellence in either role requires the same degree of commitment,” says Demarest. “A mixologist is an individual with a passion for combining elixirs and creating extraordinary cocktails, whereas a bartender is an individual with a passion for making great drinks and creating well-balanced experiences. To be successful, you really need both types of pros behind the bar.”

Drinks author and beverage consultant

Jim Meehan agrees that capably tending bar and devising sensational cocktails are different disciplines, both of which cater to the wants and needs of the guests and require years to fully develop. He thinks the renaissance of the mixologist is due in large part to the ascension of premium spirits over the past two decades.

“The return of the cocktail has been a social phenomenon and bartenders on the job since the early ’90s or so have been at the point,” says Meehan. “During that time they witnessed the rise of craft beers, single malts, small batch bourbons, super-premium vodkas, 100 percent agave tequilas and more. The prevailing circumstances forced bartenders to elevate their game to learn more about the products they were pouring and to develop cocktails that showcased their enhanced quality.”

“You can be a bartender
without being a mixologist,
but you can’t be a mixologist
without being a bartender.”

Mac Gregory, Director of F&B,
The Phoenician, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Experts Weigh In

A consequence of the rise in mixology has been the unintended devaluing of bartender as a job description. By its very nature, being called a mixologist is like tacking a PhD after the person’s name. No doubt it is similar to attaining an advanced degree behind the bar — and a worthy degree it is — but instead of considering mixology as a natural extension of bartending, it’s typically seen as something that elevates the titleholder to a loftier state of consciousness.