Simon Ogden

It’s amazing to me how infrequently bars and bartenders are used as fodder for storylines in pop culture. If there’s an industry more ripe for dramatic tension, then I’m at a loss to name it. Every bar I’ve ever worked is its own little version of Melrose Place, plus you’ve got an endless supply of [...]

Here we go again. It’s the time of year that divides the bartenders of Vancouver into two opposing camps. Those that work at a bar that happens to feature a patio (and who spend a lot of time hoping they have enough mint on hand to make it through all the relentless mojito orders), and [...]

Let’s talk about something we’re not supposed to talk about. The one thing that we in the service industry never, ever talk about with those we term ‘civilians’, yet talk about with each other incessantly. The strange Western cultural phenomenon that rules our very lives, that keeps us from screaming advice on manners into the [...]

Hoo-boy. Here we go.
So I was taking a nice, quiet little stroll amongst the internets the other day, when I tripped over this. A drinks column with the lead line:
Flair bartending is the epitome of bartending.
What do you think, everyone? Should we get into this?

There’s a pervasive myth about bartending that I would like very much to dispel. It’s a myth propagated by the myriad of ‘bartending schools’ that dot the landscape of our fair province, beguiling institutions organized by some very smart people who realized that they could make a few bucks off of the minor-celebrity status that [...]