Ryan has been booking me more events as of late. Last night was a wedding. I created a special cocktail to honour the bride and groom and presented it with flair at the reception. Not only was the crowd great but I want to do a shout out to Dan and the guys at Liuna station. Liuna station is a banquet hall that was transformed from an old train station. Absolutly georgeous location. It was the staff that went out of thier way to ensure that I was well taken care of that makes them stand out. After losing a TV gig because a bar manager in Toronto did not want an out side BT coming into his bar. He was jerk on the phone and gave the typical "I run a nightclub I am the all mighty" attitude. The gig at Luina station set it straight. All of the staff was great and they brought me over some of the food they were offering up. Spectacular.

So my congrats to Jodi and Alex on thier special day and also to the staff and managment of Luina Station in Hamilton Ontario. Excellent building and location that is surpassed by the professionalism of the staff. Special thanks also to Melodye Freeman the event organizer that hired the Flairco events team.

Cheers

D

Lots of new things coming to Flairco. With the Addition of Barmtrix to my life I am finding myself a little overwhelmed. Lots of new responsablities and accountablity. That and keeping the Flairco ship floating. Of all of the training programs that I and Matt have written in the past the Barmetix program gets me more excited than any of them. The Concept, most simply put - Train your bartenders about bartending. Keep the fluffy mixology and the extreme flair stuff aside until your staff have proven that they can bartend well enough to be able to take on the extra responsablity. Anyway. You can read about the programs on many pages fo Flairco.com. We are off to Pittsburg tomorrow for another Night Club and Bar show. I'll post you on the events.

Cheers

Dean

Mike and I were invited to the Tales of the Cocktail media launch in NY this past Monday.

A good enough reason as any to take off ot NY for the night.

We saw David Wondrich but did not get a chance to meet him. Hung out with Chantel who promised not to get married in Las Vegas. We spent much of the party with her and Kevin Brauch from the show the Thirsty Traveler. They are both great.

I also had a chance for a great conversation with one of the judges from the Iron Chef. We discussed cocktail trends while we were imbiding on some house cocktails.

After that party we were off to Death and Co. It is an endearing little venue. Cleverly hidden behind a wooden panel store front. The fish and chips were bite size pieces of fish wrapped in a thin slice of potato, then deep fried. Yummy.

Sushi Samba was where we headed off to meet up with Cindy and Chris. Friends of ours in NY. Cindi used to bartend at a bar in town. Sushi was great, I got a little more intoxicated than I wanted too. Whats new. 

Anyway I woke up in the Hotel so that means all went well.

Thanks to Chantel, Kevin, Akito (I have to check on spelling), Cindi and Chris for the great conversation and to Anne from Tales of the cocktail for extending the invitation to us.  

See you soon.

Chris Vardon is getting married today.

He is the person who has cleaned and touched everyone of your flairco bottles.

Chris is the final stop in quality control and also fullfulls the administration role at Flairco.

Congrats to Chris and Erin for thier upcoming life as Hubby and Wife.

Pictures to follow on the photo gallary.

Off to New York on Monday for Tales of the Cocktail. It is a media launch with Dale Degrogffe, Gary Regan and other top mixologists in the world.

Over the next few weeks I will be changing over much of the way we execute trainings with the Flairco Bartending Institute programs. I have recently joined a global group of hospitality consultants. We are launching a revolutionary new product into the Canadian market and to some choice US clients. The group is called Barmetrix. Started by former Flair bartending super star Jason Jelichich and hospitality software designer Mr. Sean Finter in Australia in 1999. More of how the new program will be changing the face of hospitality training here will emerge over the next few months.

What is very exciting is that the most famous Mixologist of them all. Mr. Angus Winchester is arriving in Toronto this week to assist us in the Canadian expansion of this fantastic organization. Angus and I will be sharing stories and swapping secrets from the history of alcohol to how to flip it and everything bartending in between over the coming days, weeks, months etc. and I look forward to seeing what will emerge.

Welcome to Canada Mr. Winchester.

Just returned from San Antonio. All I can say is that I am quite excited to watch CMT in the spring. I will post pics at the end of the season. The video of me dancing on the bar will be with held from public viewing. This show could be the start of a new movement of flair bartenders. We will see.

As I promised we have some great things coming tot he website in the coming weeks. From drink making videos and pictures to new products.

I hope to have some more specifics in the next couple of days for you.

Cheers

D

Leaving for San Antonio soon. I will be involved in the second season of The Seach for the Ultimate Coyote 2. Last season this show recieved the highest ratings on Country Music Television compared to any of the other music videos and sit coms.

Watch for the new season coming in the spring.

We have a ton of changes coming your way for Flairco and our training programs. All of this will begin to launch the beginning of Feburary.

See you then.

Cheers

Dean

The guys from Alabama headed out today. It was almost a tearful good bye. You know the kind where everyone hugs 6 times over 30 minutes as they slowly make thier way to the car.  I hit them up for the Mixology and Magic DVD's before they left. Destry is now on his way to having a show ready for Quest. Steve met his goal this week and can now juggle bottles. I look forward to seeing where these guys take the Mobile Alabama Flair market. With the Mixology Skills and Flair skills they now have Mobile will never be the same. (OK I am sure it has been the same for a long time but you know what I mean EH!)

Safe drive guys. Give Roxy a hug.

Dean

So I currently have 2 guys and a girl from Alabama in my class. They drove 18 hours to train with me. This is a message to the GTA'ers that think Niagara Falls is too far to drive. Another gent named Darryl is traveling from New Market 2 hours each way everyday.  Good guy. 

The Alabama guys are a hoot. Destry Vines will be breaking his Quest virginity on the mats this year. I wish he had of been able to come up sooner. Destry has some great potential. Steve and his girl friend Roxy are also training with me. Great people. The guys are a perfect example of "I want it all .. NOW" Both of them have been studing the Flairco DVD's volume # 2 and #3. They felt they were too good for #1. Oops! Both are having a little trouble with some of the moves they are learning. This is because they do not have the base skills that come from moving slowly. Destry can juggle bottles quite nicely. He can not however do a smooth bottle and tin sequence. Easy to learn yes, however there needs to be a solid base of skills to move to advanced tricks. Imagine a 40 foot tall maple tree that is 6 inches thick. No Base.

My message here is that yes I understand the want and need to be recognized as an accomplished Flair bartender. I also recognise the fact the most people feel that to be a great flair bartender you need to juggle.  You don't. A great flair bartender is accomplished in many skills. Being able to control one bottle is more useful on a shift than juggling three. Also the base skills give you what you need to correct problems when learning other big tricks.

If you only have #2 and #3 of the dvd's go back and get #1. If you only have number one? Do not buy the others until you have it mastered. All of the tricks.

Cheers

D