96. The Hottest Thing to Have at Your Bar Now? Safety

Thoughts from Bar Convent Brooklyn; plus judging people's drink preferences is weird; and tarot for trusting your intuition.

Sunshine and lines at Bar Convent Brooklyn

From Safety to Drink Trends: Bar Convent Takeaways

Last week, I had the privilege of working alongside SAFE Bar Network marketing director Akilah Iyare to help spread some awareness about the vital organization at Bar Convent Brooklyn, and I thought it might be interesting to share some takeaways.

For anyone unaware, SAFE Bar Network is a nonprofit that partners with alcohol-serving venues (and in different ways, really any brand or business in the alcohol space) to teach things like bystander intervention to staff. I was aware of the organization because it is exactly the kind I was looking for when working on projects like this newsletter’s festival safety guide in partnership with Ash Eliot and Women of the Bevolution, as well as when I’ve been reporting stories on things like festival and bar safety. Inspired by the work of the organization and its executive director Haleigh Harrold, I participated in a trainer training last year—this is a session in which the people who conduct trainings at bars, restaurants, taprooms, etc. are actually trained to do so. In that session, I learned a lot what makes SAFE Bar Network special, and it helped to have firsthand knowledge in answering a question that came up quite a bit from bartenders, managers, and owners stopping by our Bar Convent booth: how is this different from TIPS Training? And/or in general, how is SAFE Bar Network unique from any other run-of-the-mill HR training?

I think it could be helpful to address this here, too, for any bar or brewery staff reading! SAFE Bar Network is actually personalized and interactive. It’s a conversation. The organization and trainers go into a venue with basic principles to discuss, examples of common issues that arise and some best practices for safely dealing with them, and impactful knowledge, but the educational session revolves around the specific venue at hand and its staff. Every single place is different, and every single person working there is different. There are different combinations of typical environments and customers, and different comfort levels among staff, and SAFE Bar Network responds to this.

There were a few surprises and a few not-surprises working with SAFE Bar Network at Bar Convent, at least for me, who isn’t working with the organization on a day-to-day basis. The surprises basically all came back to the fact that not everyone totally understood why we were there. Bar Convent is a bar industry convention really focusing on alcohol brands, where bar owners and bartenders and mixologists and distributors and educators and media can come together and see what the latest offerings in mostly spirits are, and explore some fresh cocktail trends, ideas, and inspiration. We faced some reactions that all varied on the theme of, “Wait, you don’t sell alcohol, why are you here…?” And I think we totaled around four different people who asked for shots at our booth.

This was such a surprise to me because of how absolutely essential this training is for any venue that serves alcohol. We were representing a relevant need for every business that would have been at Bar Convent. Not every bar needs every newest mezcal, amaro, or fortified wine, but every bar needs a trained staff and safe environment for both that staff as well as customers. To me, SAFE Bar Network should be something like a featured partner of a convention like this, because of its reach and importance. Even an event like Bar Convent itself could benefit from this kind of training! The alcohol is flowing from nearly every booth, and there are definitely some over-served attendees making the rounds.

But. I’m happy to report any confused reactions were few and far between, with most people excited to learn something like SAFE Bar Network exists. Pardon the earnestness, but it kind of got me every time someone exclaimed something along the lines of, “Yes! I’ve been bartending for 12 years and this is so necessary!” or when a bar owner’s eyes got wide as they nodded and said, “Oh, I am so doing this for my staff. I want everyone to feel comfortable with all this.” Many people were indeed surprised to see an organization like this squeezed in among dozens of booze brands, but excited about it. If this kind of training is a fresh concept at a bar industry convention in 2023, well, I’ve got some thoughts on how behind the industry indeed is, but the point is that we’re here. This is motivating momentum and now we’ve just got to keep it moving.

At the end of day two, I headed off to get some writing work done, and part of that was taking a speed-stroll around the many different areas of the convention to see if anything jumped out in terms of emerging trends or interesting brands. So, I’ll end here with a lightning round of sorts: XILA is a spicy aperitif from Flor du Luna, a women-run distillery in Mexico City, and I think it might the most amazing liquid I have ever tasted. I definitely plan on digging into this brand and its story so stay tuned. Speaking of aperitifs, Le Moné is a Meyer lemon aperitif that is so light, refreshing, and lovely—I think this could make some game-changer cocktails with drink-of-the-summer potential. Similar to how macro beers and bigger regional beers can serve as a gateway into craft beer, Disaronno made an amaretto lover out of me—and then Adriatico blew my mind. I tried Roasted Almond and creamier Crushed Almond varieties, and I think these would convert even amaretto skeptics. And, I loved getting to try Antique Pelinkovac, an herbal liqueur from Croatia. Think grown-up Jäger, absinthe, Fernet…it’s complex and smooth and pleasantly bitter. Finally, and most importantly, I think, there were tons of non-alcoholic options. Mixers, RTDs, sparkling wines…it was an assurance of just how much that market really is exploding, and I love what that means for inclusivity in the bar space. We know from media coverage that things like NA bars and shops keep opening, but it’s great to see that plenty of brands are continuing to innovate on delicious options to stock those venues.

Are We Seriously Still Being Condescending to Sweet Drink Fans?

Speaking of spirits and cocktails and different flavor profiles and inclusivity…I recently came across a played out tune on Twitter yet again, which is someone dunking on people who don’t like a certain category of drinks—it’s almost always aimed at people who don’t appreciate bitterness. I’m not linking to it, and I don’t need to, because this comes up enough for you to know what I mean. How are we still doing this? How are there still people who entertain the thought that they’re superior in any way because they have an appreciation for certain beverages that others don’t? That that somehow translates to some increased level of sophistication and refinement? I feel like this is one thing we’ve gotten better about in beer. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I know there are a bunch of insecure jabroni’s out there who need to assert their “intelligence” or masculinity or whatever by mocking others’ drink choices. But I think most of us have learned and grown out of the phase of throwing shade at people who choose sours or stouts or fruity IPAs. Even those of us who feel compelled to carry on about not liking those styles have mostly stopped mocking the people who do like them.

So, why is this still happening in cocktails? I happen to love all things bitter. Maybe it is because I spent so many years more immersed in beer before I started really getting into spirits. I don’t love a sweet cocktail. But I also know that that is just my personal preference and truly nothing more. It’s not because I know more about beverages or have a more ~refined~ palate than someone who prefers sweeter drinks. It’s just my biology and my palate and what I like.

There are so many articles explaining the genetics and evolutionary biology behind humans’ differing proclivities for sweeter or more bitter things. I even wrote one of them! Culture and regionality factor in, too. If you love bitter af drinks, I love that for you, but, dude, it’s just what you like. Maybe that even puts you in a fun little club with other bitter lovers, but it shouldn’t pit that club against people who aren’t into it. That’s fucking weird, when you think about it, and a few dumb steps back in terms of inclusion in beverage.

Beer Tarot!

This week, I pulled the King of Swords.

TRVE Brewing Cards by Max Sherman

Swords is the suit of intellect and decisions, and the King of Swords specifically deals with truth, mental clarity, and authority. This king embodies an energy of trusting one’s intellect and being in tune with one’s own intuition—you think things through well, and this steers you in the right direction more or less. Or, you know, you need to work on this particular skillset.

This card either reminds you of this strength of mind you possess or it calls on you to summon it—you have it, but maybe you need a reminder you have it, and so a sort of confidence boost. Maybe you’ve been second-guessing your judgment on people and/or situations lately, but take a deep breath and remember you know yourself, you know your life, you know what you need. You have gotten yourself here, missteps be damned. Don’t rush your research and your decisions, and feel secure in whatever choices you make. Let each decision, too, build your confidence, as you see your choices take you down good paths and help your own goals and those of others. Show yourself how thoughtful you can be. This could come in especially handy as others could really use your help in this area—maybe others at work are looking to you for leadership, or maybe you have to make a decision for your family, or maybe you have the opportunity to be an advocate or activist. Don’t doubt yourself. You’ve got this. And you can help other people by…got-ting this, or something.

The King of Swords has a vibe of not letting emotions cloud rational judgment; I would read that slightly differently. I would say it’s a reminder to factor in emotion wisely. Considering whether something will make you and others happy, or will bring pain, etc., that’s not wrong nor will it bring about a wrong decision. Just take the time to weigh each possible emotional outcome, allowing for surprises. Considering that alongside facts and logic just makes for a complete decision-making package.

Connecticut’s Nod Hill Brewing actually has a beer called King of Swords. It’s a Belgian-style tripel, and I love this full-circle moment in the description: “We brew this quadrupel with a minimal number of ingredients to showcase how thoughtful process yields a complex yet highly drinkable beer.” Thoughtful process. That’s the name of the King of Swords’s game.

This Week’s Boozy Media Rec

We think and read and talk a lot about the different ways craft beer culture and therefore craft beer consumer behavior has changed over the last several years, especially due to the pandemic. Much of that centers around the fact that many breweries with once sought-after beer have now made that beer quite readily available—because of the way distribution needs have evolved, obtaining whales has, in many cases, gone from grand pilgrimages to grocery-store runs. But there is a group within craft beer that holds onto hype and cultivates exclusivity, even effortlessly sometimes, successfully attracting the interest of dedicated beer fans. Pete O’Connell covers this with a great piece for VinePair, “Everlasting Hype: The Enduring Appeal of Nano Breweries.”

Ex-BEER-ience of the Week

The last couple of weeks have been busy, and I’m lucky and grateful that that’s translated to too many good “ex-beer-iences” to choose from. Last week, for example, after I sent out the newsletter writing about drinking a Lagunitas stovepipe while watching Shovels & Rope on a rooftop in the rain—a very good ex-beer-ience!—I kicked myself for not writing, too, about the absolute blast that was drag wrestling at Strong Rope’s stunning Red Hook taproom. Italian-style pils while marveling at killer wrestling moves and getting lost in wrestling’s good, ol’ fashioned silliness and storytelling? 12/10 day, no notes.

This week, on Saturday, we checked out Torch & Crown’s Union Square pop-up, which I’ll pick as my technical ex-beer-ience, because that building is so lovely and it’s cool to see a brewery take it over—with solid beer and the welcome surprise of next-level cocktails. But right on that ex-beer-ience’s heels? Finally getting to try Sacred Profane’s Dark Lager, at BierWax, with family on Sunday.

Until next week, here’s Darby enjoying that Torch & Crown pop-up.