Bartenders do battle

John Staley

Years slinging drinks: I have been enjoying cocktails for almost 15 years and have been pouring them for almost eight.

If you were a cocktail or liquor, what would you be?I love a good gin martini. Gin in general is my favorite. It is the gentleman’s tequila.

What’s the best drunken confession you’ve heard while bartending? One of the tenets of bartending is to never divulge a patron’s confession. Besides it wouldn’t be fit to print.

What’s the most challenging ingredient you’ve encountered at the Sonoma Bar Battle, and how did you incorporate it? Kenny De Alba (the other bartender on the EDK team at the competition) and I saw the Alaskan birch syrup as a challenge at first but found it lent itself to the rum swizzle type drink that won us the competition. 

405 First St. W., Sonoma    eldoradosonoma.com    707.996.3030

Cathy Sanchez

Years slinging drinks: Too long!
(Approx 25).

If you were a cocktail or liquor, what would you be? Cosmopolitan. It’s pink, which is my favorite color, you can dress it up with good vodka, Cointreau and serve it straight up. Or just pour it over ice and slam it down.

What’s the best drunken confession you’ve heard while bartending?
It was from a bartender at Mary’s Pizza Shack in Sonoma. I can’t say his name but his initials are J.B. If I tell his confession, he’ll tell mine!

What’s the most challenging ingredient you’ve encountered at the Sonoma Bar Battle, and how did you incorporate it? Honey truffle. It tastes terrible, so we tried to disguise it as much as possible by making the drink stronger. It worked!

482 First St. E., Sonoma    707.996.2922

John Burtson

Years slinging drinks: 2 years.

If you were a cocktail or liquor, what would you be? Whiskey. Because you can take me camping, you can take me fishing or you can sit me down in front of a game and back me up with a beer.

What’s the best drunken confession you’ve heard while bartending?
I have seen some funny stuff, and heard some good stories, but nothing as bad or good as my own.

What’s the most challenging ingredient you’ve encountered at the Sonoma Bar Battle, and how did you incorporate it? Pineapple Ginger Kombucha. I used tequila, ginger and muddled some fruit and some other random ingredients and made a damn good margarita.

8 W. Spain St., Sonoma    maryspizzashack.com     707.938.8300

Gerard Stephens

Years slinging drinks: 14.

If you were a cocktail or liquor, what would you be? St. Germaine, just try it and you’ll be amazed.

What’s the best drunken confession you’ve heard while bartending? You are my Eskimo brother.

What’s the most challenging ingredient you’ve encountered at the Sonoma Bar Battle, and how did you incorporate it? Artichoke bitters. Used it with Citron Vodka and quinine tonic water.

165 W. Napa St., Sonoma
sonomameritage.com 707.938.9430

Bob Kralovec

Years slinging drinks: 12 years at Saddles.

If you were a cocktail or liquor, what would you be? A classic gin martini. It is the sexiest drink ever. Or a straight shot of Jack Daniels—Sinatra, baby!

What’s the best drunken confession you’ve heard while bartending?
I confessed to several of my customers that one night I stayed at the hotel (MacArthur Place), I got up to go to the bathroom and accidently locked myself out of my room. Naked. But I wasn’t drunk.

What’s the most challenging ingredient you’ve encountered at the Sonoma Bar Battle, and how did you incorporate it? Hibiscus syrup. My main liquor was vodka—in the heat of the battle I don’t remember all the other ingredients I used, but it was pretty and tasted really good.

29 E. MacArthur St., Sonoma macarthurplace.com 707.933.3191.

Melissa Byrne

Years slinging drinks: 11 years.

If you were a cocktail or liqu+or, what would you be? A straight shot of Jack Daniels. It’s a little rough to take, but it’s straight and to the point. It does its job.

What’s the best drunken confession you’ve heard while bartending?
I get a lot of people who want to tell me their life story, I usually try to deflect story-tellers to a more neutral subject area. I do have a favorite quote, though. One of my customers took a huge shot of whiskey and then said, “Oh my god, I think I just shape-shifted into a desert eagle!”

What’s the most challenging ingredient you’ve encountered at the Sonoma Bar Battle, and how did you incorporate it?

The lychee puree this year was challenging because it’s a soft flavor. It’s easy to accent a bold flavor, but something that’s light and delicate you have to be careful not to hide it behind other ingredients. I accented it with Clementine vodka and orange juice and made kind of a tropical screwdriver. It was delicious!

465 First St. W., #100, Sonoma 707.996.3812.

Matt McDermott

Years slinging drinks: 12 years in December.

If you were a cocktail or liquor, what would you be?
A Zombie. I sleep all day and have all my powers at night. As they say, “The night’s are for poets and mad men… and zombies.”

What’s the best drunken confession you’ve heard while bartending? After doing this for as long as I have, I’ve pretty much seen and heard it all. If I even begin to tell you, I wouldn’t have any friends left.

What’s the most challenging ingredient you’ve encountered at the Sonoma Bar Battle, and how did you incorporate it? This year was my first battle, so I guess that would have to be lychee, which was one of this year’s secret ingredients.

19380 Highway 12, Sonoma     707.996.3055

Ariele Ramano

Years slinging drinks: Six months behind the bar, three years cocktail waitressing.

If you were a cocktail or liquor, what would you be? Jäger because I am great to go out with and often surprise you.

What’s the best drunken confession you’ve heard while bartending? A guy told me a story about he and his buddy out having drinks at a bar when they were in college. The guy’s friend ended up drinking way too much and neither one could drive home. He decides that since his friend can barely walk straight, it would be a good idea to “borrow” a shopping cart from the neighboring grocery store and push his friend the mile home. When the two finally reach the buddy’s house, he is passed out in the cart. Tired and unable to find his buddy’s house keys, the guy thinks the best idea is just to leave his buddy in the cart on the lawn and just continue on to his home down the road. The next morning, his friend called him upset that he was awoken by his dad, soaking wet from the sprinklers. The buddy didn’t remember anything and so the guy just told him that he wandered off on his own without saying goodbye. To this day the buddy doesn’t know how he actually got home.

What’s the most challenging ingredient you’ve encountered at the Sonoma Bar Battle, and how did you incorporate it? This was my first year at bartender challenge. The only ingredient I had was pineapple and unfortunately my drink did not move on.

100 Boyes Blvd., Sonoma   Fairmont.com/Sonoma    707.938.9000

Hunt Bailie

Years slinging drinks: Over 10 years now.

If you were a cocktail or liquor, what would you be? A single barrel whiskey, no ice. Straight to the point, full of flavor and sipped slowly with family and friends.

What’s the best drunken confession you’ve heard while bartending? As for drunken confessions, there are many—I however love the customer’s sense of anonymity when talking to a bartender.  I’ve been told everything from “Fake a cocktail because my best friend and mother didn’t know I’m pregnant.” To the nervous guy who admits when she steps away from the bar that “Tomorrow I’m going to pop the question.”  To the heart-breaking conversations about death and illness. Between the completely off-the-wall wacky moments (and there are many) and the confessions that only priests and bartenders hear, this job rarely has a dull moment.

What’s the most challenging ingredient you’ve encountered at the Sonoma Bar Battle, and how did you incorporate it?  Chipotle Sour—
I must give credit where credit is due, going off the suggestions of Emily (Martinson) and Ashley (Giffen), we went with a spicy Mexican fruit theme. Using mango and vodka and a hint of Chipotle Sour.

464 First St. E., Sonoma   sonomapub.com    707.935.0660.

From the 2012 Winter issue of SONOMA