While I have let my posts dwindle a touch, it turns out I have been writing, just not here. I will work on this. Meanwhile, I am a guest blogger for the Dos Maderas website and here is the most recent article. You should also check out the cocktail recipes and posts on the site when you have a chance. I write those as well. You can learn all sorts of fun backstory to many vintage Rum Cocktails as well as try out recipes with variations and lots of pro tips! I’ll be adding more soon too!
World Bartender Day is somewhat of a newer day of interest in calendars, originating just a few years back. In fact, 2018 was the first year when February 24th was officially called World Bartender Day. Separate from National Bartender Day, which is an American holiday celebrated right before Repeal Day on December 3rd, World Bartender Day was founded following the success of an Australian and New Zealand industry-led cocktail competition called The Perfect Blend. The holiday grew out of their organizational efforts at bringing bartender-mixologists together from all over both regions to compete in their artful and delicious craft. Naturally, out of such a strong community came the impetus to officially set aside an international day to celebrate the day of the bartender around the world.
What is World Bartender Day?
World Bartender Day is a day of tribute designed to support and promote your favorite bartenders in their places of work but also to celebrate the continued legacy of this age-old profession. As a holiday, here are some easy ways to observe.
- Show up for your favorite bartender, ideally not at an hour where everyone else also shows up but also, not when they are trying to close the bar. Wish them well and perhaps ask them how they are doing.
- Ask to try something new or something your bartender is excited about.
- Leave extra gratuity than your usual.
- Offer to buy a drink for your favorite bartender.
- In these COVID times, perhaps home bartending is the way to go. Have you tried asking your favorite bartender for a good recipe for home? (Don’t forget to tip them for the professional consultation.)
- Spread the word. Share a post on your social media and tag #WorldBartenderDay
How old is the bartending profession?
Bartending as a concept is essentially timeless. Arguably, as soon as people discovered fermentation and then later distilling, drinks were eventually poured by someone regardless of when or where the moniker originated. Records for the origins of fermented beverages and serving them locally around the world aren’t precisely canonized with the dawn of controlled fermentation reaching far back a few millennia, but the rise of spirits did make its way throughout the globe with the advance technology adapted from Arabic science’s art of distillation into the later 1600’s. Bartending profession origins are truly more aligned with the rise of spirits heading into the 1800’s as innkeepers began to serve more than just ale, wine and punch. Often touted as the world’s first bartender, Jerry Thomas rose to fame in the early to mid-1800’s and eventually published history’s first ever bartending guide in 1862, “How to Mix Drinks: a Bon-Vivant’s Companion.” So for modern terminology sake, the word bartending became popularized in America with the rise of these new types of bartenders who added more professionalism to the trade and concocted more intricate mixed drinks including cocktails.
Origins and history of World Bartender Day
You might call the advent of World Bartender Day a sort of a viral reaction to a highly successful cocktail competition. Cocktail competitions are a great way for the community to connect with peers and mentors but also to learn more about their craft. They are extremely fun, popular and some have even added an option for home-bartenders to compete. The specific origins of world bartender day grew from The Perfect Blend, an Aussie based organization sponsored by Beam Suntory that launched their first competition in 2018.
Why World Bartender Day is celebrated on the 24th of February?
Cocktail competitions always have a culminating trajectory and this one is no different. Recipes are submitted within a time frame, usually a few weeks or so. Finalists get narrowed down as the days dwindle and the winner or winners are typically announced on the final day. So when was the first world bartender day? In 2018, The Perfect Blend announced its first champion on February 24th and thus, the day became forever sacrosanct since as World Bartender Day.
5 Rum Cocktails to make on World Bartender Day
Perhaps you need a few time tested and bartender professionally developed cocktail recipes to celebrate within the comfort of your home? Or maybe you are hosting a small get-together and need some easy options to serve multiple folks? Our recommendations for the best cocktails for world bartender day are as follows (in no particular order):
The phrase “one of sour, two of sweet, three of strong and four weak” is the national rhyme in Barbados. Fittingly, the Bajan or Barbadian Rum Punch is one of the oldest iterations of the Rum Punch recipe. That being said, folks all over absolutely love tweaking the formula to their personal taste and style. Try our recipe and possibly add your own personal touch from your home bar.
- 2 oz. Dos Maderas 5+3 Rum
- 1 oz. fresh lime juice
- 1 oz. Rich Simple Syrup (2:1)
- 1-2 dashes of Angostura Bitters
Are you a fan of bitter cocktails? These days variations on the Negroni are everywhere and with good reason. It turns out that aged rums and bitter ingredients complement each other far more than pre-existing cocktail canon would have led on. We love Jim Meehan’s Rum recipe from 2009 and if you haven’t tried one yet, you now have something forward to look to.
- 2 oz. Dos Maderas 5+3 Rum
- .75 oz. Williams & Humbert Solera Especial Dry Sack Sherry
- .75 oz. Campari
With almost a century and a half of history, it’s pretty unique to have this deceptively simple delicious highball continue its dominance in bars around the world. If you think about it, this combo is almost as old as Coca-Cola.
- 2 oz. Dos Maderas 5+3 Rum
- 1 fresh lime wedge
- 4-5 oz. Cola
Speaking of posterity, outside of punch, it’s hard to imagine any other cocktail today having the lineage of the Old Fashioned. The key to a properly made version is all about the base spirit. You should always choose a base that you would also sip on its own, without any modifiers. The bitters, sugar and citrus peel all just serve to accent what is already at the heart of the glass.
- 2 oz. Dos Maderas Selección Rum
- .25 oz. Rich Simple Syrup (2:1)
- 2 dashes of Aromatic bitters (like Angostura)
- 2 dashes of Orange bitters (like Bitter Truth)
Bartenders just love to debate the proportions of a classic Daiquiri. It’s the structural core of all tropical rum concoctions, the ultimate rum sour wherein each of its three simple elements all combine to a balanced and refreshing act of harmony. Have you properly obsessed about your ratio? Perhaps today would be a good day to start.
- 1 1/2 ounces rum – Dos Maderas 5+3 Rum
- 1 oz. fresh squeezed lime juice
- .5 oz (2:1) Rich Cane Syrup
These are five simple rum cocktails to make so you can celebrate world bartender day cocktails in style with true Dos Maderas rum refreshment! Click on the recipe links or check in at the website to get all the extra details and steps. Learn a few pro-tips and a bit of backstory on each drink to impress your friends and broaden your cocktail knowledge. One more time for the folks in the back: “When is World Bartender Day?” The next one is already upon us: 24th February, 2022.