It's not as though I am at a bar every night of the week. I have a few haunts that I gravitate to, and I have no desire to stray. At least not far anyway. When a place feels like 'home' it's the right atmosphere - the best atmosphere actually. For me, rapport with the bartender is paramount to an at-home, favorable experience. If I don't know my bartender, there is little reason for me to frequent a place. The person behind the bar, mixing or pouring my drink, needs to be a friend. It's just as simple as that for me.
Sure it might seem needy and even spoiled to want the kind of relationship with my barkeep that I have with my friends, but doesn't it make sense? When I walk through the doors of one of my go-to, favorite establishments, I love that the bartenders a) recognize me, b) call me by name and/or greet me personally, and c) know what I drink. Any bartender worth their weight in top shelf spirits understands that those little but meaningful personal connections makes a world of difference in everything from the type of tips they will make to the new faces each and every regular will bring through the doors whenever they stop in for refreshing bevvies.
I adore the handful (ok, FOUR) places I frequent, because each of the bartenders I encounter know these simple, yet oh-so-effective things. Recognition; the type where it's obvious I'm welcomed and a happy sight. Personal interaction through conversation and laughter, and of course knowledge of my beverage preference. I don't barhop, as a rule, because I find it far more enjoyable to be somewhere that at least the bartender knows my name. It's comfortable and real.
So to Ryan, Mark, Leon and Mike, thank you for being the most awesome at what you do. It makes being of legal drinking age a far more enjoyable thing!
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