Bottle jockeys

It's performance art with Jack Daniels and a beer chaser.

The first Legends of Bartending World Bartending Championships in Las Vegas took place this week at the Rio, with $16,000 and a title declaring them the best in their field at stake -- and it's no joke to these professional drink slingers.

"There are bartenders, and then there are performance bartenders," says Ken Hall, Voodoo Lounge performance bartender at the Rio and co-promoter of the event. "It creates a sense of professionalism to the bartender and a higher standard for bartenders."

Monday night, competing bartenders, their lips pursed, bodies bumping to the loud techno-music in time with the spinning bottles, set out to become one of the best in the closely knit subculture of perfomance bartending.

"This is an art, a sport," says Karen Pinkerton, public relations and marketing manager for Patrick Henry Creative Productions in Stafford, Texas, which has hosted the annual "Quest for the Best" performance bartending contest in Orlando, Fla. for 12 years. "It really boosts their self- esteem, causes them to strive at their job. They are not like anything you have seen before."

Hall, 26, and fellow bartender and co-promoter Alan Mays, 33, both champion performance bartenders, joined forces with the Rio to host the annual event, bringing an international competition to Las Vegas and spurring more interest in the behind-the-bar craft.

"We wanted to come up with a bartender contest which will prove a true overall bartender," Mays says.

The contest measured speed (making four randomly requested drinks), pour-ability (knowing how much an ounce is without measuring), show flair ("working" flair consists of quick moves easily maneuvered behind a busy bar) and performance flair (an actual "show," such as magic or visual feats, sometimes including fire).

"(Performance bartending) is something that is picking up, bartenders all over the world are doing it," Hall says.

"The word is getting out and (performance bartending) is getting bigger," Mays says, betting on the future of their annual contest. Other contests in London, Turkey and Miami "have gotten progressively bigger."

The buzz about the Las Vegas contest is sure to get louder, Scott Acorn, a 26-year-old bartender from Calgary, Alberta, says, as performance bartending networks spread the word.

"You are going to see more of it, the network (of competing bartenders) we've got now is amazing," he says. "It's great to get the trophy or the check, but what I bring out of it is friendships and new things to try, that's what counts."

First made popular by the 1985 movie "Cocktail" starring Tom Cruise, who flipped bottles and full drinks through the air with his partner, played by Bryan Brown, this "sport" has slowly built into a trend that has poured into local bars and restaurants.

But this comparison to the flippant movie is not easily swallowed by today's bottle-juggling bartenders.

"The movie got flair out in the public's eye, but the public doesn't see the level that it's gone to," Mays says. " 'Cocktail' put a stigma on bartending that bartenders have to deal with."

The stigma -- that a bartender is just a drink jockey, ready with a joke and a good ear -- is insulting to the complex craft that takes years to hone, many bartenders say. Top bartenders are respected in their field for their creative abilites and agilities.

"People don't understand all that it takes," Mays says. "It's easy to get hurt. You end up with a lot of stitches."

Novices practice twirling an empty, duct-taped (for traction and safety) bottle in the palm of their hand, tossing it in the air and behind their backs. Eventually, after years of bouncing bottles off various body parts, most come to gatherings such as this to compete with style and grace among their peers.

"When you get to that level of your profession, you are going to rub elbows with people who are leaders in your industry, just like with any industry, to meet new people, get new ideas." Mays says.

"For me to come to this and qualify, and to go to (other contests), it puts me on a whole different level when I get home," Acorn, who has been tending bar for eight years, says.

Acorn was one of more than 50 contestants -- some with a decade of experience, others with just a few weeks -- who competed in the event.

"It's gone farther than the guy behind the bar in a white shirt just putting a drink in front of you," Acorn says of his profession. "When you are doing flair, people walk away from the bar shaking their heads in amazement."

Flair lends professionalism to a career choice long on monetary tips, but sometimes short on respect.

"I had a guy ask me, 'What is it you do other than this?' " Hall recalls. "(The general public) doesn't understand this is what I do. I went to college, I have other career goals and I like the business, especially the flair end of the industry. That's what keeps me involved with bartending; it adds a lot to everyone."

"One of the things the contests have done for me is to get a job like this," Mays says, standing on the 50th floor of the Rio Tower overlooking the Strip. "Without flair, I never would have gotten this job and been able to come out here, travel, broaden my horizons."

Mays and Hall were recruited from bartending positions in Orlando, Fla. by the Rio two years ago to open the Voodoo Lounge, specifically for their flair ability and the name they had created for themselves in the industry.

"People don't understand what it takes to get a job like (one at the Voodoo Lounge)," Mays says. "You can't just walk in off the street and apply; it takes five or six years and, if you are good, you might get the opportunity. There's a lot of competition."

"Flair takes (bartending) to a higher level, and it's a friendly competition," John Fiore, a T.G.I. Friday's bartender from Valencia, Calif., says. He is a Friday's flair champion and has won many contests around the country. "It is good for your own ego and self-confidence, but you can make a name for yourself in the small world of bartending."

"Anybody can pour a drink," Ed Monroe, also a bartender at T.G.I. Fridays in Valencia, says. "The key is to do it with style and in a way that guests want to come back just to see you."

Fiore agrees that personalized pouring and the freedom to flip adds panache to the profession.

"I wouldn't be happy if I was just bartending. It would just be punching in and out (of work) and I would do it solely for the money," he says. "That's the great thing flair has done. I feel like I'm getting more out of myself."

"Flair takes (bartending) to more of an art form, instead of just pouring a drink," says Peter Nehn, a 22-year-old GameWorks bartender who picked up the sport a mere two weeks ago, after noticing the high-energy entertainment at local bars and in Miami, Fla. "There's a lot of great bartenders in town ... this is the perfect place for this (contest.)"

Nehn hopes to open a bar locally in the next few years, featuring flair bartending.

"You want to be the best bartender you can be, and flair enhances that," he says. He hopes to pick up pointers from some of the seasoned talent.

"We have guys that are doing amazing moves coming in from all over the world and it's taken them years to (perfect some) of their moves," Mays says.

Performance bartending becomes a language of its own, as flippers from around the world -- including the Netherlands, England, Puerto Rico and France -- attended this contest, breaking the language barrier with a common denominator.

"You can tell where someone is from by their moves," Mays says, demonstrating with his empty hands cupped around imaginary bottles. "It's just like a dialect. European style is faster, more fluid, not as multiple as American." Americans, he says, like to use more bottles and pouring tins for show.

Xavier Simonet, a Paris bartender, is part of a foursome of practicing flair bartenders who flew to Las Vegas from France to network with American bartenders and get an edge on the budding trend back home.

"We want to see American flair. It's very different from European flair," Simonet says. "We do more of a working flair, not so much juggling; there's more moves. We want to see new moves."

"(In Paris) they don't have the bars for flair," Stephen Hadjadje, a five-year bartender, says. "But we see the customers, they like it, we can make more (money)."

"It's very difficult for (bartenders) over there, we are paid less," Simonet says. "When we see these guys, we realize, yes, this is a career and we are learning."

The color of some of the contestants' faces matched the varied chartreuse hues of liquor they pour as they competed during the intense qualifying round Monday night, followed by the finals on Tuesday night. After the last bottles were flung, the winner turned out to be NAME OF WINNER AND WHERE HE OR SHE IS FROM GOES HERE.

As the only woman in this contest, Anne Flynn says she does not feel the prickly nerves she felt flipping bottles her first time out.

"I was nervous at first, I had all those eyes on me," she recalls.

A hard time found Flynn, a T.G.I. Fridays' bartender in Ft. Myers, Fla., living alone and looking for something to get her mind off her troubles. A fellow flipper taught her some simple moves, and soon Flynn found herself tossing bottles at home.

"You get your guests into it, they are clapping and cheering, and you make $2 or $3 (per tip), and that adds up at the end of the night," she says. "It's just fun and you get into your job."

Then there are the occasional broken bottles.

"You have broken glass in your living room, you just walk around it," she says jokingly.

Hall, though a master mixer and flipper, says nervousness is part of performing.

"I would get almost sick to my stomach before I would go out because you know every set of eyes is going to be on you," Hall says. "It's like an adrenaline high."

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