Cocktail virgins

This weekend I visited Bluestem’s lounge area, manned by Van John Zarr, one of the best and most knowledgeable bartenders in the area. I was with a large group that included some college students who, while no strangers to drinking, had just turned of age and were inexperienced in world of cocktails.

Zarr quickly made them feel experienced. He asked what they liked to drink, and when one customers said gin and tonic, Zarr talked them through a series of possibilities and within a minute was pouring them samples of Campari. Sure enough, one got a negroni.

Guided by a professional, a cocktail novice can quickly learn a lot. Zarr has lots of experience reading people like tea leaves to determine what they’ll like. But some people are impossible to read. They’re not cocktail novices, they’re cocktail virgins.