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Dale DeGroff; "King Cocktail" and cofounder of Beverage Alcohol Resource (BAR), an educational course for bartenders and spirit professionals
You began working with fresh juices and other quality ingredients at the Rainbow Room in the 1980s, and are often credited with being the godfather of the modern mixology movement. What does that responsibility mean to you?
I want to share with as many young bartenders as I can the richness of opportunity the profession affords us; an opportunity to touch perhaps more lives than many other professions permit. [It's] not for everyone. When a person is not suited for this constant interaction with all sorts of people, cynicism and meanness can overcome their personality---and there is nothing as disheartening as an unhappy person in a happy place, like behind the bar of a good saloon.
What have you seen around New York lately that's excited you?
I have been on the road more than in NYC, so what excites me is to see the blossoming of the cocktailian scene in cities around the country...around the world, in fact.
What cocktail trends would you like to see die?
Mediocrity, poor ingredients, lack of training [and not thinking of bartending] as a craft profession.
You wrote The Essential Cocktail and The Craft of the Cocktail. Got another book in you?
I'd love to explore small plates and cocktails.
We want to buy you a drink. What'll it be?
Gin martini, straight up with an olive and a twist.
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