Tone G learned his bartending skills via trial by fire in a hole-in-the-wall bar when he was 20 years old. Now a seasoned pro, he shares a lot of wisdom in this interview. He currently works at several different locations and even freelances. “Close to 15 years in the business. Got an event? I’m ready to roll.”

Why did you decide to get into bartending?
I didn’t. I was sucked in. I became a “club-kidd” my junior year in high school, went out every night to a different club with fake IDs, a crew of 10 or more, drunk every night and was going no where fast, until about 19. I got a job as a bar back at an old folks/juke joint/hole-in-the-wall spot. They showed me the ropes in this business as they corrupted me. Ph*kerz!!

How did you go about getting your first bartending gig? Was it tough to land your first one?

Wasn’t tough, I was drafted. I was bar backing one night and the bartenders on duty told me to step up. They were probably too drunk and tired to work anymore. Looking back at it, they really did look out for me and gave me a shot at this thing. I was 20 and I was serving drinks to that 40 and up serious drinking crowd. Lots of Scotch, Bourbon and hard talk.

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It’s that time again! This is when I put the call out for more bartenders to interview.

We haven’t run one in awhile but our bartender interviews are one of the most popular features on Joe Bartender. My goal is to interview a broad variety of bartenders - covering a broad range of experience and a lot of different geographic locales.

If you’re interested, I simply send you a questionnaire and you fill it out at your convenience. If you want us to link to the website for your bar or personal site, we will gladly do it.

If you’re interested, let me know via the comments, the MySpace or at joebartender@gmail.com.

For examples of what we do, here are a few of my favorite past interviews:

Bartender Interview: Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Bartender Interview: Andi Jayde Marx

Bartender Interview: Cheryl Charming

Bartender Interview: Mark “TikiTender” Woods

Bartender Interview: Murray Alexander

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For some reason, we have made a lot of Bartending School people mad at us with a few of our posts. But if you read them closely, you’ll see that we are not knocking bartending school. It can be a great experience and fast-track you into a good job. Luckily, Bob Grotticelli, from the Bartenders Academy of NY didn’t hold it against us. Bob is currently the director and instructor at the Academy and when he’s not doing that, he tends bar at Granny O’Shea’s Pub - a neighborhood beer and shot bar.

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Anthony Caporale is becoming an internet superstar thanks to his awesome video podcast Art of the Drink. Art of the Drink is most popular bartending podcast thanks to Anthony’s killer drink demonstrations (and his keen eye for casting beautiful women to assist). We decided to pick Anthony’s brain about bartending, podcasting and the fine art of making Long Island Teas.

A bartending podcast is a brilliant idea. What led you to start up Art of the Drink?

All credit for the video podcast goes to my videographer, editor, and all-around co-creative guy, Dave McCoy. I’d released the “Art of the Drink, Volume 1: Bar Essentials” DVD, and Dave approached me with the idea of following it with a weekly podcast to help build awareness of the product and set up the upcoming DVD volumes. I didn’t know much about podcasting and thought it just sounded like a lot of work (which it is!), but we knocked around several different format ideas and eventually he convinced me we should give it a try.

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Kristi was first featured on the site when she submitted her Grape Lemon Drop Shot recipe. The response to the recipe was so good, we decided to ask her back for an interview. Kristi tends bar at the Wall Street Plaza in Orlando, Florida. "We have 8 bars in our plaza, all with the same owner, and all with 1 general manager. I work at 3 of these bars, which are all connected- Wall St. Cantina, One Eyed Jacks, and the Loaded Hog," said Kristi. "It is a pretty cool setup because every weekend we do block parties where you pay one cover for all 8 bars, and in the plaza we have live music and bars set up as well."

Why did you decide to get into bartending?

I had been working as a server for quite some time, and I always thought how much more fun it would be to be behind the bar. I was right!

How did you go about getting your first bartending gig? Was it tough to land your first one?

Well, I was serving for a year at the bar that I work at now, and a few bartending positions opened up. My managers offered me some daytime shifts to get me started, and over time I have worked my way up to the good shifts. It was hard and sort of frustrating at first being stuck with day shifts, but I am so glad I stuck it out because now I only work Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and it is great!

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Popularity: 7% [?]