Saturday, May 3, noon
In just the last 24 hours, Anthony Alba had his orange soda explode in transit, ruining his shirt, ties and blazer; made last-minute fresh lemon sour out of display lemons and some Agave nectar; and chuckled when his base spirit went missing. Alba’s under the gun, and he loves it. The beverage consultant is Las Vegas’ representative in the national competition of the United States Bartenders’ Guild, an organization whose reach is far and wide, but today is very selective. Alba is one of only four competitors vying to be named the country’s best bartender.
In a sunny meeting room at the Westin, overlooking Long Beach, California’s Ocean Boulevard, the banquet staff hurries with the finishing touches on the competition bar. When the meeting room doors swing open, the men of the guild (women encompass only 20 percent of the Guild’s ranks, somewhat consistent with the profession), dressed in their fine red Guild blazers, lapels full of buttons indicating rank, affiliations, honors and travels, file in, and get down to the business of making drinks.
Today’s winner will represent the United States in the World Cocktail Championship in Puerto Rico this October. To even get to this point, the Guild’s best bartenders in the five current chapter zones (SoCal, NorCal, Vegas, Chicago and NY) pitted their best against their best to find a representative. These folks take their cocktails so seriously that the New York chapter declined to send its runner-up when its winner couldn’t make it.
I had the honor both this year and last of being a judge in the Vegas competition, and Alba—who came in second last year—this year triumphed with his New Orleans-inspired cocktail, the Big Easy. Just that morning we trolled the produce department of Whole Foods looking for precisely the right kumquat to sit up on the rim of the judges’ martini glasses.
While Alba and his fellow competitors ready their mis en place behind the scenes, I watch as a senior Guildsman, Max Kerstein, a sharp 85-year-old industry veteran (and currently a Hollywood actor and LAPD employee), hands national president Livio Lauro the 60th-anniversary issue of Beverage Bulletin, the industry magazine he edited and published until 1996, for the Guild archives. “This organization does a lot. They’re goodwill ambassadors to the industry,” says Kerstein, settling into a chair with a direct view to the action.
“It’s all about building that brotherhood and the camaraderie of the Guild,” Master Mixologist Bobby “G.” Gleason told me earlier. “We’d love every bartender in the U.S. to be a member of the Guild, but that’s not realistic because they have to meet the standards.” He and Francesco Lafranconi, director of Southern Wine and Spirits’ Academy of Spirits and Fine Service, both serve as national ambassadors for the USBG and, today, masters of ceremonies.
Backstage, Alba starts the countdown on 15 minutes of prep. He’s not superstitious, but he’s been known to play with a Rubik’s cube to relax before it’s go time—a feat he can complete, he says, in about a minute and a half. With maybe half a second to spare, he constructs five garnishes (one spare) of kumquat heads, icing eyes and the recent addition of broccolini hair. The little men will smirk at the judges during service through a tiny cloud of smoke created when Alba lights the dehydrated rosemary “cigar” resting in each little guy’s mouth. In addition to getting him to the Nationals, the Big Easy won Alba Best Garnish in the qualifier round.
At the competition bar, Alba goes second, creating four of his cocktails in six minutes. Though his hands shook backstage, they move deftly from ingredient to shaker to glass. On cue, the audience oohs and ahhs over the amber glow and sweet, herbal smoke of the cigar as the drinks are spirited to the private judges’ chamber. The effect is charming while still producing a clean, relevant garnish, something the emcees are quick to point out. After a little clean-up—as important as prep—Alba relaxes with a cocktail, which he enjoys from a favorite metal martini glass that accompanies him on all travels.
When the points are tabulated, Lafranconi and Gleason torturously announce the third, second and first runners-up, and all without mention of Alba! Winning 170 of a possible 200 points, he’ll represent the U.S. as one of 51 countries competing in October. Alba, who is equal parts confident and humble, offers a relieved smile and the occasional wink.
At the awards dinner that night, Lafranconi encourages the attendees to grow the Guild, reminding them that theirs is a noble profession unto itself, not merely a way stop between other careers. He toasts us all with one of his many catch phrases: “We’re not drinking, we’re learning!”
Photograph by Armando Rosario, Southern Wine & Spirits of Nevada