Barcardi White Spirits Brand Ambassador Dean Callan

The lad behind the bar is probably the unsung hero in the nightlife industry. While the pretty young thing who brings your drinks to the table might be rewarded for her ability to flirt or by dressing provocatively, the fella (and it usually is a bloke) pouring your beers and mixing your cocktails is not recognized on the same scale.

It does not help that many bartenders are underpaid, according to Barcardi White Spirits Brand Ambassador Dean Callan.

"The big problem is that bartenders aren't being paid enough. I'm really passionate about training them in China and getting them to a higher level. It's really hard to take your job seriously when you're not getting paid much and you see no light at the end of the tunnel or progression.

"If you get better you still get paid pretty much the same. A lot of people turn to theft and get fired for it. In this industry if you get caught for theft you're not going to get a job at a top end bar again so you have ruined your career."

One of Callan's roles as brand ambassador is to share the tricks of his trade with these bartenders, and help them hone their skills.

"We're training them to get better, so they do have a better chance of getting more money. Also, we try to put across the mentality that even if this is not the job they want to do for the rest of their lives, they get good at being good at something. So, the next job they take, they're going to have that mindset and want to be good at that. Successful people are pretty much successful at everything they do.

"We also try to put out that this is a great medium for meeting other people as well, so if they're not planning to stay in this industry, at least they're in a great position to make the contacts that they need to move on."

A bartender by trade, the Irish-born Australian has participated in and won a number of cocktail competitions back home.

His most recent success was winning the Cosmopolitan Magazine Bartender of the Year in 2007. He sees such events as not just a marketing tool but also as incentive to do better.

Different mentality:

"With competitions they're a good way to promote professional bartending. When you're at a competition and you watch all that passion in the room, it's off the hook and really, really inspiring."

"The more competitions, the better. The more experience you get while competing, the more you develop a competitions style. The same guys are always in these competitions - you might find the same 12 guys who are always competing. One guy wins, the next time another guy wins. New guys come in with a different mentality but they're building from the others before them."

Competition bartenders also develop big personalities, and that's one of the things lacking in bars, said Callan. He also pointed out that such events were essential for local bartenders as they get to stay in touch with the scene and what everyone else was doing.

"If they're earning 1,500 yuan (US$219) a month, it's difficult for them to go out and party and meet other bartenders."

The chatty mixologist also looks forward to the upcoming launch of a trade periodical.

Launched by former Sugar beverage director Theo Watt, "Drink" is a bilingual magazine and will cover the bar scene, hopefully raising the profile of personalities working in the industry.

The local way of drinking is also an impediment to the development of talent - mixing whisky with green tea does not require a particularly complex set of skills. Callan suggests offering cocktail mixers with fresh juices or syrups instead of soft drinks, and have bartenders sell that to people.

It is not just the personalities involved that have to grow but also the logistics. Callan lamented the lack of certain spirits and liqueurs in the city which can trip up overseas-trained bartenders.

"When you come from a top level and you get behind the bar here, you sometimes reach for a product and it's not there.

There are a lot of different things you can't get and it's like a chef who can't use the right salt. You might use a substitute, but it's not just one compromise, it's a whole lot of compromises because you change the flavor profile."

(Shanghai Daily August 28, 2008)