Strong Ladies, Strong Drinks

Is the world of bartending still a man’s world?  Fortunately it’s not as much as used to be.  Unfortunately female bartenders can have a tougher time than their male counterparts.  Sometimes it’s due to their fellow colleagues in the industry, sometimes it’s due to customers (guys — she’s making a cocktail for you, not looking for a one night stand).

Carrie Allan, the spirits columnist for the Washington Post, recently wrote this excellent article (click here to read it) about the struggles female bartenders face. I’ve followed Carrie’s work for years, and I finally had the privilege of meeting her last July at the Tales of the Cocktail conference.  In fact, we met at the gender class to which she refers in the article.

As I mentioned in another post based on another of Carrie’s articles, bartenders are more than mixologists.  Good ones should receive generous tips. 

Bottom line — if the person behind the bar is a good bartender, who cares how many X chromosomes they have?