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Tending Bar In Bourbon Country: A Whiskey Writer’s Tale

Sitting on the couch recently scrolling through Facebook on my phone, I read a request from a friend for someone to tend bar from 3-8 on a Saturday.  I had zero bartending experience at that point, but it’s a bourbon bar and I know a ton about bourbon so I responded.  After some training I was set loose behind the bar at one of my favorite spots in town- Match Cigar Bar in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

Going in, I knew the majority of my shift would be slow.  Typically you don’t get much traffic in a bar on a beautiful fall afternoon.  I took my time setting up the bar, finding all the light switches, and figuring out how to turn on the stereo.  And then I waited.

Maggie Bar
Our intrepid bourbon writer doing her volunteer bar shift (image copyright The Whiskey Wash/Maggie Kimberl)

The first two hours I had two customers, one regular and one guy from Florida just stopping for a cigar break on a road trip to the frozen tundra of the Midwest.  I took a selfie.  Then I took a picture of the bar and tweeted it.  Then I took another selfie and sent it to my sister.  Then 5:15 rolled around and people started trickling in.  By 6 they were pouring in.  What had I gotten myself into?

I had joked during my training that if someone ordered an L.I.T. I’d have to throw them out.  Guess what my third customer of the night ordered?  Thankfully and mercifully the majority of the people who came in wanted one of the two drinks I actually know how to make- Old Fashioneds and Manhattans.  Did I mention it’s a bourbon bar?

By 7 p.m. I was keeping up, but just barely.  The hangup surprisingly wasn’t making the drinks, it was ringing them up.  Making the drinks is fun.  Talking to the people is a blast.  Fighting with a laggy iPad is not.

Throughout my life I’ve had many different jobs, most of which involve chatting with customers.  These days I don’t get much of that and I’ve found I really miss it.  It was great getting behind the bar for a few hours to see what it’s like on the other side.  The reality of tending bar- running out of change, fighting with a computer- is a lot different from what you see from the other side of the bar. I have a new respect for my bartender friends- they sure earn those tips.

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