This week's guest is Ariana Hoon, who joins us from Park City, Utah. Currently, Ariana is a head bartender at High West Saloon in Park City. In our conversations with Ariana, we shared her background and experiences in Utah, including her Moroccan heritage and work in the cocktail industry, while discussing the state's unique liquor laws and regulations. Ariana detailed her career journey in the industry from her early jobs to becoming a national finalist in Speed Rack and participating in various educational programs through Tales of the Cocktail.
Ariana also discusses her experiences as a bartender at High West Saloon, her involvement in the Bar Five Spirits program and participation in a new documentary about that experience titled Bar and her role in supporting women in the hospitality industry, managing cultural expectations as a Muslim woman, plus a wide range of other topics. We really enjoyed our time talking with Ariana and enjoy the show. Okay, we're back with another episode of the industry podcast. I am Kip and this is Dan.
Hey man, how's it going? Great buddy, great. How are you? Still awesome.
Let's again. Yeah. You can second of a streak of 249 episodes. Stop that coming.
That's good to hear. Good to hear. Everything's good. Nothing too exciting to report.
I don't know. The great call if it's happening at work. Yeah. Hopefully it's a have a job.
Yep. By the time we record the next episode. See the bench on the trunk I have to start the next recording. Yeah.
That's right. Well, I still currently have jobs. So let me tell you all about them. There we go.
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Yeah, a whole bunch of stuff going on with the Cocktail Festival. You don't want to miss any of it. We have been promoting it because it's going to be an amazing event. There will be, of course, the Galove Cocktails.
There will be the neighborhood Cocktail Crawl and lots of seminars and tasting. So you don't want to miss that. Get your tickets now. Put on by the Alchemist magazine.
Just Google the Alchemist and you will be able to buy tickets there. I think that that is all I need to discuss. But you know, we should discuss is our good friends at in Bibliotheon. Today's episode is in partnership with in Bibliotheon, the visual cocktail app built by Bartenders for bartenders.
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OK, I think that's all we need to drone on about. Let's get right to our guests, joining us from Park City, Utah. It's Ariana Hone. How are you?
Hi, I'm doing well. How are you all? We're great. We're all right.
Yeah, not to complain. Well, I mean, we could do lots of complaining, but nobody gets a shit. Thanks for the time out on us on the afternoon to join us. We appreciate it.
Of course, thanks for having me. So I think you're our first guest from Utah. Yeah. So that's exciting in and of itself.
Do you grow up in Utah? I'm honored to be the first. Yes, I did grow up here. So my parents came here from Morocco of all places.
They chose Utah. So I grew up doing a little back and forth, but Utah was home for my formative years. And I left and then ended up coming back. Oh, really?
So you obviously like it. I like the mountains. Yeah, I hear it's very scenic. Oh, yes.
It's a park city. A ski or snowboard by any chance to snowboarder. Not nice. So do I.
So why did your parents choose Utah of all places? No, I don't exactly know. I've asked my mom in the past. There is and there was at the time they came a really good, like immigrant community here, not necessarily Moroccan, but lots of people from all over the world.
And I do think the Mormons and BYU kind of attracts that or for a while. They were really trying to market themselves to other countries and bring people back here. So I think that definitely the accessibility and ease of living here was a big factor. Yeah.
Well, there's also like a quite a stigma, which I'm sure is mostly based on ignorance at this point about Utah being like sort of a dry state. But that's not really the case, obviously. Like you work at a bar. There's a giant distillery there.
But there are dry cities, right? So not so much dry cities anymore, but as far as legality goes, but culturally, there are cities that are definitely more dry or where people are drinking behind closed doors, more so than out in the open. But it is very interesting. There are still some weird laws to navigate if you're working in the cocktail world or hospitality out here.
Yeah, it's funny. We've, through the course of the show, we've interviewed so many people have opened bars and restaurants in different states in the US. And it's crazy to us how different all the liquor laws are in pockets of all over America. They're all so different.
Yeah, I wish we would just go with one big, you know, across the board law, like anywhere else. But I guess everyone wants to be different state to state here. So is it still also different county to county as well? And you talk to like a lot of places?
Not anymore. Out of time. Yes. But no, it's all one big state law.
OK. Similar to Canada, we have like government run liquor stores. So that does make it a lot easier for sure. And can I see the liquor stores open on Sunday there or no?
Are they closed? Absolutely not. Yeah. And how literally open till?
Not very late. Most of them close around 6 or 7 PM. You have a lot of people that are open, yeah, 9 or 10 PM. But they're really.
Yeah, that's like the way it was here about a decade ago. It's yeah, we were closed on Sundays and they were closed at 6. But now ours are all open on Sundays and they're usually up until 10 or 11. Yeah.
Interesting. OK, so let's talk a little bit about you. How you got into the industry. What was your sort of first industry gig?
Well, I was industry adjacent for a long time. So being first generation American, I started working really young. I started babysitting under the table. But then when I could legally work out 14, I started actually working in fast food.
And that was kind of my first step or like baby step towards hospitality. And then as a teenager, I started working in hotels. But my first bar job was when I was legally allowed to bartend. So right at 21.
And what was the bar? The bar was called Tinwell. It no longer exists, sadly. But it was an awesome craft cocktail bar.
They had great DJs on the weekends and then kind of like a neighborhood vibe on the weekdays. So you like you really got like your first real gig. You were actually already working in like a cocktail oriented bar? Yes.
Yeah. That's that's unusual almost. So I guess we tend to start in like, I don't know, more like a friendly style restaurant or whatever way up chain restaurant or national chain. Yeah, usually I find that a lot of my colleagues too.
That's how they start. But I was living in Hawaii for a few years and hanging out at a lot of bars after work. And I decided, OK, when I moved back to Utah, I want to bartend. You know, I was inspired by some friends who worked in the industry out there and who knew a lot about craft spirits and kind of the history of cocktails.
And I really liked that. They have these stories to tell and share. And so that's kind of what gave me that early start in craft cocktails was seeing other people do it. And have you always lived in Park City?
No, so lived in Hawaii for a few years. No, I mean outside of like when you got to the job. Yeah. I grew up in Provo, which is like, you know anything about Utah that is the epicenter of Mormonism.
That is, you know, that is their town. So very strange place to grow up. And then I moved to Salt Lake, moved to Hawaii, came back and have been between Salt Lake and Park City ever since. That's crazy.
So how long do you live in Hawaii? Just a few years. Yeah, but like, I mean, I'm sure it was unbelievable out there. So to want to come back to Utah, you must really enjoy it.
It was unbelievable for sure. It's an amazing place. I've had amazing friends, but you know, it's also like one of those places where I think people feel the same about Puerto Rico, where you're there long enough. You start to realize like how colonization and how people who aren't, why I'm moving out there has poisoned it.
I would love to go back someday, but I think I would want to be a good steward of the community in the land before, you know. That's interesting. Yeah, it's something you don't really think or you wouldn't think about until you're actually living out there for a while, right? Like just overrun by tourists and like people who are looking to escape their previous lives.
Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay, so then you come back to Park City and we were discussing before we started recording about how you're working at the High West Saloon now, which is obviously affiliated with High West Whiskey. And well, the High West facility, I guess you make more than whiskey. You know, I mostly know them for whiskey. My first bar was a whiskey oriented bar and I used to drive across the border and we can't get that here in Canada.
So I could drive across the border and bring it back in my trunk and sell it at the bar. I mean, no, I didn't, but I love High West Whiskey. So talk to us a little bit about how you got involved with the distillery. Yeah.
Well, I can't even names, but I have definitely shipped some Canadians. My best to put behind their bars. I got started out there. I had worked in Park City in the past in hotels and kind of done odd serving jobs here and there.
And I really wanted to expand my horizons and being in Utah with the laws that are kind of archaic at times. There's not a lot of ways I feel like you can grow or as easy of ways to grow as you can in other places. And so once I saw what the distillery bar was doing, what the saloon bar was doing, I kind of weaseled my way in. I knew some people that worked there and I knew they were hiring.
And so I started to be like, you know, you should tell your bar manager, I'm looking for a job. I love your whiskey. And so I started there in 2018 in the fall of 2018. So that's seven years now, I think.
Oh, that's a long time to work at one bar. So that's awesome. I love hearing stories like that. Generally people on people in our industry are pretty transient, right?
We've been around, there's always new opportunities for different ones. So yeah, I in my time there, I've been at a few other bars on the side, but primarily high West throughout the whole time. So backing up a little bit, obviously you had credentials before you started working there because you had been working in craft cocktail bars and then you got into Speedrack as well. Correct.
Yes. So tell us about that. What made you decide to do that? We've had a few guests on the show that Speedrack can always tell us an amazing experience.
Oh, yeah. Speedrack is amazing. My first Speedrack ever. I had only been bartending for six months.
So I really went and blind. Like I had a lot to learn. It was very humbling and terrifying, but I had a friend who was doing it. And so I decided, you know, why the hell not?
I'll try it out. I learned a lot and then I was able to go back and go on to become a national finalist a couple years later. But the first time I did it, I felt like a deer in the headlights. Like what am I doing?
Where am I? Just because we've obviously picked up newer listeners along the way, we, I can't remember the last time we interviewed someone who had done Speedrack. So can you explain to our listeners exactly what the competition entails? Yeah, of course.
So Speedrack is an all female or if I'm identifying bartending competition. Based on speed and efficiency, hence the name, you have to make five craft cocktails. And they kind of have a big list of the classics. It varies year to year, but it could be anywhere from, I think, like 50 to 80, if I remember correctly.
So the big classic cocktails under two minutes, but desirably like to get on stage and be a finalist. You want to be under like a minute 30. And so they go regionally and they go throughout the world. So it's not just based in the Americas.
I think they've done some in New Zealand and Australia in the past and they're trying to expand. But you have a prelim round where it's just you, the judges, competitors go one by one. And then if you make the stage round in your regional, it's you. And the other finalists and then two finalists from each region go on to the national competition.
Wow. And where was the national competition held when you were in it? So when I was a finalist, it was a COVID year. So so no, a year and a half to compete or actually, so I competed in February of 2020.
And our finals were September 2021. So four years ago this weekend, I was in New York City. Yeah, it was it was really nice, but it was a really small, like small attendance because COVID restrictions were so intense in New York still all the time. So it was it was different.
It was fun. And I think it was more like unique and wild than any other speed rock nationals because we still were in this like COVID time. It was the first weekend Broadway reopened since COVID. A lot of bars were reopening like indoor service.
So it was a big weekend in New York City. It was really cool to be there and see their industry kind of get going back up. And so obviously you start doing competitions like this. This is sort of kind of maybe the first thing you do outside of the specific realm of working behind the wood.
That's when you start getting interested in like Tesla, the cocktail and stuff like that. I'm assuming you're meeting people at speed rack and they're saying this is a cool thing to do. Is that kind of how that went? Yeah, that's exactly right.
So I was meeting people at speed rack. I was hearing about tales and I was also like Googling things, you know, because people are talking to you like, you know what things are. And you're like, uh-huh. And you go back to your hotel room later and you're like, OK, let me Google this and actually get an understanding of what really is going on over there in New Orleans.
Right. Yeah. And then you went several years after that. Yeah.
So I started with the cocktail apprentice program in 2019, which is the back of house team during tales there, the people who ensure every seminar, every party, all that stuff is functioning and has cocktails. And I went back and did the cap program a couple more times. And now I just go as a free agent. But without the cap program, I don't think I would have as strong of an appreciation as I do for tales because you really get to see the work that's put into all the seminars and the education and kind of the nonprofit, like philanthropy side of tales and what they do as an organization.
Yeah, it's I went down to one year and it was just like an amazing experience. But we were kind of did some podcast interviews down there and just fantastic. But I've only done the one time, but it's like one time it's not enough because there's so much shit going on. There's no way you can go to all of it or do it all of it and plus you're drinking the whole time.
But yeah, super fun experience. So talk to us about the documentary. Like I'm not even familiar with this yet. So explain to us what happened with the documentary, how you guys like to be in it, what it's all about.
Yeah, I would love everyone in the industry to know about the documentary. So the film is called Bar and the director who filmed it on Hardy is an amazing director. He's done a lot of work over the years for kind of bigger media networks and now does freelance work. The producer Maxwell Britain used to be in the industry.
He ran me some premiere in New York City and he really he came up with the idea he wanted people to get a firsthand look into our world. So Maxwell grew up in the film world. His mom, I believe, is a set dresser, set decorator. His uncle is an editor or producer.
So he grew up around kind of that world and recognized that there's this huge gap in the storytelling of our industry. You have a lot of stuff about chefs and you even have TV shows that are dramatizing restaurant experiences in the back of house experience, like the bear. But there's really nothing about craft cocktails. And so Maxwell being a bar five day graduate wanted to bring in a camera crew to get the behind the scenes.
First look really raw and edited scoop on bar five and what it means to kind of be a top bartender or spirits expert. In this industry and they they chose five bartenders. I believe they just went through our applications and read our stories and then we did some zoom interviews and I found out I was selected and they followed us around for a week, which if you haven't done bar five, it is the most like nerve racking sleep deprived stomach upsetting week of your life. What is bar five?
Because I think most people will not know what that is. So yeah, bar five is a spirit kind of finishing school for bartenders. I would consider it like a master's or a doctorate in spirit. So, you know, everyone knows W set and those courses, but bar was put together by delta graph Dave, one, rich Steve Olson, Doug Frost, those guys and they really wanted a spirit specific and also cocktail history specific program.
So you go through this intensive program where you're learning the history of distillation, you know, all the way back to the ninth to 10th century as far back as they can trace it. You're learning the history of hospitality, the history of all these modern cocktails we love, but you're also learning how to blind taste over 200 spirits. And then at the end of the week, you have a big exam that takes about three or four hours written exam to finish and you have a blind tasting and where you have to blind taste experience and two cocktails and you want to identify them as closely as you can, like even down to the brand, the ABV, etc. And you have to make cocktails for them and show them, you know, you're competent, capable behind the bar, which for most of us is the easy part.
It's the written test in the blind tasting that are super difficult. Crazy. Yeah. Well, the blind tasting for spirits and trying to pick out a brand is really something else like because, you know, having done W said, like in the wine world doing a blind tasting.
And I'm sure that there's some similarities here, but it's almost like, like I would describe it in many other people. I've described this is not my, I didn't come up with this, but like that, that is almost like, like a detective work, like you're solving a puzzle, right? Like you start with like, okay, if you can identify, say with a wine, if you can identify, okay, it's probably this great, right? Then like, then that's kind of where you start and then you can, you can move through the detective work from there just based on like the smell and the taste.
And then you're like, well, it's likely to come from this region as opposed to this region and so on and so forth. Like it works similarly when you're doing that with spirits. Yeah, it works similarly. So I should say the brand thing is like extra credit, but you want to try and get, you know, everyone in our world is hyper competitive.
So you want to try and get it. So it starts that way. It starts very broad, right? You're looking at it, you're smelling it.
Okay, has a spent time in a barrel. Is there signs of aging here that I can smell or taste or just see? And then you're going, okay, is this more floral? Is this more vegetal?
Am I getting minerality? Okay, so what category spirit might this be? And you start to work your way down. Okay, it's it's really hot or it's clean, you know, and then you're trying to guess the ABB based on those things.
I would say the trickiest thing for spirits is when you get into like those rums that taste similar to aged whiskeys and you get into that like really nuanced area, that great area with age spirits where because you have nothing to go off of, but your, your nose, your eyes, your taste, you're like, wait, is this a Ron or is this a whiskey or, you know, I'm so glad you said that because so like the first part of it was a whiskey bar because I was really into whiskey. And then my current bar is more of a rum focus bar and I got sort of talked into that by my business partner, who was a rum guy and I was like, I don't even really like rum like, but I hadn't been drinking like crazy age rum. You know, like the really good stuff. And a lot of that stuff once I start drinking it is so close to whiskey.
It's insane. And again, one thing to rum is just being like sugary sweet and like, but there's so much rum that's not sweet at all. And that is aged in barrels and like would be in many cases, unidentifiable from whiskey. Yeah, you definitely you get a lot of those in bar five day where you're like, this could be, yeah, this could be like a sherry cast aged whiskey.
Or this could be a sherry cast age rum and I have no idea what I'm tasting right now. And especially with sherry cast because it really overwhelms the flavor when anything stays in a sherry cast like that really comes forward in the spirit. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's crazy.
So so congratulations on graduating from that. That sounds insane. I'm just like kind of learning about this in real time. So like it's very impressive.
So and so then the concept of the documentary was them following you around while you're actively trying to do this. Yeah. Yeah. So it's kind of a super like it's really raw.
It's really vulnerable, definitely unglamorous at times too, because it is like, you know, if you think of a university and like finals exams, it's like that times 10 this rest. And so they're following you around and they do what they did come out and film like my work at high West and the other bartenders there work at their bars. But it is, yeah, it's high pressure. You're not sleeping a lot because you're in these lectures all day from like eight a.m.
to some days nine or 10, maybe 11 p.m. And then you're going back to the hotel or the Airbnb and you're going through your notes and you're talking to people and then, you know, maybe you're sleeping for hours and you're waking up and it's at the culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park in New York. So you're also on this really special, amazing campus. But yeah, it's very stressful also very worthwhile to just be in that room and be with the instructors in that course.
It's the top people in our industry. It's the people you want to learn from. It's the people you want to talk to. And everyone who is sitting that course is very serious about their jobs and really interesting to talk to their people from all over the world.
When I did it, we had people from, you know, Canada, the Netherlands, Greece, Mexico, Puerto Rico, like you really get people from everywhere taking it, which is cool. So yeah, crazy. You're in this on this beautiful campus and you're in New York City, but you basically don't have time to do anything except go to the class and study. Exactly.
And if you don't mind me asking, like, there's obviously a cost to end to to the course. And then are you like when you're in New York, you're there on your own time as well, obviously. Correct. So I was fortunate enough.
I was awarded a scholarship through tells the cocktail and also me some front not covered my cost of the course. So I was just responsible for my travel and my lodging and they covered food once you're there. You're, you're on this culinary Institute campus. So the food is amazing, but it is, it can be a barrier to entry, the cost.
And I do think the bar organization does try to find as many ways as possible to help people who can't afford it. So they offer like a back-of-house program similar to what Tails does where you come and you work the back-of-house. So you set up the tastings, you set up everything, you break down the booze. You're there a few days earlier before everyone and that covers, I think everything.
I think they cover everything when you do that. So that's good. Yeah. Yeah.
That's great that they have that option. Okay, you're doing all of this stuff and now they're filming you, you're doing the documentary, but you still have to obviously work your job. Like how are you finding time to do all of this stuff at once? Like by being very stressed out and sleep deprived and also having a great like cohort of bartenders.
I think, you know, high-west is unique in the fact that it's in a ski town. So there is this like work hard play hard mentality. And so I think we all take turns for each other. I think that's the general vibe of ski towns and ski town hospitality culture.
Everyone there wants to play. They want their weather. Whether that's like pursuing education, finding time outside to snowboard and be in the mountains or rock climb or whatever. And so we all take turns for each other, even though I am in charge of the bar team.
I still spend a few days a week behind the bar and I feel like we have a really good support system there. And there's this culture of like, okay, you want to go ski in Japan during our busiest time of the year. That's fine as long as I can go to this during this time. Right.
Yeah. Yeah. There is a really good support system there that I think maybe other bars, you know, it's harder to have if you're working in a place where the culture is all hustle, hustle, mentality. And so where can people see this documentary?
Right now they are in discussion of getting it out to streamers. So hopefully soon it will be available to the public. We are in talks. I don't know final word on this yet, but it might be showing at Athens Bar Show this fall.
It might be showing at London Cocktail Week. That's still TBD. I think they want to do a few more viewings before it goes to streaming. But keep an eye out because I do think it's a love letter to our industry.
And I think it's the first of its kind to really honestly show and to give kind of that honor and respect to bartenders. Because I think there's things that have been done that don't highlight how serious most of us take our jobs, how serious most of us take our careers. And you know, every bartender I've ever met is could be like a PhD candidate in like microbiology or, you know, a doctor or a lawyer. Like I find our industry is filled with a lot of really intelligent people who are just looking for something that fits either their lifestyle more or their interests more.
Yeah, exactly. I know it's like a long time that our industry has been frowned upon. It's like not a real job, but I think a lot of that's changing now. So it's good.
But this documentary will certainly help. Can you tell me how long were they filming you? Like how what was the total time and like how many hours a week would they be filming it? I mean, so bar five is like one week, right?
But you said they were filming you at your bar as well. Yes. So so bar five was in January and then I think they wrapped filming in May. So about five months intermittently.
So they did bar five and then they came out and followed everyone. It was really impressive how much footage they got and how short of time they had. They came out to Park City and they were here for like two days filming. Oh, so just concept filming for two days basically while you were working?
Yeah, while I was working and then some interviews and some, you know, home interviews. Just filming you while you were sleeping. Yeah, exactly. Got to get all the footage.
That was fun. Oh, yeah, so that's interesting for me. And then like hopefully we will see this on a streamer sooner than later. The other thing I want to talk about was specifically the bar, the high west saloon.
Because I think most people who listen to be familiar with the distillery, but how would you describe the vibe of the bar and restaurant that you're running? Yeah. So I would say we try and make our bar as competitive as possible with any other craft cocktail bar out there while also working for a brand. So we have a full back bar.
I think that's something people are surprised to hear. We're not just showcasing high west. We have other whiskeys. We have other spirits in our cocktail menu.
We like to highlight high west, but oftentimes we will feature other spirits. So high west has made me the queen of split based cocktail because if you want to do a run based cocktail, you have to figure out how to make it work with rye or with bourbon or with high west gin. And so I've been able to find a lot of interesting pairings that way, but full craft cocktail bar, all of our bartenders, most I would say majority of our bar team has done like the bar smarts program or some equivalent of like the W set to. And so really knowledgeable bar team seasonal cocktail menu, you know, that's has a theme every season.
So similar to any other craft cocktail bar you'll be behind, we just also have an expansive knowledge on high west spirits. Do you find that because you obviously worked in other cocktail bars as well previous to high west, do you find it easier or more challenging when you are like, when you kind of have like a basis like, okay, we're going to be using mostly high west spirits. Does that make it easier to make a cocktail list or is it making more challenging? Well, it's both.
So I think on the creativity side, originally when I first started there, was more challenging to figure out how to balance out these flavors. But as someone who now creates the menu, it is challenging in the sense of like style and creativity and always trying to do something different when you have to have like a whiskey in there or a gin, you know, but it also does give you like, you know, 15 to 25% of your green. I also think people would be coming there expecting to get cocktails that are made with high west products. So in a way, it's kind of like a cheat code for you where you're like, okay, well, I know I'm starting with this and I can just go from there.
But the flip side, just the way my brain works is like it could also be limiting for you. Yes, totally. Every pod. I mean, it's interesting.
You'd be surprised how many people walk in and don't realize they're in high. Because they just say you're high. So because that could be anything. I guess.
I get it. I get it. I get it. I get it down and they go, is this where the whiskey comes from?
It's not place. You're like, yes, did you not like read the sign? Did you know people will review? People don't read it.
Yeah, reading's not the high priority. It is also interesting because you get these people, which everyone gets this gas behind a bar that is like, I'm a whiskey drinker, don't give me anything in a girly glass. And it's like, well, this cocktail is split base with Ray and nephew. So while you might get some of these like eucalyptus notes from our raw, you might mostly be tasting that like banana and that tropical fruit note from the Ray and nephew.
So you this actually might scare you, but you should try it. Yeah, that just that combination of my their scares me ran. I've learned to appreciate it, but I never say I've enjoyed it. Okay, the other thing I want to ask you about before we let you go is the pop up work you've been doing as well.
So talk to us a little bit about that concept. Yeah, so since sadly, since COVID, it's kind of died out when I want to pick it back up. So I was running a pop up called Women Crush Wednesday. And when I started my pop up, I found out there are several other women running a pop up by the same name, which I love.
My version focused on highlighting, you know, here in Utah, it's a very patriarchal culture. The Mormon Church is very like patriarchal centered and proud of it. And that can be reflected in bars here. And so I wanted to get women center stage, because a lot of times, there is this kind of sexism here, unfortunately, where you'll have amazing female bar staff, but they'll be overshadowed by the men or the men will be promoted over them.
So my original thought was I want women to have, you know, the center stage and the spotlight. So we would pick a female oriented or a nonprofit that was geared towards helping women. Occasionally, we'd have a nonprofit that was just helping everyone, which is also great. And we would raise money for them, but primarily also focus on getting women in the city out or getting them identifying people out in Salt Lake Park City to come out and support other women and see what they have to showcase.
So we'd find a spirit sponsor. And I say we, but it was always me running this. So I find a spirit sponsor. And we would play with those spirits, me and the guest bartender or whoever I was highlighting at a time, sometimes to bartenders at once and create a menu.
And I really wanted to focus on these bartenders highlighting their skills, their creativity, their playfulness. So there wasn't like a limit on like spending or garnish or whatever. So really spectacular fun cocktails for good cause. I had a great DJ I worked with and a great designer who, you know, designed all my ads.
And it was, it was really fun. COVID hit. And obviously that stopped for a while. And then I took over the bar program at high west and that made my life, you know, busier.
But I would like to get back to it. And I have done some pop ups with friends here in their sense, but not fully women crush one's days. Well, it seems like you got enough going on to maybe to need to be focused on that at this exact second. But there was one more thing I want to ask you about before I let you go.
Thanks for all this time today. Talk to us about being a punch bartender in residence. What does that mean exactly? Yeah, so I think now it's punch bartender of the year, recent recent name change.
But when I did it, it was punch bartender in residence. So punch magazine highlights bartenders from around the world who they think are exemplary up and coming and really interesting in the industry. So I did it in 2022, I believe. And it was really cool.
I got to share my experience, you know, I come from a Muslim background. So being a bartender and coming from a Muslim family is always an interesting story to share. And so I got to share my experience with that. And it was the first time really my recipes have been published on a big platform.
And I also was able to connect with all the bartenders in residence. So punch does a really good job of connecting the people who are being featured together. So you create these relationships that are great for networking and also I think just peer on peer mentorship. And the cool thing about this program is anyone can be nominated.
So you could, if you're listening, you could email punch and say, I know a great bartender in my city or my town. And so I really like that too, because I think there is a lot of barrier to entry in other aspects of like being put out there in this industry or any industry in general and being given a big platform. But they do a good job of just, hey, if you know someone who's good, send us their info. We'll see if they're good fit.
If we think, you know, they have a good story to tell and we'll feature them and we'll give them a big party at tells the cocktail. And yeah, that's amazing. Well, it's an incredible amount of accolades for you for still being such a young woman. So congratulations, you got a lot going on.
The last thing I'm going to ask you that my promise will let you go is just because you brought it up. How do your parents feel about your children profession? Yeah, so it's an interesting area. So my dad is deceased.
So I don't have to worry about his feelings. No, it's okay. My mom is remarried and my stepdad is American, not Muslim. So I don't think he cares too much, but it was really hard with my mom at first.
And still to this day, my family outside of like my brothers and my mom and stepdad don't know I bartend. Oh, really? No, I'm in hospitality. They know I work in restaurants, but it's such an interesting gray area to walk because you do have this culture of Islam and then you have the religion, right?
And like, I think a lot of Muslim people drink. I know that for a fact, actually. And whether they do it behind closed doors or on vacation or whatever out in the open, but there is still this like culture of not telling, you know, you don't want your neighbor to see your drinking. You don't want your and so I guess in a way that has helped me navigate the Mormon drinking culture here in Utah.
Yeah. That's one way it's similar. But it is, you know, I think like there are things I wish I could share with my family and I have a very close family. And I don't get to share a lot of my accolades or accomplishments or celebrate them with my family.
Whereas my cousins who have done the traditional route, a traditional brown kid route, which I would say is, you know, like chemistry, engineering. They all get to celebrate their accolades and accomplishments. Whereas me, I'm like, yeah, I'm working in a restaurant. Yeah, it's tough.
Because especially considering you have done so much that so it would be nice to share. Right? Yeah. I understand my parents are hardcore Baptist and they didn't know what I did for very many years either.
So I get where you're coming from. It's just a weird thing to hide. Like, and yeah, it's just very funny. But because I always think it's funny too, because they'll clearly go to a restaurant that serves alcohol.
Right? Yeah. And it's like, we'll be out of, you know, when I go back home to Morocco, we'll be out of family dinner. And my uncles will be drinking wine.
And I'm like, why am I hiding this? Yeah, it's crazy. Well, yeah. Well, Ariana, I just want to thank you so much for giving us the time again.
Today was a pleasure talking to you. Let all of our listeners know where they can follow you or stay in touch with what you're up to. Yeah. I'm at Ariana Sisley on Instagram.
And that's Ariana with two ends and Sisley like Sisley Tyson, the actress, easier to remember than spelling it like the country. My Instagram is private because my family is Muslim. And obviously we just covered that. So welcome to my work.
Right now at the high west saloon. And we'd like to be doing more before all of this political stuff in the United States. I was hoping to do more global pop ups with friends overseas. But we'll see what happens there.
So TBD. But yeah, give me a follow. Hopefully some exciting adventures coming soon in my near future. Awesome.
And we'll all stay tuned for the documentary. Make sure that you let us know when it finds a home and we will promote it on the show. Thank you. Yeah.
Okay. Thank you. Great meeting you. Great meeting you all.
Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you very much.