E256 Garrett Stewart

On this week's episode of the industry podcast, Garrett Stewart joined us for an in-person interview. Gary is currently bartending at Borealis in Kitchener. During our interview with Gary, we talk about his involvement in his first cocktail competition named The Golden Shaker and how he won. We talk about his current job at Borealis and the importance of getting to know your local food suppliers.

Gary also discusses landing his first job in the industry at 16 when he got a job as a busboy. We then talk with Gary about how, over the course of the next few years, he had various roles bustling in bar running at clubs and how he wound up moving overseas to teach English for a few years. We then talk about Gary's eventual move back home and how he had several jobs in the education sector, but always had a bartending gig at the same time and how this eventually led him to realize that he wanted to make bartending his full-time profession. And we also talk about Gary's latest project, Uncle Gator, a venture that is focused on event curation, menu development and consultation.

We had a great time talking with Gary. Make sure you check him out online at unclegator666 or check the show notes for all the links. Enjoy the show. Okay, we're back with another episode of the industry podcast.

I'm Kipp, this is Dan. Hey man, how's it going? I'm great man, how are you? Still awesome.

Yeah, all right. I'm glad you're asking. I don't know why, I'm gonna stop. Yeah, yeah, things are good.

That's good, that's good. As we record this, it's late November. So by the time you hear this, it might be the holiday season time. Yeah, some people are doing holiday stuff.

I was in several bars this week for work that are already playing Christmas music. It's very annoying. Yeah, true. I did see Santa at the mall.

I noticed that a week, I see it a little bit earlier. I left it more closer to December, but it was like mid-November. It's like literally the day after remember to say. You know what I was talking about this, it's somebody at the bar the other day.

I won't say which bar, it's not on the outcome, but they had started the Christmas music at the bar basically the day after Halloween. And I was saying, it's partially because, it's probably not bad in the US because their Thanksgiving is so much later. So it's like they start after Thanksgiving, whereas we just start after Halloween now. Yeah, ridiculous.

But hey, here's not working on one of those bars. Yeah, give me some time. Yeah, that's right. I might start doing that in Sugar Run.

Speaking of Sugar Run, if you're in town, in Kitchener Water, Lou, area, you should come check it out. It's at Sugar Run Bar on Instagram to figure out everything that's going on there. Time to hear you know, it's probably all your Christmas parties are out of the way, but we still take book them in January. So reach out info at sugarrun.ca.

And if you're looking for wine or spirits for the holidays, you can hit me up at kipsonnersajunel.com. Hey, white PPSAUNDERS at gmail.com for delicious spirits from Allure Distillery and wine from Alvar. So check that out. If you like what we're doing here on the show, the best way to help us out is to subscribe, follow, rate, and review the show.

Or tell a friend as you like to say. That is correct. All your friends, it's the easiest thing to do. It takes about a minute.

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And if you're interested in being guest on the show or provide support for the show, you can reach out to us info at the industrypodcast.club that's dot CLUB or you can DM us at the industrypodcast on Instagram. Where you find the amazing artwork by the ultra talented ZACHANA at ZACHANA.co for all of your graphic arts needs. Z-A-K-A-A-W-N-A-H dot CO at ZACHANA. And you know what, Dan?

Now that we're in the holiday spirits, if you're in the holiday season, let's say you're trying to host a party at your house and you don't know how to make a fucking drink to save your life. And you don't want to just sort of cool his lights out of ice bins. What'd you do? I would recommend getting yourself an app.

Yeah, specifically. Does any app? Yeah, not that you're only talking con or something on your phone or on your phone or on your phone. Realistically, I'd recommend getting yourself a little cocktail app, more specifically, in Biblioth.

Because today's app is a partnership with in Biblioth, a visual cocktail app built by bartenders, four bartenders. Start with over 500 recipes and watch that number grow every week. Unlike static cocktail books, in Biblioth's free library expands constantly. We add new classics as we research them and bartenders worldwide contribute to their creations.

Every recipe gets the full visual treatment, ratio maps, flavor maps, batch calculators, and shareable QR codes. Here are all the details, episode 216 of the industry podcast, see why it was featured by Bon Appetitite, and hit number one on the app store when it launched. The free download gets you 500 plus recipes and all core features with subscription options for individuals and businesses to unlock advanced tools and connect entire teams. Visit www.ambiblia.com, or as I can always say, check the show notes for all the links.

Yep, it's a great tool invaluable if you're a bartender professionally or just a home bartender. Like I said to the holidays, check out in Biblioth. You will impress your friends because you will know how to make every cocktail recipe in known demand. And before we get to our guests, I just want to give a quick shout out last night, I did do a gin tasting experience for the Royal Reclavant Stratford at Foster's Inn.

So a big shout out to all the people who participated in that and showed up. And Foster's Inn and the great staff there. The food was amazing, the staff was amazing. So shout out to Ryan and Scott, and also to the other facilities that participated.

We had Willabald there, we had Gen 56, and we had Henrix actually, which, you know, they're the big boys. Yeah, great time. I was had by also shout out to all of them. And that's about all we got to travel on about before we get to our guests, Garrett Stewart with us live in the studio.

Garrett, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having us. Yeah, cheers. Super nice to be here, cheers.

Thanks for coming over. It's nice to have some people in the neighborhood that are doing cool things, telling people from all over North America, Europe, like all the, you know, providing good information. Like, we're talking to some folks that we've got a bunch of really talented people in this industry. And some people don't know about it.

And some people are really talented in this industry. And like, you need to, you know, like connect with other people and learn more and stuff. So it's pretty cool. It's pretty exciting.

Yeah, thanks, man. We have what we're trying to do here. And it's been working out with it. We like to bring people together in the industry.

And mostly what we're trying to do is highlight the people who've been doing it for a long time. So yeah, we're happy to have you here as you are one of those people. Yeah, so let's talk a little bit of a little bit of a little diapod into it. Currently you're working at Borealis in Kitchener, and you're heavily behind the cocktail program there, correct?

I have been in and out, like, with the cocktail program. It's like a little bit trickier with bar. Like, you know, we're not a chain by any stretch, but there are five restaurants involved. So like, there have been times when I've had a lot of my cocktails on our cocktail menu.

There have been times when I've had fewer of my cocktails on the cocktail menu. I also like, we do feature cocktails constantly. We do feature like non-alcoholic, mocktail kind of stuff all the time. So lately in the last like six months or so, we just hired a new like beverage manager.

So like, they're kind of showing off their capabilities. We're trying to like kind of make a more cohesive program across our five restaurants. So that involves a lot of people. Yeah, so I mean.

Yeah, it's a little different when there's lots of restaurants involved, right? So if you want to give everyone kind of their opportunity to shine, but I'd be really lucky. I've been there as of tomorrow. I will have been there for four years, which is pretty exciting.

Like, especially again, in this industry, it's often like, you go into places and people are like, I've been here for six months. And then the next time you go in there, and that's one of the things, one of the many things that I really like about this place that I'm at right now, I love the ethos. I love that most people that I've known that, you know, are there, have stuck around. I've got people that have been there for 14, 15 years.

Which to me is a sign of like a good thing that they've got going. Yeah, I come from like dive bars and like pubs and breweries and stuff like that. I start getting into cocktail stuff until I started there. But that's really cool.

I think like, you know, I've learned a ton. And like I have a lot of great products to work with. One of the parts of our ethos is like everything super local, as ethically and sustainably harvested, produced as we possibly can. I like it when I know the names of the people that are involved.

I can say, oh, hey, your burger like, you know, was raised by a guy named Brian. Right. And people like that, right? Like because you know, and like, and honestly, our burger is like, maybe $1.25 more than a big-not combo.

And it's like good products, whatever. And then, you know, like, I know that the money that people are spending there. And I can say, listen, this is going to like pay for, you know, excellence, whatever kids' karate lessons. And that goes like, it stays in the community rather than going to some jerk CEO 17th yacht.

And that's something that I do stand behind. Yeah, yeah. I always say that about the products that I represent as well. It's easier to sell them when you believe them in the first place.

Yeah. Totally. So what are the other restaurants in the group? Yeah, so it's Borealis Kitchener.

Borealis Guelph. Our flagship restaurant is the Woolwich Arms and Arrow or the Woolwich in Guelph. So that was our first restaurant. It started in 1991.

And then the fellow who started it actually had like another, like a French restaurant in there, I guess, for a little bit for a while. So we started that one. And then Borealis Guelph came and like, I don't want to give specific numbers, but kind of like early 2000s, we opened in, I want to say 2010, maybe 2011. And then there's Park Eatery and Mijita as well in Guelph.

So the Woolwich Park Eatery and Mijita are all within like two blocks of each other. All fantastic places. Like if you're looking for like a nice neighborhood pub, the Woolwich is fantastic. They've got like, you know, 30 beers on top that they switch constantly.

The guys that curate their beer lists are very knowledgeable and like very passionate. Mijita is like a little bit more elevated, maybe we'll say. And it's got like, especially when it opened, it had like a hyper focus on like traditional Canadian by way that I mean like indigenous kind of like flavorings and stuff like this. So like very, like it's very much at the heart of our local kind of ethos.

And then Park Eatery is like a little bit more like, like a lunch cafe, you know, you go in, you get a quick burger, whatever, all fantastic products, all fantastic suppliers. And all of them behind in this group is behind this sort of farm to table local products. So it's good to get along the whole stretch there. So one thing, like you're talking about like how you just sort of got into cocktails when you got to, I'm not going to back it up eventually.

I'm going to back it up eventually. I'm going to buy some of the dye bar experiences. But like you just started really doing cocktails four years ago. And then I think it was maybe me who talked you into entering the Golden Shaker contest for the Lord of the Sillery.

And you walked out the victor. And I was your first ever competition. That was my first ever competition. I was very nervous.

You were 100% the one that talked me into it. And like, you know, I just didn't really know what to expect. Kind of like as I got closer to the day, I was like, you know, pretty nervous about it. I'd never done it before.

And it's like they're going to laugh at me. I didn't actually think that but like, you know what I mean, like, we don't know really too big. I've never done it before. You don't know how your cocktail stack up to anyone else's around like, yeah.

It's not really that like it's that, you know, like all these people. And you get in and like we got in there like 10 in the morning on a Saturday or whatever. And like, you know, it's all these, you know, Bartenders from all around the place. Most of them have probably worked till like two or three in the morning.

Maybe had a couple drinks after. So we're all kind of sitting there like bleary-eyed. But it's like, oh, these people are so intense and like pissed off. So my thing, like when I entered, I was like, I am going to be stoked just to get asked to the competition because you feel like a submission, right?

And you like kind of give what your idea is. And then they say like, oh, yeah, you're in or you're not. So I got in and it was like, I'm stoked. A good buddy of mine who used to be my bar manager at Borealis actually told him about it.

He's like, yeah, I'm going to go in as well. And so we're going to be there together. I had a bunch of friends like come out and support me and whatever. And like everyone that I met, you know, especially once everyone gets going, especially once you get in front of people and you start talking about your cocktails, then you're kind of at work again a little bit.

And then someone can come up to you after you and be like, yo, that was awesome. Your cocktail was really great. I like these ideas that you had. I learned this and that.

And the other thing about what you're talking about, I learned about new stuff, especially because where I'm at right now, I've always found with any artistic practice that limiting myself has been pretty good. So like being within the realm of having exclusively local products, we don't do, we don't, I have one bottle of squash behind the bar. Like at that time you can still get bourbon. You know, like I don't do any of that.

I don't work with any of that stuff, right? But then I was like getting all these people that, you know, kind of were very well-versed and do a lot of things. I was like, oh my God, there's some cool stuff. I met a lot of buddies there.

Like I've got people that I'm now like friends with and I've run into here and there. Like we have good chats. Yeah, I was nervous. And then I think like, you know, I walked out and yeah, I took the Golden Shaker was a huge honor.

And like I think that part of it was just that like, it was simple, right? Like that's, and that's kind of always been, like I'd like playing with a lot of stuff, but like you know, simple, sippable, sessionable cocktails. Right? Like to, you know, showcase whatever products I'm working with, I'd like to do like, you know, I also, like our bar has a restaurant, I guess, has like, I don't know, almost 300 seats and.

It's not big. Yeah. It's a whole other side that you don't realize it's there when you're in there. Yeah.

And you walk in and you go like, like it looks like a very small little area, but there's a whole other side on the other side. So about 45 seats in the lounge. And then I've got another 60 seats in the rooms in the left there. And then I've got another about 100 and something seats upstairs.

Plus Patios and then I've got private dining space with 20 seats downstairs. Yeah. Yeah. So like if we're full in like, people that are like patronized our restaurant are very like, they're like six o'clock diners.

So like six o'clock is when we just go bananas and everybody comes in and like, so, you know, I'd like 10 second cocktails is a big part of kind of, you know, because I want to get something in someone's hands. I want to like, if they sit down, you know, you don't want to be one of the couple minutes before you like have something. And that's the first thing, that's the first experience when you're in a place, right? The first thing you do is you order a cocktail, you order a beer, whatever.

And then that's gonna inform the rest of the time. If you put a crappy cocktail that looks like garbage in front of someone, then they're gonna be like, oh, well, even if they have the best steak of their life, it's still not gonna be that good, right? So like. And also you're right, but like if you have to wait forever for it as well.

So it's a combo of those two things. Yeah. Yeah. And it's tough, especially if you're trying to do like elevated sort of products.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's trying to do more elevated sort of cocktail products and trying, but you also got to keep them in a neighborhood where you can get them out quickly at the same time.

I remember the first cocktail I knew we had a sugar run. It was fucking excellent. My personal bartender was awesome, but we didn't realize we were gonna be so high volume. Yeah.

What's the big space? Yeah. But we've envisioned it to be like a sort of like sit down sipping cocktail and we actually knew we were like three deep at the bar on the front of the night. And we're making all these drinks that just took away to Long and Make.

We just had to revamp the whole program after that. But you live in London. Yeah. Exactly.

And that's part of it, right? Like those are the growing pains, but like, there are some places that don't do that. No, we have to have this like super elevated cocktail program we have to have to have like, and that's cool. And there are places in town, like I think about like Grand Trunk and Grand Surf that have a super elevated cocktail program.

And if you go in there, you have to expect to wait for a little bit from the cocktail. And that's fine. You have to, you just have to know to expect that. They're like, they're one of my favorite places, right?

But you just have to know that that's what's gonna be happening. Whereas like at our place, one, we've got like three times the cat and maybe almost 10 times the capacity of the old Grand Trunk anyway. So like, and we have one bartender, right? So like I'm sitting there, chits this deep.

I can't be like, you know, slicing a strawberry. Right. And then you have to have it to like, fan it. So like, you know, I've brought my strawberries ahead.

And I just make it so like, like you still make your cocktails look good. Still make them taste good. And you make sure it's like, you have the most beautiful cocktail that tastes amazing. But if you order a cocktail and you order a steak and your cocktail comes halfway through your steak, then like what the fuck do you think?

Well, that's the thing, right? Yeah. So yeah, I'm like, it's crazy that you do only have one bartender doing because you actually have a lot of space behind that bar too. Kindly, like, so we're well, like, because we only have one well.

Right? So like, and we'll often have like, like, I'm busy, and I just want to have two or three bartenders on. But largely we'll have one just doing service bar. And then we'll have one, like, you know, and if I get really cranked, then I'll be like, all right, I'll make cocktails, can you pour me these beers?

Can you like, you know, make, like, can you pour these wines, whatever? And sometimes it works differently. Like everybody has like kind of a vibe that works differently for them. And that's cool.

Like most of us have been there. I think all of the, like, actual bartenders have been there for several years now. And we all know each other well. We know how we work well together.

And we're all buddies. Like, it's also one of those places that like most of them, and they're not gonna say us because it's not me, which is something that I've never experienced before, again, coming from dive bars. So like, you know. Like, on the job or just don't drink, period.

Yeah. Hold on a second. I think my ears are plugged in. I know.

The most experienced bar tender when I got there, she was like, yeah, I just like, I basically don't drink. Like if I go on vacation, you know, like we'll have like a couple of tequila, but otherwise, like I don't, you know, I don't go home and have a glass of wine after work, whatever. I certainly don't sit at the bar and have like two or three gentonics. I was like, okay, wow, this is just different, right?

Like, but you know what she's like, she's quick at what she does, she knows like, she knows like her flavor profile, she knows what works for her. She doesn't do a lot by way of development, like in the program, but she's like one of our main bartenders and she knows what she does. She's doing, she's quick. So that's it.

It was kind of a weird thing for me. So like, there are two of us that like we're really good buddies and like, you know, we'll often, they don't schedule us together a lot, just not because we get in trouble, but because he's kind of, we tend to work opposite shifts. So like I'll open Tuesday, he'll open Monday, you know what I mean? But then we do get to like work together then, you know, we'll go for a couple of pints afterwards.

Yeah. Yeah. As we do. Yeah.

So let's back it up a little bit and talk about like, what did you, what was your first industry job? How old were you? Where was it? I was 16.

So my, one of my best friends, when I was 16, her mother had just bought, I grew up in a small town in Ontario, and her mother, RIP Lynn, had just bought like this business that was like a couple of places, one of which was like the main pub in town, another of which was like an ice cream store and like general store, whatever. And she was like, yeah, I just, I need some help. And she was like, I know you, I've known her since I was like four, whatever. She was like, why don't you come on as a bus boy?

And that didn't work super well. She was kind of like, they were in a pinch for people, and they kind of gave me the training. Like, all right, you just like go up, you see if you, you know, like a regular human, because they just said, I'm going to be like, all right, you look, you see if people are finished, you ask, excuse me, are you finished with this? And like, can I take it away?

I was like, no, like that's just not, and this is always been my thing. Like I'm not good with scripts, just like I don't, so like 16 year old emo kid with my spiked belt on, be like, you're done. Yeah. I didn't work in a super well.

But then she was like, you know, she wasn't like, get the fuck out of here, but she's like, why don't you try to do security for us? So 16 years old, and like they just do like little shows, like I'm not like bouncing people around here. It's really good, but it's like, I'm catching checks and putting things in next. Standing at the door, like, you know, kind of the eyes and like whatever.

And I remember, so I grew up in this little town, and then I went to high school in wealth, and then some of my like graduating class went to high school in Aaron. So I had seen this guy in a few years, and he comes in with this fake ID, and it says like, you know, whatever, he was born in, I was born in 88, so I said he was born in like 84 or something. And it's like, this isn't you. You know, like a big redheaded guy, so like he had an ID with a big redheaded guy.

I'm sure he got away with it all the time. He's like, no, your name is such and such. Your birthday is this day. He's like, oh, it's like, all right, finally, you know, kind of good at something.

Yeah, and then it went on to like, I don't know, like do like like busting and bar running at clubs and stuff like this. Yeah. Was this all in the wealth area? Yeah.

So what clubs did you work at? So it worked at the districts, in the lounge. Like Van Gogh's year, Jimmy Jazz vinyl, like that kind of crew. So I did that for a couple of years, and then I left and moved overseas to teach English for a little while.

Because like I was, like I went to school and like I got a degree in fine art and English literature and like. In 12-2? Yeah, yeah. So like I was kind of doing all these things kind of like consecutively and then we'd tree plan to come back and then I'd like work at the bar for like, you know, it's just like my bodies that were running the thing.

And like, yeah, so I did some bar running stuff. And then they ended up at like a board game cafe, like just doing bar tending serving there. And I didn't like it very much. It was not a place that I recommend.

I will leave the name out. Yeah, it's also a weird job because people come in and I always wonder about that. Like how is that a business? Because people come in these board game cafes and they're like, well, they have one drink the whole time they're there, maybe?

Oftentimes, we're nothing. And like, you know, sometimes they're like, you know, pay the fee for the app. Exactly, right? And like, you know, so if you sit there and like, you know, I'll go into Jorkel's day cows with my wife and we'll like bring the crib board and we'll sit there and we'll like get appetizers and you know, have like four or five drinks.

And like, as long as we're drinking, we can sit and play crib. But, you know, like folks would come in and they just, you know, just water. Yeah. But then they'd be like, oh, you know what the real thing is?

Yeah, you know, there's D. You sit here for three hours. Like, you know, like, yeah. I would press the bell and I could not work in a place like that.

Right? And then just like, I don't think, again, coming from dive bars where I'd be like, you know, elbowing through people or like mopping blood off the walls and stuff like this, like, which I don't condone fighting in dive bars but like, you know, you know, like, I don't fight anywhere. But yeah, like, I saw some insane stuff. And then like, you know, and like, even the bartenders that were friends of mine, right, then they'd be like, yo, I need like three cases of Heineken that I'd then hump up four flights of stairs, which is like, why apparently I'm not doing that anymore.

We got like, they'd be like short with you. They'd be snodied because like, that's, you know, that's kind of the thing in like these nightclubs, right? It's like, get your whiskey sour. You want to spread some martini?

Go fuck yourself, right? Like, right? So like, I kind of had that and then, you know, yeah, it's just like a little snarky in this place and it just wasn't for me. Like, I love board games.

I love, you know, food. I love drink. I love all this stuff. And it's like, yeah, it wasn't it.

And then I went to a brewery and then, yeah, just, you know, like, you're a barber that's overseas excursion. Yeah. So we have where did you go? I was in Thailand where the one's, yeah.

Yeah. So I worked in a city called Choon-Chun, which is like about an hour and a half away from Seoul. It's like in the Northern. So I had lived like 30 miles from the DMZ.

Oh. But he's that lived like real close to it. They would like go on runs and be like coming back from the run and then be like facing the backs of soldiers and be like, oh shit. They'd be like, hey, Christian.

Like whatever. So I lived there for two years teaching kindergarten English, if you can believe it. I taught in a kindergarten that costs more per year than American University. And like, I just- You just want to learn English, right?

Well, in like every single school, every single one from kindergarten up to university has at least one native speaking English teacher. So like there's a huge expat community. There are like, you know, hundreds of, you know, Canadians, Americans, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, like English, Irish, whatever, in every city in South Korea. Picture it this way.

If you took the whole country of South Korea and you dropped it into the middle of Lake Superior, you would have water on all sides. However, the capital city alone of South Korea has more people in it than the entire country of Canada. There's like the population. And like all their food has grown there.

They have like one of the best cuisines, I've ever experienced. And their cuisine is like, I don't know, 12 ingredients, generally. Like they've just figured it out. Do you think that that has led to like your sort of love for simplicity and drinks that you make?

100%. Yeah, absolutely. All these sort of effects, you know, and you don't even sometimes realize it's happening, right? Yeah, I think there was some of that already to begin with.

Like, you know, I read all these books and watched all these documentaries when I was in university about like, you know, the way that the food industry works and like factory farms and stuff. It was like, oh, this is crazy. And then I was a vegetarian for a while and then I got really baked one night and I was like, oh, I'm just checking fingers, whatever. So like, just kind of like, yeah, keeping a simple like, and seeing that like, you know, yeah, like if you know your farmers, like, I fully think that like people that, you know, drive truck and deliver food to people are super amazing and like necessary.

I just don't think that we need necessarily to be like bringing, you know, like a gov-ay from Madagascar. Right. Right. You know, and like it's sometimes really cool if you like can go somewhere and be like, wow, I'm experiencing this new food and like you can't really get it like whatever.

Anyway, yeah, like totally the simplicity thing like was highlighted by that for sure, if not like very much informing. Well, I just like, if you like to travel and do different things and you obviously seem to be the type of person who wants to try a bunch of different shit and like, so like our industry is the perfect thing to the perfect industry to work in because you can always have somewhere to come back to like, you can all, you can do our job like for as long as you want and you can go do try something else and come back and your skills still play. So you know, you very much did that, right? And you're not like, people don't look at it and be like, oh, what's this gap in your resume?

Why did you like go to Korea for two years or whatever? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. Right.

Where it's like, you know, like, let's say you were, well, like maybe Dan does tech work, right? Like, I know you do, I'm just trying to keep this up. I don't want to describe what you do. But like, if you took off for like, fucking two years and taught English and that's really, I came back and tried to find a job in your field.

They'd be like, what the fuck happened there, right? Yeah. Where it's like, our job, it's people like us who tend to do, who like to travel and do weird things who end up in this industry a lot of times. And more over, almost all of us have tried to do something outside of the street.

Oh sure. Yeah. And like, we're in hate to us. Yeah.

And like, if you're in tech, you're like, yeah, I tried bartending for two years. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know, like, and I always say, so, even so when I came back from South Korea, I was trying to really get myself into that.

I like social services. I like making sure that people like, you know, are fed and like are getting an education and shit like this. So I worked for Conestoga College. I worked for the Waterloo District School Board.

I've done some like independent stuff. I've developed employment, like training programs that are being taught all across Ontario. But I still bartending. Yeah.

I still, I still, you know, Friday, Saturday nights, I'd still be closing the bar. And then my contract ended at Conestoga. And I was just kind of like, well, this is crazy. Like, I'm working, I had a lot more money than I do now because I was working like, like, three teaching jobs and I was bartending.

And so like, my bartending was just like my liquor money, basically. But then it's just like, this is crazy. Like, I'm working so much. I'm miserable.

I don't have any time for myself. Maybe I just try like getting into the industry like a little bit more seriously. And like, I'm still like bartending all summer too, right? Because, you know, you're not teaching during the summer.

So like, I just, and it's just like, it was too complicated. It was too much. Plus like, my accountant went to file taxes was like, what the fuck is this? So it's like, I'm going to try bartending full time.

I have significantly less money, but I have a lot more time. And like, I'm just a lot happier. I always say like, if you're stuck with an asshole at school, you're stuck with a very like, minimum, two years, right? If I'm stuck with an asshole at the restaurant, it's like two hours max.

Yes. Right? And like, you know. And if you're stuck with a job that you don't like in our industry, you can go find a fucking other job.

Like, that's the other thing that's like underrated about the service industry. Yeah. And like, you know, sometimes you just run out of patience for a place and you're just like, you just, I've worked there too long. I need to do something else.

Yeah. Or you just like, you start spending your wheels because like, you know, you get, I have this problem a lot when I was younger, you get so comfortable that all of a sudden, like, you're just, you know, like, you're phoning it in so much because you can do stuff, you can be like, you can make all the drinks, you know everything with your eyes closed. You can like open and close the place down, like hammered if you like never done that. Yeah.

And other places, right? Like, you know, and like, it just gets so far away from you that you just need a change, right? Yeah. Well, you're just, yeah, because you're on autopilot, you're just bored, right?

Yeah. Like, it's just, like, it's just going to refresh. But you know, when you get older, if you find a spot that suits you, then that's when it becomes easier to stick around. Yeah.

Because I've gone through both of those experiences where it's like, oh, I gotta get the fuck out of here. And then other places where I'm like, this is a good spot for me. I'll work here for a long time. What are, what would you say about your current role at the Bortiallis that has made it so you feel like you wanted to be there for as long as you have already?

Because this is one of your longer stretches out of spots. Yeah. I mean, like, I kind of do, like, either I do like three or four years out of place. It's probably the longest.

I either do like a long stretch or I do, like, I worked at Molly Bloom's for two days. Yeah. I just wasn't for you. And like, I don't want to, you know, like, I don't want to waste any less of the time.

Right. Yeah. So, like, I mean, I love, I like the crew that I work with. There are a lot of like little things, right?

And like, I guess, you know, with this, like, people that are listening probably know this. Like, there's a lot of, you know, this assumption that like, front of house, heart of house is like, you know, buddy heads with each other all the time. It's never been that, not my place. Right.

Like, it's, there's a huge mutual amount of respect. We communicate. We agree with each other. And just like, that is a signal to kind of how the restaurants run is really important, right?

Like, to, to, to, like, my first couple days and like, you know, the kitchen is run hard there, right? They fucking know what they're doing. It's never like, I go back and be like, shit guys, I, you know, press the button that was next to the button for like, what this person actually ordered. And like, there's never like, oh, you fucking, like, what exactly?

Like, it's like, it's like, it's like, yeah, it's like, even if, even if we're pissed and it's like, amen, it's all good, you know, we'll get it figured out. Like, if we're crazy busy, again, like 250 people in, like, within 45 minutes and everyone's trying to get there and be able at the same time, like, right, the fact is my meal, it's been 50 minutes, like, did you not see the 75 other people that were at the tournament? Do you come on, please? Right.

Hey guys, like, you know, and like, that has been a really big thing. I think the ethos of like, the ethical, the sustainable, local, whatever, right? Like, I think that's been awesome. I've learned a lot about the food industry.

I've learned about how we can make it so that like, it's not like a capitalist hellscape. I'd like that, like, you know, when, when the organization can, they will do things like, they've taken us out to the beef ranch where we get like a ground beef from. We got the farmer little drunk, like we got all these like, you know, drinks from like, sponsor, like from our, like, suppliers, whatever, with a model cooler. Took us out on a school bus who went out, like, walked around this guy's farm, like, this field, like saw the cows, he like, talked to us about like, what he's doing, how like, you know, he's like, talking about, you know, native grasses versus European grasses, things like this.

He's like, has a few beers, we all have a few beers. He makes us lunch. Like, it's like shit, like that is awesome. Like, the community thing is so fucking great.

Like, knowing that you are a part of something like valued in something and like a valuable cog in like, a machine that is actively making other people's lives better than you can see, it's not a far step away, right? Like, don't get a twist, twist it. I like, I drink a mikolobalta and whatever, like, whatever. Like, the beers that I sell the most are farmly brewing from Galtan Terri.

Like, Jackass Brewing from, I guess, Hespeler Technically. You know, and like, I know the guys at Farmly, I know the mall on first name basis, I got their phone numbers. I know Keith at Jackass, I got his phone number, right? Like, I know the guys at Wellington, they make a great product and I can be like, I support this, I like it, like, that's been really, really cool because there are people in our backyards doing like, really great shit and like, yeah, guys will come in and they'll be like, well, what do you have?

It's real beer. You're like, do you mean by the Bavarian standards? Like, I was like, 1452 or whatever the year is, right? But it's also like, this isn't the place for you.

Like, there's like, plenty of places where you can get like, course, light in Canadian and like, yeah. And like, but if you're coming in like with your family or whatever, because you're like, your daughter-in-law or whatever, like, they just had their kid and like, this is her favorite restaurant, you're coming to celebrate. I love having that guy being like, what's your real beer? It's like, I'm gonna get you, right?

Like, I'm gonna show you something that's produced here and like, I'll fully say like, you know, this is not something like, like, faceless, like, idiot, whatever, I know this guy, right? And this is gonna be something that works for you, right? Like, let's talk. Like, yeah, I get it.

Especially in like, the cocktail craft beer industry, like, people are like, Bacardi White, Coke, Lime, or like, you know, they're like, I only drink bushlight. Like, okay, cool. You've got like, 600 bushlights in your fridge and your garage. I'm gonna get you a beer in you right now, and it's like, it's not gonna be bushlight.

But like, it's gonna get you to the place you need to be, so you'll at least have a beer. Right, that's a good point. Like, the guy who comes in with his family, that's just not the place he's going to. Like, he may be, he doesn't personally come back, but at least he's gonna give him something he can, that's acceptable to him.

Why is there? And he's gonna have a good time. I don't win every one of the battles, but I'm pretty good. I won most of them.

Yeah, yeah. Well, that's the thing. There's certain guys who are just like, they got it. Even though like, let's say, any like of the local craft breweries or most of them have something that's just right in the exact same wheelhouse as a Budweiser or a Kurslight or whatever, and, but there's some people who are so hard headed about what they drink and what they like that they're like, you're never gonna convince them.

And that's like, you're just beating your head against the wall if you're trying. So, if you can get a few of those guys and be like, okay, I was satisfied. I had like, say, a hoeslogger from Wellington with right in that wheelhouse. Exactly.

And it's like, okay, well, I accept this. And you're like, okay, there's a win. Right? And like, you know, I'm not gonna try to fight anyone over it, but like, you know, you also want that person to have a good time.

So you're just like, do you trust me? Like one of the, like, the whole, like, I don't know, serving thing. Like, you guys see me right now. They obviously can't see me with the recording, but like, you know, a big fat guy with a big beer and like, and like, big piercings in my ear and stuff.

At a fairly elevated restaurant, my fingernails are painted right now. You know, there's some people that are like, it used to be like, in our dining room upstairs. I stopped working up there because I'd walk up the tables so I could see people like, ugh, this guy. Right.

But like, you know, you go up, like, it's all about working in sound bites, right? And it's like, you know, for that old guy, say to him, like, you might not trust me to date your daughter, but you trust me on a beer. Right? You're like, oh, okay.

Right? Like, and then it's like, now all of a sudden you're a little bit funny. Like, you know, like it's, yeah. Well, and it's too honest with you.

The other thing too is like, not to get more of it, but like, that generation who doesn't understand piercings and tattoos is dying off. So like, most people, like, almost expect it. Like, even if you go into a super nice fine dining style restaurant, your service is probably gonna have some tats at least, right? If not some piercings.

Yeah. I want the dudes with the tattoo. Yeah. I always see these memes on Instagram, but like, like, you go to a restaurant and the chef walks out and he's got no tattoos.

And I'm just like, I'm walking out. I don't know. I don't know. I'm not any part of whatever the fuck this guy's serving me.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There is, like, I don't know.

I mean, I was tattooing. We could talk about that. We'd never really actually talk about this on the show. But like, it's kind of part of the culture of the service industry.

At this point, like, maybe not 40, 50 years ago, but like, like, I'm much older than you, obviously, I'm covered. And I have, and like, people, maybe when I was younger and had tattoos, like, I would have been one, like, maybe I was working with six people who didn't. But now it's like, you're almost never working with somebody who doesn't have some. Yeah.

Right. Yeah. And you're exactly right. Like, it's a generational thing, people that like, you know, and like, I get it.

You know, my grandma, every time I get a new tattoo, she's like, oh, okay. And like, my tattoos, the more you get, the stupider, they get often. Especially with millennials. But like, that's a part of it, right?

And like, it's, I don't know. I'm not like, you know, going into your house or nothing. And like, honestly, it's like, yeah, there's, they used to be about like, you know, being hell's angels or like a sailor whatsoever. And they're do well, as it were.

But now it's like, I honestly just like, I got rewarded with stickers as a little kid. And now I'm continuing that as an adult. So every time I have $500 and I'm not supervised. Sticker.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Well, I, and I think it's changing. It's like, like I said, they're people now almost expected from people.

I don't, and don't have the same, uh, stick my touch to it where it's like, okay, this guy might have a bunch of tattoos, it's a piercings. But he comes to my table as long as he knows what he's talking about and he's good at his job. What do I care? And you're a nice guy.

And like, I always, I've always, like, you know, I started stretching my ears at when I was 16, so like 20 years ago. And like, I figured really early, you know, like, yeah, you got to be able to, if you're like dating people, especially at 16, go into someone's house, you can't drive or nothing. You got to be like really nice. You got to figure out like how to, you know, make sure that their parents aren't like, fucking, who is this fool again?

Like, am I calling the cops, right? So like, like, like a parent crowd, like one and they just got to be like, yeah, exactly. So like, you know, you know what you're talking about? And you're like, yeah, like, I get it.

Like, I have a mirror. Like, I know what this is all about. Like, you know what you're talking about? You know what you're talking about?

You're a nice enough guy. Old ladies fucking love me. Like, because, you know, like, whatever. You're just a nice person to them.

You like, make little jokes, whatever. And like, you can read the room. And then all of a sudden they're like, those things hurt. And you're like, I mean, when they're happening, they do.

They don't anymore. Like, I'm not paying right now. But like, hey, cool. Now you're like, comfortable enough to ask.

I don't know. Yeah. So we were mentioning earlier that I was at this event last night. It was all, it was an older crappature of world club members.

Yeah. And like, but I think that like, you just start charming these old ladies and they, right? Like, I was given these penny gin pours to these old dams that were coming in. And it was like, they were loving it.

It's like, I'm not going to be able to drive home. I'm like, well, luckily you live here. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. So let's talk about Uncle Gator, which is our new project. Talk to us.

Well, just tell us what it's about and what you're hoping, what you're hoping will become. Yeah. So it all started with this, Oh, Laura, just telling, uh, competition, the Golden Shaker contest. So it's basically my, you can tell me.

You and my wife Jackie, who's like, help me, like, come up with all of the branding stuff. And I guess, yeah. So like, I've got some, we don't have kids. Like, whatever.

That's not, that's not, that's not what we're called. We've got a lot of young people in our lives that are fucking awesome. So this, like, particularly like niece and nephew of mine, when they were really young, Garrett was like tough for them. So they called me Gator.

And so then like, that's great for that to come out that way. So your kids could come up with anything. Yeah. Oh, I know like, you know, grandparents that are people and stuff.

So I like it. So, yeah. So yeah, we're like, like, working on the branding and like, it's like, yeah, fuck Uncle Gator, like something super chill. Basically, what I want to do is like, I would like to be making money for myself rather than for someone else.

And like, you know, I've done a fair few events now where like, I'll go and it's like, let's say it's your 40th birthday party. Right. And you want to do like a cocktail thing. Perfect.

I'll sit down. I'll talk to you about like what it is that you're looking for, what it is that you want to do. I'll custom make a cocktail menu, like give you like fun names for them, give you glassware, they'll bartend the event. If you want to do like sit downs and like learn about stuff, I've done a few things with some friends that are like kind of in the industry, mostly on the serving side of things that want to learn a little bit more about how to kind of like come up with cocktails and stuff, like how to bartend.

Do sit downs like that. If like I've had a couple people or a couple restaurants, they're just talking to me about coming in and kind of like cleaning up their cocktail menu. Right. If they're, you know, the one restaurant that I won't mention their name, but you know, the manager was like, listen, our food is a five out of five.

Our cocktail list is one and a half out of five. And I just need them to kind of meet in the middle. I need it to work. Like we're talking about if you have 300 people in one bartender, 10 second cocktails.

You can't be doing these fucking five minute smoke job, like whatever. So sitting doing that stuff, like just kind of going around like I'm really inspired by like Caitlin Stewart. If you know who that is, like one like the best bartender in the world several times, I believe she lives in Vancouver right now. Love her attitude.

I hate social media. I mean, they're not hate social media, but I hate like trying to, you know, I'll like come up with a bunch of stuff and I'll be like, all right, blast late do this. And then like I don't like forcing coming up with stuff for the sake of coming up with stuff. So I don't know if I could do like Caitlin is doing, but like I just like I think that she's got a really cool palette.

I think she's got a really cool way of presenting what she's talking about. She's got a cool way on like riffing on classic cocktails, which is kind of where I've gotten a lot of like what my inspirations for a lot of stuff has been. It's like, yeah, like he said simplistic and then riffs on classics playing with fun stuff like he can. The reason I won that competition was this cocktail that was the allure distilling black licorice liqueur that you like we bought it out of nowhere.

And then they were like my bosses were like, can we do something with this? I'm sure like I'm going to figure it out. People like look at black licorice and they're like, oh no, like this is like I'm not going to have it. But it works really well in stuff.

And like, you know, so like finding ways to do that kind of stuff is just like it's really fun. It's like little puzzles and whatever. Right. Yeah.

So like, I'll go get her like honestly, mostly at this point, you know, trying to curate events. Yeah, like I want to come to your wedding and bartend for you. And also ordained minister. So I can officiate your wedding and then I can bartend it after.

That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right.

For real. Yeah. So this like when I... How did this happen?

I just spoke a lot of people. Yeah. But like, yeah, so it used to be that you could sign up basically for this church in the States. And every member of the church was automatically an ordained minister of it.

So in the States, you could just sign up for this website and you could then officiate weddings. And then it was kind of like a party trick for, you know, 15 years after that. I think I've been doing it like, I think it was like 18, whatever, it doesn't matter. Like over 15 years ago I did it.

But then like I've joined the Humanist Society of Canada because it was my party trick for so long as like a young man. And now like I have people that are actually getting married and are good friends of mine. So I officiated a wedding in Stratford two years ago. I don't do a lot of it.

I've only done one. And it's legal in Canada? Yeah. So much.

Yeah. So. That's pretty funny. Well, it's got pretty fun though, right?

Because people would say, hey, it's not just going to head to the fucking lesson. I've never ordained a wedding and done the cocktails for it at the same time. I've only ordained one wedding. And it's like, you know, it's still basically like I signed up for this, the Humanist Society, which are like, you know, a non-religious organization that for people that are like not into that stuff.

Like, you know, it's an official like Ontario registered and I can officiate weddings as long as I stand and stay within good standing with them. So like, yeah, I mean. I see posts on Reddit all the time. I want to get married.