Startenders
Star + Bartender = Startender
Surely, you know the type: old school and new school bartenders who have a loyal following and are pros at making perfect cocktails, a.k.a. startenders. They’re not focused on speed but on doing it right.
The linked article features Houston’s finest. However, startenders are omnipresent and can be found in most any city. For Boston’s finest, check out the April 5-18 issue of The Improper Bostonian, which features 25 of Boston’s beloved bartenders. (I would’ve posted this sooner, but I admit to extreme laziness when it comes to offline material.) I’m sure your local library has an archived copy.
This article reminds me of Darcy’s long treatise about bringing mixology to the masses where he laments the current state of mixology compared to the culinary arts. However, it does seem that mixology is slowly reaching that level and that foodies and drinkers are uniting. (Is there a better word than “drinker”? There needs to be a classy term to differentiate people who drink from people who enjoy fine drinks.)
May 12th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
Try these on for size:
Alcoholist
ABer : (Alcohilic Beverage)er
ABee : (Alcohilic Beverage)ee
Drinkologist
Alcohologist
Cocktailist
Cocktailologist
Cocktailer
May 12th, 2006 at 1:55 pm
Another one:
Imbiber
May 15th, 2006 at 9:44 pm
Epicurus: epicure :: Bacchus: Bacchure?
Bacchite
Dionysian
Tipplist
Quaffologist
Imbibeur
Or my favorite:
Boozie
May 15th, 2006 at 9:48 pm
Or to steal from The Liquid Muse, “sipster”.
May 15th, 2006 at 11:02 pm
I definitely like “boozie”. The only problem might be a negative connotation to it, though I think constant usage could rid it of that. After all, “foodie” could easily imply “gourmand”, but it doesn’t generally seem to be taken that way. “Bacchite” or whatever the adjective form of Bacchus is might work well for more formal situations. A number of my friends were members of The Epicurean Society in college.