It’s World Bartender Day. That’s right. It’s the day we salute those stalwarts working the supply side of the wood. Bartenders are much more than mere dispensers of alcohol, if that was the sum of their worth they would command the same wage as a liquor store clerk. No, a bartender bears a much heavier burden—he is alchemist, host, entertainer, psychiatrist, enforcer, surrogate kin, social enabler and keeper of the hearth. To a proper drinker, she is no less than the gatekeeper of paradise. So hit them with heavier tip than usual tonight, unless, of course, they insist on being called a mixologist, because Mixologist Day doesn’t go down until deep into June.
