Bartender, physicist, architect and author of two of the most famous books for bartenders – Jeffrey Morgenthaler

At Bar Convent Berlin, we spoke with Jeffrey Morgenthaler – a bartender, physicist and architect. In addition, he is the author of two books that changed the lives of many bartenders, “The Bar Book” and “Drinking Distilled”. One of them is Zoran Lukić, president of the Croatian Association of Waiters and Bartenders, whom Jeffrey delighted with his work and whose books were a source of new information, inspiration and enthusiasm.

This is something interesting to see in the bar industry, and you’ve been in it for 23 years. I know that you run two bars in Portland; tell us more about your role.

I’m not the owner, but a manager, just an employee. I still do four nights a week behind the bar.

How come that you decided to work in hospitality? Did you quit college?

No, I have two degrees. One in physics and one in architecture. But it just wouldn’t make sense for me to do anything else. It’s what I love. It’s the only thing that I’ve ever been truly good at. Like I was saying in my presentation, I don’t always love it, sometimes I hate it, but that’s part of the business, too.

Your theme was “From bartender to bartenders”: so, what are your picks for the top 10 values to follow?

I should write them down someday, because we all know what they are, but we never really quantify them. 

I would mention a few of them, and I would say that they are:

• desire to work with other professionals, with people that want to be there for a long time, with those that value a comfortable, healthy, safe place to work; It’s really important to us.
• we, of course, value taking care of our guests,
• we value doing a good job and keeping the restaurant busy at all times,
• we also value taking care of each other; I work so hard to take care of my team, and they work so hard to take care of me.

We’ve got a lot of values like that. I find that some fancy cocktail bars might value spirits education the most, or innovation might be the most important value; there is nothing wrong with that, but in my bar, I just want myself and everybody I work with to enjoy the place that we’re working at. So that’s why they stick around for so long.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler at Bar Convent Berlin with the President of the Croatian Association of Waiters and Bartenders Zoran Lukic

“You’ve changed my perspective because of the emotions that come from what you say and do.”

– Zoran Lukić

Managing might be the most complicated process in running business. As a manager, how would you advise others to manage their staff in the bars?

It’s not an easy task. I wasn’t born to be a manager; this has all been constant learning for me. I made a lot of mistakes along the way, but you don’t just throw away the whole thing because you made a mistake. Like I said in my talk, I don’t bother if you’re not always the best bartender in the world, as long as you try your best.

According to the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation, you were the best bartender in 2016?

Yes, I was the best American bartender for 2016. I don’t take those awards that seriously; I am not bothered about being the best, I just want to have a place where everybody is comfortable and happy.

But do you think that awards change bartenders for the better or for the worse?

People get really crazy about these awards. I have a lot of awards, but I just never gave them that much importance.

The teasing part of your bartending story might be that you were writing for Playboy. How did you merge elements from the bar industry into a sex magazine?

I was writing for Playboy for about six years. They were really trying to expand their cocktail coverage I think to be more like Esquire or GQ magazine. We had some fun and put out some good articles. That was cool, I’ve got the Playboy mention and it’s something to cross off the list.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler at Bar Convent Berlin gives a lecture on “The importance of shared values”

You’re still working as a bartender. Is it the good part of your job, or the managing would just mean keeping business accounts?

It’s all tied together. I show up in the morning and I take care of things that need to be taken care of in the bar. Then I jump behind the bar and after I get done, I do a couple more things and then I go home.

What is your recipe for becoming a good bartender and a good manager?

Trying to be a good person really helps. I feel like that’s important. Just always trying your best.

A lot of managers think that a friendly relationship between co-workers and catching up after work isn’t good for their business. What do you think?

Most of us don’t really go out for drinks after work. At the end of the day, everybody has their own business, families, relationships.

Apart from being a good person, what would be your advice to bartenders on how to become a good bartender?

I was talking about how I was trying to learn photography. One thing for me that really helped was finding the people that you want to be like: study them and try to be like them. There were no famous bartenders when I started bartending and you couldn’t read an article on internet about Alex Kratena, it just didn’t exist. So, I would find the bartenders in my town and just watch them, hang out and learn everything that I could from them.

Can we expect something new from you in the future?

Always. I’ve got a bunch of ideas and I’m always pushing them forward. You’ll see more photography from me, first. A lot more photography.

That means that you found the guy who you want to be like in photography?

Yeah, exactly.