When people imagine a flair bartender, the first thing that comes to mind is usually Tom Cruise’s character as a bottle-flinging bartender in the hit film Cocktail. He juggles bottles, does little tricks with the ice, and generally makes a good show of the usually not-so-exciting drink making process. Yes, this is an example of flair bartending in the strictest sense of the term. But from my experience, there is a wider range of what I consider to be flair bartending than simply the bottle-tossers and flame-fanatics.

Essentially, a flair bartender is any bar keep who is capable of providing extra dazzle and excitement to the customer’s drinking experience. Some do it using tricks such as juggling, some use captivating jokes and stories, but the best use a little dash of both.

Tricksters

First off let’s describe the most widely accepted definition of the flair bartender, your Cocktail juggler.

This type of flair bartender juggles bottles, mixers, and ice, toys around with flammable liquors, and even does the occasional magic trick, known in the industry as bar magic. Some of the tricks are easily learned and are fairly common place—simply bottle flips, pouring using three or more bottles at once, certain flammable drinks—while others are much more difficult, costly in the event of breaking bottles, and even dangerous if fire is involved.