Training for Mastery takes years of work and dedication, and after a certain point there is no road map in any industry that helps the novice graduate to the journeyman, and the journeyman transform into the master.

In our continuing Bartending Masterclass, host & Master Bartender Michael J. Neff, discusses the different phases of mastery with some of the finest bartenders from around the world. In this episode, we’re talking with Modern Bartender, ms. franky marshall.

Ms. marshall has been a bartender for a hot minute—both before the modern cocktail movement in nightclubs & dive bars around New York, and after at such storied cocktail bars as The Holiday Cocktail Lounge, Clover Club & The Dead Rabbit.

She has also traveled around the world studying spirits, cocktails, and the culture that surrounds them. Her insights in this, the first part of our conversation, are valuable to anyone with an interest in life on either side of the bar.

Some highlights include:

“You have to put as much effort into making that vodka soda as you do in making a Japanese Whisky Highall.... You should be taking pride in your work, so that every single drink you make, even the simplest one, is going to be great.”

“As a trainer, you need to be able to give and you need to be generous with your knowledge.”

“(Relating to people is) why you need to read books, or travel, or look at art, so you have other things to to give to people across that bar.”

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