This is Part Two. Click here for Part One. 1. Bartenders who point out a customer’s previous drunken antics. 2. Bartenders who mention a customer’s previous companions. 3. Bartenders who give away the house’s liquor. 4. Bartenders who listen in on customers’ conversations, gossip about other customers, gripe about the boss, the pay, or other | Read More

I thought I’d share some wisdom from Trader Vic. I happen to own a copy of his 1947 Bartender’s Guide, and this is straight from the source. It’s amazing how things never seem to change in bars. 1. People who drink to excess. 2. Cheap floozies who carouse with “every unattached male in the place”. | Read More

Making a lemon twist is the subject of much passionate discourse. The traditional thinking in this matter is that to take off even the slightest touch of the pith (the white substance between the skin and the fruit) is considered to be bad form. The pith is, to many, a bitter substance best left out | Read More

Just click the big button to watch the story… Thanks, KMTR!

I just got this really nice letter yesterday from someone who had been in to Red Agave last summer. I thought I’d share it, because it made my day: Jeff, I’m glad to have found your website. It’s fun and a good look into Eugene for this newcomer. You served me dinner at the bar | Read More

Last Friday, I was interviewed by Ellie Estrada and Sarah Simpson from KMTR NewsSource 16 here in Eugene for a story they’re doing about me, this website, and my bartending. We spoke for an hour in the afternoon, and then they came back that night and shot footage of the bar, and interviewed my boss, | Read More

I check in on this blog from time to time, and I just noticed an older post from last month about El Vaquero. This woman is a biologist here in Eugene, and in her spare time she writes, eats, lives and breathes food. Anyway, she wrote an amazing write-up on her trip to Vaquero last | Read More

You may think I was a little harsh in my previous post, Eight Things You Should Never Say To Your Bartender. Actually, I thought it was funny. However, the truth is that I’m much harder on other bartenders than I am on customers. I’ve worked in a lot of bars, I’ve seen a lot of | Read More

I got this in the old inbox last week: Jeffrey, Hello from an admirer of your Richmond Gimlet. Well, an admirer of them made elsewhere; I’ve never had one you made. A bartender at Luckey’s made one for me last year, and I liked it so much I had to Google it to find out | Read More

Whoa, what a shocker to find this in the paper today: Gays Lose a Gathering Place, Performance Space I used to go to Perry’s when I was in college, a lot of us did. When Neighbors opened, it just wasn’t the same. It’s in an old McDonald’s, which is just plain bad right off the | Read More

Okay, just one more, I promise. I just can’t believe there are people out there reading this crap sometimes! It’s great! Dear Jeff Since you enjoyed being contacted by the Tiki Bar guy (because you like tiki stuff) perhaps you might also enjoy being contacted by an ex-Apple guy (because you seem to like Macs). | Read More

Gee, look, it’s six in the morning and I can’t sleep a wink. I’ve gotten some interesting emails through the site lately and I thought I’d share one of them. By the way, I love getting email through here, so keep ’em coming. Hey Nartender I am a bartender in Wildwood, NJ. Someone asked me | Read More

One of my favorite blogs, Waiter Rant, has a cute little list of drinks and what they say about you. I agree with a lot of these (“Chardonnay – You know what you like. Boring. Predictable. The Missionary Position of White Wine.”) but I think a few are way off track (“Vodka Martini – Sophisticated. | Read More

Dear Wine Distributors and Wine Shops Okay, here’s the deal. Your company names are atrocious. I can’t take you seriously any longer! I’m sorry. The Tannin Booth just isn’t going to cut it. No way. Same goes for you, Grape Expectations. You’ve lowered yourselves to the level of mall haircut places, like Shear Delight or | Read More

I was quoted in a Register-Guard article yesterday about Garth Marriott’s Coolest Shop. Read the story, my blurb is near the end on the last page. You can find it here.