Hawaii-born Joey Gottesman found his calling in the food and beverage industry at 16 when he got a job in fast food. Two years later he got his first job as a barback.
In the decades that followed, Gottesman “worked front of the house, back of the house, in every capacity” from dishwasher and bartender to food and beverage director.
These days the soft-spoken 49-year-old is a key accounts manager, spirits specialist and mixologist for liquor distributors Young’s Market Co.
JOHN BERGER: OK, so what is the difference between a mixologist and a bartender?
JOEY GOTTESMAN: A bartender is about hospitality and making sure the guest is going to get a great drink and a great experience. As a mixologist I create different flavor profiles and experiment with cocktails that I am able to create quickly, cost-effectively and constantly.
JB: Where do you start?
JG: There’s no mixology without a very good understanding of — and a continual learning process of — how spirits, mixers, bitters and liqueurs work together in harmony. There’s a lot of finesse that goes into making craft syrups, tinctures, bitters and all those things, and then you have to know how to manipulate those flavors. Then there’s the presentation of the drink, the aromatics of the drink, the mouth-feel of the drink, the flavor and the finish.
JB: What do you do for Young’s Market?
JG: I develop new drink programs, I analyze businesses, I utilize current trends and I create trends using the products that they have. For instance, craft whiskeys are really hot right now and craft gins are really coming alive.
JB: I’ve heard that a lot of people who make a big show of calling for a name-brand liquor can’t tell the difference.
JG: That’s very true with vodka. Maybe if they’re drinking it straight they might be able to tell by the style, but once you start to put mixers into it you’re just looking at a blank slate.
JB: James Bond famously ordered his martinis “shaken, not stirred.” Is that a good idea?
JG: It is certainly outside of the box. What it did to the market around the world is it started a revolution saying “I can have a drink that’s up and over diluted, and I can drink that very quickly and get blasted.”
“On the Scene” appears weekly in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Sunday Magazine. Reach John Berger at jberger@staradvertiser.com.
