Beaming With Enthusiasm
Bobby G Creates a Stir for Beam Global

In May, Future Brands LLC, the U.S. sales and distribution operation for Beam Global Spirits & Wine Inc. and the Absolut Spirits Co. Inc., hired “Bobby G” as its master mixologist and manager of on-premise training. Gleason, now responsible for developing cocktail menus for key national accounts, exploring new uses for Future Brands’ products and facilitating sales training, now finds himself pulled every which way but loose. 
    Gleason has been a bartender since 1984. Prior to joining Future Brands, he was the brand ambassador for Absolut vodka and was based in Las Vegas, where he was responsible for the entire western division. Gleason’s experience tending bar spans two decades from South Florida to Las Vegas. He established himself as a premier casino bartender at some of the top hotels in Las Vegas, including the Bellagio Hotel & Casino, Treasure Island Hotel & Casino, Mirage Hotel & Casino as well as in his tenure as the mixologist of the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. He also developed the beverage program at Nora’s Cuisine, expanding into the restaurant world.
    The creation of his new position, Gleason says, was a wise move by his new employer. “They recognized the need and priority of the bartender,” he says. “I see what it is that bartenders are looking for. Bartenders are begging for education. Part of my goal is to not just educate them on our brands, but educate them on the category.

Creating Excitement
    “It’s my firm belief that the person who drinks a Vodka & Tonic or a Rum & Coke or a Bourbon & Coke, they’re going to have their brand that they support,” Gleason says. “A consumer is more likely to change brands inside the vodka market than in other markets. That’s where your education comes in — what makes vodka different, what makes vodkas different from each other?
    “But I also believe the person who drinks Jim Beam & Coke or Maker’s Mark on the Rocks knows exactly what they’re going to order. It’s the person who reaches for the cocktail menu that’s looking for something different and unique.”
    And that’s where busy Bobby G’s talents hit the pavement.
    “Beam is allowing me to do cocktail and menu creations,” he says. “A lot of these things are done with national accounts. They’re monsterous accounts. If you go in there and put one cocktail on the menu, it literally can mean tens of thousands in sales of cases per year.
    “In those places, they’re looking for simpler cocktails — maybe a little twist on a Margarita or Cosmopolitan. They’re looking for things they can replicate easily. But those people also are looking for new, exciting cocktails.
    “It’s gone from just the way of just a cocktail menu to signature cocktails, which are making a big impact on national account chains,” Gleason says. “That’s the added value I had, having been brought onto the Beam team in the training department. I’m not only going to give you a recipe; I’m going to come in and go to your establishments and train your bartenders how to do it and demonstrate to them ‘This is how you make it, and this is why we do this and why we do that.’”
    That approach, which Gleason believes should be the obvious course for suppliers, falls through the cracks, he says.
    “Oftentimes at seminars at a trade show, 95 percent of people are just hiring the most beautiful girls they can find and saying, ‘Here’s our brand. Pour them a sample,’ and they have no clue what it is,” he says.
    “If you show a bartender something and give a cool explanation, they say ‘Cool! What else can we do?’ and it’s fun.
    “POS is a big thing for these companies. They spend a lot of money on POS, but a lot of it doesn’t translate into great bartender stuff,” he says. “There’s an avenue there for me to create POS for bartenders — something they will want to use. Oftentimes you see different companies come out with these beautiful frosted shakers. They’re pretty, and then you smack one on a Boston tin, and that thing shatters in your hand. What good is that?”

The Importance of The Bartender
    “In all reality, it’s still the bartender who the customer comes to, and it’s the bartender who makes the recommendation,” Gleason says. “By showing support to the bartenders and showing them the quality of our brands and the reasons behind that quality, it endears them to your brand. In turn, they become ambassadors of your brand.”
    Consumer demand and knowledge of better cocktails has made it a necessity for bartenders to step up their game, Gleason says.
    “In the early ‘90s, we talked about the resurgence of the classic cocktail,” he says. “Now, we’re starting to talk about the resurgence of the classic bartender and barmanship.”
    Gleason observes that while part-time bartenders working their way through school or making a few extra bucks here and there certainly exist, a more serious brand of bartender is on the rise.
    “At all of these bigger chains, bartenders are starting to become career bartenders,” he says. “It makes a difference.”
    A nationwide interest in classic bartending is spreading, Gleason says.
    “You’re seeing that attitude much more now. You’re seeing younger people getting really into what bartending is all about, which is great.”                                                NCB