Welcome to Drinks at Work by
Booth. Be with Sam Byre, That's me. Bartenders who build a lasting
career tend to be of two types. You have those who love the
op side of the business, and you have those who love the creative
side. Neither is better than the other, of course, and there's usually some
overlap between the two. My guest today, someone who seems to use both sides
of the business to build a big career. My guess on this episode is Lauren Mote. I caught her early in
the morning in Amsterdam, back from a couple of weeks travel as
part of her role as the global Director of On-Trade Excellence for Viron
tequila. It's a unique role, one that sees her overseeing every
aspect of education and advocacy for petran tequila with
bartenders across the world. She's also charged with delivering their
pet patron perfectionist competition, which began in 2016, and this year
has undergone something of a revamp. She tells us about that, her advice for entering the competition
and how she got into this gig of a lifetime in today's episode. So my
conversation with Lauren Mote in a minute. But first, this episode is a little different as
it is sponsored by Pet Patron Tequila. That's because, and here's
the word from our sponsor. The Pet Patron Perfectionist
Global Cocktail Competition
is back bringing a new bartender education and engagement program
to the heart of this year's edition. The entry challenge called Hometown Hero. Ask entrance to develop a cocktail that
blends pet patron's silver tequila with the bartender's local culture using
ingredients from a prescribed list, the pantry, the initial entry submissions
will be judged on appeal, appearance, inspiration, and originality. Australian bartenders have the opportunity
to enter Pet Patron perfectionist until 1159 Australian Eastern
Daylight time on October 7th, 2022. Head to the entry portal@ww.academy, pet patron.com/pet patron perfectionists
for all the information you need, and submit your entry today. Okay,
now my conversation with Lauren Mo. Lauren Moe, thanks for joining me
on Drinks at Work from Booth Bee. Excellent to be here.
Thanks for having me, Sam. Uh, it's lovely to talk to you today. With today we're gonna talk to
you a bit about, uh, your career, but also petro perfectionist, uh, cause
that comp has, uh, entries open now. Uh, but firstly, can we sort of set the table just
sort of what does your role involve? What do you do day to day? You, the, uh,
global director of on-Trade excellence, What does that mean? That means anywhere
where bartenders exist, where bars and restaurants exist. I
exist as long as there's patron tequila. And if there isn't yet, we'll work on
a way on getting it there. Um, but yes, uh, my, my role is centered
around education, mentorship, and development for, uh, global
on trades. So as mentioned, that would be bartenders,
bars, restaurants, support
staff, anybody who is, uh, passionate about or wants to pick up
that bottle of petro tequila and do something special with it for
their careers and for their bars. Right. And so what does that mean
on like a sort of day to day level? What kind of, what do you
find yourself doing, you know, when you wake up in the morning, I mean, you just got back on from a flight
from Mexico. You told me. I. Was just gonna say . Yeah, I was just gonna say that each day
is a little bit, bit different. I was just in Mexico at our
brand home at has pla patron, uh, in, uh, probably for the last two weeks just
doing quite a lot of work related to the patron perfectionist program for the
global final. So, hint, hint, wink, wink, you know, info coming
soon, . But, um, uh, I suppose the day in the life is, uh,
it, it is a lot of program development. It is constantly working through and
evolving our education program, uh, working with our brand ambassadors of
which, you know, in Australia we have, uh, quite a few brand ambassadors include,
including, uh, Joey Chisholm as well. So the one. Which. Is working Yeah, the one and
only. So working, working, uh, quite a lot with all of our touchpoint
with bartenders as well around the world, making their lives, uh, more enriched and better and making
sure they have all of the necessary resources to inspire and engage. Cool. And so how long have you
been in the industry for? Uh, I think you started bartending a while
back. Probably around the same time. I do actually. Yeah. This is like, I normally wouldn't
reveal information like this until. The second. I'm sorry. It's probably
rude to ask, right? No, not at all. No, I, uh, I've been in the
industry since 1996. Uh, but I've been bartending since 2000, so 22 years as a bartender
and 26 in the industry, which is, which is crazy . Yeah. Yeah. That's, there's
quite a lot. In hospital years. How did you get to be in
the role that you were, How long you've been in the role
now and and how did you get there? So, the role that I'm in right now,
I've been in since April. And, uh, I've been working on the brand side
more so in trade advocacy and, uh, development for global on-trade
and bartenders since 2015. And prior to that I was
working in bars full time. Uh, so when I had originally started
in a singing burger shop in, uh, 1996, uh, that sort of was my love of hospitality
coming to life. And of course, like every country there's the
legal purchasing age to deal with. So as soon as I could start, um, mixing with spirits and
different ingredients in 2000,
there was no stopping me. I was really excited to just,
uh, blend flavors together. I loved the stage of being
behind the bar, right. Of seeing the guest
instant reaction as well, when they would sip a drink rather
than when you're, when you're a chef. Cause I really wanted to
be a chef in the beginning. You'd have to be waiting for someone to
come back to the kitchen and tell you what the guest thought. You
wouldn't get that instant reaction, which I think is what bartenders really
love as well. Mm. And so over the, over the years, I had
worked in small dive bars, neighborhood mom and pop shops, uh, and then worked into fine dining
restaurants, fine dining bars, really intense, well, uh, uh, well curated bartender programs, which
at the time when it was centered around, uh, wine, beer, and really nothing else in Canada was
interesting to have philosophies attached to cocktail lists and spirit programs.
Mm. And then, uh, quite a lot of my, uh, the later part of
my, my bartending career, probably from 2007 to 2015 was spent, uh, just working on, uh, multiple units or multiple outlets. And that would include like the Four
Seasons or managing multiple bars from different owners at the same
time. Okay. Um, and then, and then working into, uh, into more like globally focused
programming that would highlight different regions and people of those regions, which felt like a nice fit to just move
into more of like the brand side role where I could do that, but more be on the side of empowering
those bartenders and teams that were telling those stories rather than,
uh, standing behind the bar anymore. Right. Okay. That's
quite the journey there. We're talking to you today because of
Pet Patron perfectionist, and that's, we've got the entries open at the moment. You've changed things a little bit
this year. My understanding is, can you tell us what's different this
year about Pet Patron perfectionist? Definitely, and you will hear sirens
in the background. They're not for me, but just in case there's an
interruption in that, uh, sound. That's all right. A real .
Yeah, it makes it real. It's like, if I bust through the door,
I should be worried, Right? ? Yeah. I'd be like,
Guys can, Hold on a second. I'm just finishing a podcast.
Um, yeah. So traditionally, uh, Patron perfectionist has been
a cocktail contest with, uh, with a single round that empowered
bartenders to choose any expression of the patron range of tequilas from
the silver Rapto and in ye and create something that inspired
their version of perfection. And it was a, a great contest that was started by a
few colleagues of mine in Patron that are still with the company. And
that was since 2016. And the, the vision to sort of bring
that, that contest to life, uh, was also a way to, uh, reward bartenders with a trip to our
brand home, to the Huci El Petron, which is, uh, so incredibly
beautiful. And as Joey and Harrison, our current winner can attest to,
it is a, a place unlike any other. And so that was the, the
thinking in the very beginning. And I think just like
any, like any program, uh, patrol and perfectionist was evolving
year after year to include different things. And then of course, we
had the pandemic to deal with, uh, for that two year period. And so what was interesting
coming out of the pandemic, uh, when I came on board, it was more of a, a blank slate of Lauren. We have, we
know you have a lot of, uh, you know, background in, in contest development and
bartender engagement around the world. If we were gonna change patron perfection
and evolve it into where we are now post pandemic, what do we think
this looks like? And of course, the, the big thing missing was education. But no two brands can be treated the
same way. And I think Patron has, uh, an authenticity and a heart and
soul to it that is connected to our, our place people and process that needs
to be woven into the way that we do a contest. Should we continue to do
something of a competition format? So the contest itself, well,
I I can reveal bits of it. The education program is really, really at the heart of what
we do now because it's, it really is about the development
both personally and professionally for bartenders to really try to start
to understand what their version of perfection could be. And that is in
the eye of the beholder. It's every, everyone has a different version of that. But what what's great for bartenders
is we now have this brilliant education program called
Academy Patron Perfectionists, which is connected to our contest. And the trends and topics
that we focus on are, are, you know, equipped to, to deal
with any bartender journey, uh, with any focus on any type
of menu, any type of venue. And so each bartender can pick
and choose how they want to, to utilize the information
they're they're receiving. It just happens to be topics that it
makes sense for Patron to have the license to talk about, because they are rooted in the way we
bloom and develop Mexican culture and flavors. So it's not just talking
about, uh, you know, agave and, and agave spirits and how tequila's
man and how pet patron's made. It's going a bit deeper than that. Yes. And a. Bit broader than that, I should say. Probably. Yeah, exactly. So the
topics, uh, Listo, for example, is the name of one of our three modules,
which focuses on the ritual serve, how we can transform, uh, a
simplistic way of handing a guest a, a really d Delicious Paloma as an example.
And how we amplify it to, you know, to the next level with, uh, a really, uh, interesting side serve garnish,
uh, ritual, large format, something where the guest in
a little bit of theater is, is in mind to create that 10 to
15 minute experience rather than just sipping the drink until it's finished
and deciding what you're having next. So you really are immersed
in the experience. Um. And that's something that people take
away and talk about the next day. And. Yeah, definitely. And it, it really
helps to empower, uh, some of our, you know, bar operators as well, that are looking for ways to create
new types of, serves, new formats of, serves new rituals for their guests as
well. Australia, as you know, has, uh, an incredibly advanced and
really interesting and, and super cool beverage culture,
food and beverage culture already. So being able to, to add a little something else where they
can elevate the experiences is really great. But you touched on something
earlier. You know, we have three modules. Lisa was one of them. I'll, I'll share
what the other two are in just a moment. But agave training is still
part of each of the sessions. We just weave it in in a different way.
It doesn't feel like it just exists. Like we end one section on large format
serves and in really cool, you know, grapefruit garnishes, and now it's,
let's now talk about, you know, a GABA process. it is
woven in, in the right way to, to really bring our people process
in place to life as it relates to that specific module topic. Okay. Um,
and did you, and the other two topics, I'll just, I'll just show quickly. Um, discovering deliciousness is all
about how we take the, you know, indigenous ingredients to Mexico
and bring them to life, uh, in a way that, uh, really
does them justice from the, the research standpoint and from, uh, I guess from the ideas that are set
forth by those that are from Mexico. So we have, uh, two contributors
on, on that particular module, Chef Anna and also, uh,
Roberto and both of them, uh, do great work with, uh, with Patron
with us. But it's great to have, from their perspective what
these ingredients are, like
Chile, corn, black sapo, any of these interesting ingredients,
how they're traditionally used in Mexico, and food and drink, and how we would continue to use
them in a food and drink format now. And so this was meant as an
inspirational guide for bartenders to start developing their own ingredient
encyclopedia where they live so they could search a showcase and amplify
flavors in the same way, which in Australia would be
an incredible way to do that. So we have this big ingredient
encyclopedia that we are
building currently that will come out sometime next year, just focusing on Mexican
ingredients with the, um, the input from global bartenders on how
they work with individual ingredients. That's pretty cool. And what, so
what was the third one? And the. Third one? I'm like, , I'm. Like, But wait, there's more for
someone who has, I know, but. Wait, there's more For someone who
has had no sleep in the last two days, I am just going for it. You can see
my, my little mug gear, my, you know, national Tequila Day headquarters mug. So. It's filled with You're killing it.
You're doing good. Yeah. . Okay. The third one is called
Mastering the Elements. Um, I think as, as all bartenders
listening in, we'll know that, uh, sometimes we look longingly
through the windows, you know, rubbing the fog off the windows, staring
into bars that have a road of app. They have a centrifuge, They got all
the bells and whistles. They're like, How did they spend, How are
they able to spend, you know, 10 grand on all this cool equipment? Um,
and I'm sat here with my plastic bags. Uh, so mastering the elements is, is about understanding how
we bloom and extract flavors, how we do that traditionally, using those really expensive
pieces of equipment, but then how we find the discount
version of that to still create that same level of flavor. And so I think we have
about 15 different recommendations, and then building a bar lab for
under a hundred bucks , which is pretty cool. So
it's a, it is an awesome, uh, it's an awesome module, and bartenders are really getting a
lot out of it because I think it's appreciating the fact that you might
have somebody with these amazing pieces of equipment or a
central location in, you know, one of the big cities where a bar is
offering that for bartenders to come in and, and train or check it out or
use the equipment. But you can still, you know, get some of the same effects
by, by this under a hundred dollars bar, bar. Lab. Yeah. Well, it's all about the
result at the end of the day. Right. It's about how things taste and, and
making it doesn't necessarily matter. It's all about, Yeah. Yeah. The, the equipment you user get there is not
the big main point. Um, so, so with, with the competition part of it,
how is that different do you think, to some other comps going
around? I mean, I know you're, you're focusing on a hometown
hero ingredient here in
Australia. I'm not sure. Is that global as well? It's global. We wanted to make sure
that every person, uh, joining the, the program globally would be joining
with the same rules, the same, uh, level of, Yeah. Uh,
I guess scoring criteria, the same access to ingredients,
more or less. So we have a sure, what we're calling the patron pantry,
which is, uh, a list of ingredients that, a hundreds of ingredients that can be
found in all markets around the world. Uh, just to ensure that as bartenders
are starting to build just this, this first entry round, that they would have a lot of ingredients
to pull from that wouldn't, uh, take away from their creativity, but
it would allow them, uh, you know, enough variety that they could
make something different. Uh, everyone will have the same
starting point with Patron Silver. It is the expression that we,
we carry around the world. Uh, so it's much easier for, for
bartenders to gain access to. And with Hometown Hero, we, we want the bartenders to develop
a serve and also a story that is connected to the neighborhood or the city,
or the town that they live now. Yeah. And I, you know, this is an opportunity for them to use
one homemade ingredient as well that is not featured as a pantry item. So it gives them like this
unique opportunity to bring
something to life that is an expression unique to where
they live. And there's no, there's no other parameters
around that. Um, there, I mean, limited to a number of ingredients,
of course, but there is no, you have to make something like
a margarita. You have to do this, you have to do that. We, we wanted
to keep it quite open, but also, uh, quite, uh, contained to make sure that every
bartender had the same start and the same advantage. Yeah. What do you think's a big thing that
bartenders can pull from this experience, from entering the comp and hopefully
getting through to the next round and, and all that sort of thing? What's,
what's the big takeaway from them? What's, why's the benefit? Well, Patron, Patron is different
than a lot of other brands. We really focus on the Grand Familia,
and if you've ever heard that, that term being thrown around definitely
by Bacardi, who's, uh, yeah. Uh, who our parent company is now. But it
was, it was true even prior to, uh, to joining Bacardi in 2018, there is a major focus on celebrating
and taking care of bartenders. And so I think while Patron is,
is, uh, you know, is a big brand, we, we like to have the
opportunity, of course, to showcase with bartenders that we
are still small batch and craft at the heart. It's important that we're
sharing that with bartenders, that we're bringing bartenders to the
Aieta to see what our processes and how we do things. Um, but I, I think it's really important that
bartenders know that when they join, the moment they fill out a bartender
profile, they're part of our family. And more info on, on what that means,
coming soon, even as an applicant. But traditionally in the past,
competitions have taken care of, of only those who have won, which
is the opposite, in my opinion, of what a contest should do. Right? A contest should celebrate every
person that took the time to fill out a bartender profile, to submit
a recipe to even print out, or even just save a PDF of what the
criteria for the competition is, and really think about it and
put their efforts in those, those bartenders should be
celebrated. So I am a big fan of, uh, of awarding great work. Of
course, our whole team is, And so there will be winners, of course, but there will also be
major participation ribbons, which is always my favorite thing,
participation group . So we want bartenders to join our
family and just be part of our world, and we will stop at nothing
until we can get there. . Well, that sounds promising. So more
information on that coming soon. Is it? Definitely. We have, um, I. Mean, feel free to break some news
here if you like, you know, Yeah. I mean, it, it exists right now already.
You know, the, even the way that, uh, our brain aos take care of bartenders
in market that will just continue to evolve and continue to amplify
what we want is, you know, bartenders to be able to think of us
when they've got a really great idea of something they, they wanna
do as a, perhaps as a bar,
a brand manager, or sorry, a bar manager or an operator. They've got a great idea of
something they wanna put in place. We would like to be, you know, their first call so we can work through
with them on how we can help bring it to life for their guests and for their teams. We're all about celebrating
team experiences, you know, just how can we be part of your world?
So I think we'll come out and, and say, these are the things that
we can offer, which, uh, the local brand ambassadors are doing
already. So for anyone listening, call Joey immediately so he can help you
with, with those things. But just as a, as a a way of moving forward when we, we start to launch some of the other
initiatives that we will have, uh, connected to Patron and
Perfectionists in, in, uh, 2023, it would just be great for bartenders
to just keep us in mind so we can work together on lots of different things. Happy days. Uh, in terms of
the global finals, you know, very few people get to these things
each year. What can you say about the, the experience this year? I mean, Harrison Kenny was the winner from
canteen Okay. Is the global winner. What can you tell us about the experience
that you get when you're there at the Sie ender, uh, and what, you know,
maybe a little bit about what, what Harrison had, uh,
to do there as well. So Harrison is part of,
he, he's incredible. And also part of the last batch of
bartenders that went through, uh, the, the different style of patron
perfectionist program. Yeah. And it's not to say that it's easier
or harder, anything is just different. We're adding, you know, a few more activities this year for
bartenders to get involved with at a national final level, which you'll see in Australia as it
comes to to life in October, November, and then also at the Global Finals. Um, I think what has been interesting with, with Harrison is that he's, he's
got such an amazing personality, a way of looking at flavors
and hospitality and service, which I think echoes through the
bars that he works in. And the, the people that he works with echoes
through the way he brings flavors to life and his drink. He's getting a chance to, to deliver that to an
amazing in person audience, to folks that are working, you know, day
in and day out. Just working on Patron, for example, David Rodriguez,
who is our master distiller, is just really amazing
to see how like Harrison, along with all of the other
finalists from the other, uh, 15 countries have their own style,
their way of delivering their stories, the way of creating cocktails, their
own vision of how Patron comes to life. And they are just the
through line of that of, of just celebrating that to, to this
audience was really, really cool to see. And I think there were a lot of really
brilliant aha moments from our guests in the crowd as well. And, you know, from brand ambassadors around the
world from the other bartenders. So for Harrison, for example, being able to deliver his really authentic
and unique style and the flavors of his drink inspired
everybody else in the room, just in the same way as
all of the other, uh, folks from the different countries did
the same for him. Mm-hmm. . Um, so it's just, and their little
family has sort of bloomed from that. So they will always be the class of
2022 and they're still connected. Now. The WhatsApp, I had to mute it cuz it's
just as like too much. They're , they're on there 24 7 talking about
different things they're into. So it's great to see everyone
remains connected and um, uh, you know, when you're, when you're at
Patron and you're right, it is, uh, you know, it's a once in a lifetime
experience for a bartender, but we're trying to make
it, um, so it's, uh, accessible for bartenders, uh,
to get to. So yes, you know, winning term perfectionist in your
country is one way to get there. But, uh, you know, call Joey cuz there's other
ways that, that you can get there. And I think, uh, what's. It's gonna get a tell your
phone calls, right? Listen. That's what he wants. I mean,
you know, I, I mean he's not, because it isn't necessarily live.
He's not texting me right now to say, Why are you doing this? But, uh, I'm very excited for all the calls and
emails that he's gonna get. Absolutely. I, Yeah, but the, but I think the activities
and the itinerary looks
different depending on what type of trip you're on. Sure.
And the one for perfectionist is, is pretty amazing. I mean, you,
you do have this, you know, supernatural experience
when you start, you know, in the agave fields with
ours. And, you know, you head back to NDA and you're going
through the process. You see, you know, how, uh, you know, even how
we select and cut the agaves, how we load them into clay ovens, you
know, how long we cook them for 79 hours. And then, you know, watching
the TOS in action with our, uh, distillery extension now said De Castilla, because we are all about
replication, not automation. We keep the same small batch craft
feel throughout our distillery and our footprint is huge. So it's a lot of
tonas. We have a lot of roller mills, we have a lot of ovens, we have
a lot of small copper pot stills. We have a lot of fun wood
fermentors. So it's, um, it's just really amazing for bartenders
to see, because I think it's, the one thing they don't expect
coming in is just to see how, how craft and small batch everything
is. So once they learn that, then they deliver their
presentation after that, it's, it's just they're going a million miles
an hour just trying to figure out how they fold in all of this
information and knowledge. Yeah. And that's part of what's
inspired, you know, this next layer of patron and
perfection is to make sure that we have additional activities to make sure
that we're giving bartenders enough opportunities to sort of think on their
feet in the moment or be inspired by what they've seen in the Agat fields and
do something exciting with that in the moment. So it's, it is about infusing and bringing their
local culture to life from where they're coming from and infusing it into Mexico, but it's equally about what are the most
inspiring and interesting things you're learning about the tequila
making process, about Patron, about the people place and process. And how are you sort of developing
that in the moment into a, a new interesting ritual serve. In terms of preparing for this comp, the bartenders who are
preparing for the comp, um, especially with this first challenge
with the hometown hero ingredient sort of thing. What's the kind
of thing that you guys, you think will be making
a great entry there? What's the hallmarks of a great
drink for this sort of thing? So we have, uh, our education is still
going strong right now. Um, you know, Harrison and Joey we're both traveling
across Australia for the last, you know, three weeks delivering
all the education modules. And also Harrison was delivering a bit
of his winner's journey about, you know, what he felt going through the challenge
from the very beginning and then going through, uh, the pandemic with
consumer voting and different things, and then coming to the
final, his experience. Yeah. And I'm sure he's shared a bit
about where he's going now. He's coming to Europe for almost the
entire month of November after the, uh, November finals
for, uh, for Australia. And he'll be in six different
countries either judging the finals or training bartenders or doing a
combination of both, which is really, really cool. Uh, that's in the
Middle East and also also in Europe. And so we do have some great, you
know, prizes for bartenders as well. And that's, that's from, from Global.
Um, but I would say that with, you know, just over a week to go in the program, if you haven't attended one
of the educational modules,
not to worry, we have, uh, some pre-recorded sessions
that we are launching, uh, this Friday on September 30th. And you
can find those on our YouTube page, uh, at, um, Academy Patron or on our
Facebook page, Academy of Patron. And if you can't find them,
call Joey . Call. Joey . Just call Joey. Yeah, exactly. Call
Joey. But they're, they, they'll be globally available for
everyone. So all three modules. Cool. And then the, the second thing
is that we have a town hall. The town hall will be on Monday,
October 3rd, uh, time to be determined. But again, just visit our Instagram, uh,
or Facebook page on Academy of Patron, and you'll have all the details there.
Or call Joey , but the town hall. Yeah, Yeah. But the town hall is each bartender's
opportunity to join a live session, uh, to ask questions to,
uh, to the time zone. Doesn't work for Harrison,
unfortunately, but, uh, to Julia Kuk, who is our 2020 global winner, uh, as the head bartender at the Artesian
in London. Awesome. As well as, uh, myself and, uh, to, let's
see, uh, two other winners, uh, Stephen Gonzalez from the US who won the
National Final cause it's always great to get some info from, uh, someone that attends the global
finals but doesn't win the global, but still has such an
incredible experience and
is still doing work with us. Yeah. And as well, um, some of our
agency partners that are developing, uh, the competition. So it's great to, to
join for a session like that. Cool. That will be recorded and shared
across for all bartenders to find out, but I'd say in these last,
uh, these last few days, do not leave everything
until the last minute. if you have questions
related to the challenge brief. Now, if you head to academy of
patron.com/patron perfectionist, start your bartender
profile, you'll see there, you can download the entire
challenge, brief and scoring criteria, all the rules and regulations
for, uh, Australia, if you're interested to know what else
there is. Um, and as well, you know, the Patron Pantry is there. We, we just want bartenders to be able to
give themselves enough time to really go through and maximize their
entry. And a couple of tips. I I would say, just
going in towards the end, keep in mind that this is paper entry. So the judges will not be making your
drink, but they will be judging blind. So there will be no reference
to the bartender's name, uh, to the bar that they work at or any
other, you know, distinct information. Uh, so this is judged purely on the
fact that this cocktail is George judged against scoring criteria,
which would involve like the, uh, the appearance. It would involve
the story, the innovation of it, the creativity. There are no points
awarded for taste, obviously. But as we, as we get past that phase, most markets will have an opportunity
to put in the hometown hero live as one of their challenges. Hint, hint. So you might have an opportunity
to actually make this drink. So I would say for, for bartenders, make this a really great expression
of you that reads well on paper, that's not so overly complex. That is difficult for the judges to
understand how you got to that answer, that you read the brief and
fully understand the rules, because you don't wanna
get disqualified, you know, for not reading the brief properly. Um. You gotta read the brief. We've,
it's the first thing, read. The brief, oh my God, always as I read the brief and then
read it like five times and then have someone else read it and then tell you
what they think it means, . Um, but on, you know what, But
all that aside asking, Joey, if you have any questions, uh, jumping
into, uh, any of our academy Epi, patron social channels and
asking questions when you, uh, sign up with your bartender
profile on the website, there is also an email there,
uh, that you can ask questions. So don't leave everything
until the last minute. Just get in now and start thinking
about it and consider how you would, how you would bring this serve to life
if given the opportunity to present it live in front of judges or being able to
put on your menu or do anything with it for the future. So it's more, it takes
more thought than just a haphazard, I'm just gonna submit this, this fits the brief versus this really
is an expression of me that could, we can build over time. Gotcha. That sounds fantastic. Okay,
Well thank you so much for your time, Lauren. Um, I hope
everything goes well. Uh, we gonna see you out in
Australia anytime soon. Yes, I will be there probably
in February at some point. I won't be there unfortunately, uh,
before the end of the year, but, um, I, I will be there in
February because, uh, I, I've also got a book coming out and that's
launching in Australia in the spring, and so be, will be there for that. Um, and it's called The Bartenders
Guide to the World, uh, Stories and Recipes about 75
places over the last, uh, 20 years. Just pretty f but I, but I'm also just
missing my, my Ozzie family, you know, I'm from Vancouver and so
that's like little Australia. That's it. Right? Yeah. I'm, uh, yeah, I'm, so, I'm
seriously, seriously missing the, the land and the people and, you
know, I look forward to having a, having a drink with all
the amazing bartenders, uh,
tuning in at, at their bars. And Sam, of course, uh, maybe getting to
see you and have a chat in person. But, uh, yeah, I really appreciate you having me on
the show today and I'm excited to see, always excited to see the
entries coming in from Australia, some of the most creative and
innovative bartenders on this planet. And don't forget it. So please, please, please submit cuz we'd love
to see your interpretation. Fantastic. We'll get you back on the show
when the book comes out as well. Okay. Thanks very much for joining me again. . Thanks so much,
Sam. Have a great day. Thanks to Lauren again for the chat,
and thank you to you for listening. If you're enjoying these podcasts, please share them with a friend or give
us a rating on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get yours. We really
appreciate your support. Until next time, this has been Drinks At
Work from Booth Beer.