Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/2622
september 2009 / the tasting panel / 37 Although he plays a starring role in Beam Global's new MIXXIT! online training program for bartenders, master mixologist Bobby "G" Gleason knows from experience leading on-site training semi- nars that bartenders can be less than enthusiastic about the pros- pect of professional instruction. "There's a meeting at 9 or 10 in the morning, and a bartender's been working the night before until 2. They're thinking, I don't want to be here—what's this guy going to teach me?" says Gleason. "But then you start out and hit them with something that makes them think, wow, that really makes sense. Now you've grabbed their attention. And before the day's over, they're your biggest fan." "The MIXXIT! program does just that," he continues. "It teaches them the basics, and lets them learn that, yes, there is a reason that you do it this way, and here's why." MIXXIT! is a key component of Beam Global's newly expanded Virtual Spirit All Access education platform. What started out a few years ago as a password-protected program offered on a limited basis to Beam's distributors and retail partners is now readily available to the trade anywhere on the planet, explains Kathleen DiBenedetto, Beam Global's Director of Product Knowledge and Brand Education. While MIXXIT! is clearly intended to enhance awareness of Beam Global's brands, DiBenedetto says that the pro- gram provides universally useful resources for bartenders. "We'll show demonstrations with our brands, but it is about the architecture of the drink and professional bartending skills," she says. "We're hoping that by helping the bar, they'll see the value in what we're bringing to the table." Philip Raimondo, another member of Beam Global's interna- tional team of master mixologists—which also includes Wayne Collins and Andy Gemmel in the U.K. and Jason Crawley in Austra- lia—says that MIXXIT! teaches the correct techniques for making Philip Raimondo. Hire the smile, hire the great personality, hire the person who has a lot of passion and provide them with the tools and resources they need to be successful, and you'll have a lifelong bartender who will go on to do amazing things.