Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/61075
WHO'S WHO Coming Around IN A TOWN KNOWN FOR BLUES AND BARBECUE, RISING CULINARY AND BAR STARS MIX IT UP WITH SEASONED INDUSTRY VETERANS, SHOWING THE WORLD THAT THERE'S MORE TO MEMPHIS THAN PULLED PORK by Fred Minnick Daniel Bamrick, Food & Beverage Director, The Peabody Hotel Daniel Bamrick. On any given day, hun- dreds of people gather in Memphis's Peabody Hotel lounge to watch ducks waddle out of an elevator and into the lobby foun- tain. This ritual began in 1932 when The Peabody's General Manager made a bet while sipping on Jack Daniel's. Since then, Jack Daniel's, the ducks and The Peabody Hotel have had a symbiotic relation- ship. And while you won't find duck on the menu of any Peabody restaurants, Jack Daniel's is the main ingredient for many cocktails. Daniel Bamrick, Director of Food and Beverage, says beverage earns the hotel $14 million a year in total rev- enue. This includes catering, rooftop parties and restaurant beverage sales. The hotel also targets its local populace. One local beverage initiative is the Master Taster's club, where area members taste wines and share their notes. At a recent event, locals enjoyed Perrier-Jouët. "Although we are a nationally historic hotel, we place a lot of our beverage efforts on what our locals want," Bamrick says. 98 / the tasting panel / april 2012 John Adams, Star Distributors Wholesale Wines and Liquors Although it's not the biggest distributor in town, Star focuses on high-quality products and is the pulse of this city's cocktail culture. John Adams, the company's Marketing Director, says vodka outsells bourbon in this market, but not by much. Rum is seeing an uptick, too, he says, with cocktail-focused bars Alchemy, River Oaks and Bari making Memphis a strong mixology market. These cocktail- makers are helping Memphis residents find some good times, he says. John Adams. "Memphis has had a chip on its shoulder for a long time," Adams says. "Memphis has soul, grit and grime. Our culinary scene used to be just barbecue-driven. Now, we have chefs Kelly English at Iris and Jose Gutierrez at River Oaks making amazing food. The cocktails and wine are following the culinary lead." PHOTO: FRED MINNICK PHOTO: FRED MINNICK