Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/11486
EDUCATION seems like it was just fi ve years ago, but it was October 1998 at the Hotel Cipriani in Venice when I agreed to cover a double shift for a sick colleague, making it 16 consecutive hours behind the stick. Around 9 p.m., while I was closing down the apéritif bar, two American gentlemen walked in and asked for some limoncello and other Italian prod- ucts to taste. After 12 non-stop hours, with a smile and without hesitation, I poured and delivered the drinks to the table. I assure you I did not roll my eyes. One of the men stopped me and started to ask questions, as if testing my knowledge of various spirits. At fi rst, standing in front of him with my empty tray and sharing my passion for these products, I thought he was just an American tourist interested in Italian beverages. What I didn’t realize, however, was that he was actually interviewing me on the spot. Lucky for me, I had just won the worldwide Bacardi-Martini Grand Prix and I was very prepared. Having proven myself, he invited me to meet with him the next day at the famous Caffè Florian in Saint Mark‘s square, where I found myself discussing the opportunity to relocate to Las Vegas, along with my family, while he began writing salary fi gures on a cocktail napkin. Carpe diem! The gentleman was Larry Ruvo, who, along with Steve Wynn, is responsible for changing the food and beverage industry in Las Vegas over the course of the past 20 years. Larry is currently Senior Managing Director for Southern Wine & Spirits of Nevada and, above all, a visionary and a mentor who, in true Las Vegas style, had the guts to bet on a young Italian barman to bring his passion and professionalism to peers and to high-rolling customers alike in this very important American market. In 2000, Southern Wine and Spirits of Nevada was the fi rst distributor in the nation—and, presumably, the world—to hire a full-time mixologist to promote its spirits portfolio via cocktail menus, staff educational training and special events. Soon after, suppliers emulated this practice, and brand ambassadors with mixology skills were brought on board. When I launched the fi rst Academy of Spirits & Fine Service in September of 2000, it was an eight-week bartending training program, attended by talented mixologists such as “Bobby G” Gleason, Ray Srp, Darren West and Michael MacDonnell, who probably should have come with an Italian/English diction- ary to translate what I was saying. Three days before the class began, I only had three people signed up and was totally stressed out, so I went from bar to bar, personally inviting all the bartenders I could. Although I was no Tony Abou-Ganim (a great friend and Cocktail King of the Strip), this netted close to 20 pupils for my inaugural class. “With the Academy of Spirits, Francesco has perhaps made the single most important contribution to the education and elevation of the professional bartender in Las Vegas since its inception in 2000,” notes Abou-Ganim. The Academy of Spirits is now in its tenth year, and about 1,000 students have gone through the program and are now working around the country june 2010 / the tasting panel / 89