How to: Hospitality with Sother Teague of Amor y Amargo

Sother Teague of the great East Village NYC bar Amor y Amargo has a very specific and wonderful approach to hospitality.  During the Tampa Repeal Day Conference, Sother gave a great talk about the steps of service that are followed when people come into his bar.  It was a really great seminar and something that everybody in the industry can learn from.  He called the seminar “The Psychology of the Room.  How to use Inherent Human Behavior to Guide People Through Their Time in Your Space”.

I asked Sother if he would be a guest on the Bartender Journey Podcast to talk about his great bar in Manhattan, and also about the great seminar about Hospitality that he gave in Tampa.

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Sother’s philosophy on service is designed to provide the best possible experience for his guests.  As he says “We don’t sell the drinks, the ice, the bitters.  All that stuff comes free with the Hospitality”.

Amor y Amargo serves only stirred drinks and there is no juice of any kind.  Ironically, during Unofficial Bartender Week NY 2016, an event at Amor y Amargo invited bartenders to get behind the bar and shake drinks!  Sother got into the action as well, (picture right).

Cocktail of the Week:
Sharpie Mustache.  Created by Chris Elford during his tenure at Amor y Amargo.

• 3/4 ounce Meletti Amaro
• 3/4 ounce Bonal Gentiane Quina
• 3/4 ounce London dry gin (AyA uses Beefeater)
• 3/4 ounce Overproof rye whiskey (AyA uses Rittenhouse 100°)
• 2 dashes Bittermens Tiki Bitters

An extremely unusual event - Sother Teague shaking a drink behind the bar at Amor y Amargo!

Book of the Week:
How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.  Learn the six ways to make people like you, the twelve ways to win people to your way of thinking, and the nine ways to change people without arousing resentment.

Also try the updated How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age.

Toast of the Week:
Here’s to the nights that become memories, the friends that become family, and the dreams that become reality.