Interview with Jesse - Bartender who works in the Berkshires who shares some great stories from behind the bar. Plus, The Water of Life is a whisky tasting event to benefit charity which will be held in downtown Manhattan on May 6, 2015. This is the first annual event and its for a great cause. All the proceeds will be donated to the Life Raft Group which is dedicated finding a cure for a specific type of cancer - GIST. The gentleman who founded this event - Dr. Mattew Lurin is a whiskey aficionado whose stepfather is a GIST patient. The word whiskey comes from the Gaelic phrase for 'water of life' which became the word "whiskey". This is going to be a great event and its for an awesome cause and we encourage you to attend! The format of the tasting will be very unique. It's basically like speed dating with Whisky Ambassadors to find your whisky to love. Each whisky brand will have a table that seats up to 5 guests at a time. They will share drams and stories for 12 minutes. Then, the group will move on individually to their next of many 'whisky dates'...13 in total, with built in breaks for dinner and dessert.Over the course of this event, guests will have the opportunity to try over 25 whiskies, accompanied by food pairings at each table, passed hors d'oeuvres, buffet dinner and desserts. All proceeds raised go to the charity, The Life Raft Group whose simple focus is to cure a form of cancer — Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GIST). – and to help those living with it. Use the code RAFT1550 to get an additional $50 off the ticket price, which is a charitable donation, (legal disclaimer - double check that with your account please!) You can buy tix at lrgwateroflife.org and get more info on the charity at liferaftgroup.org.Remember to use the discount code RAFT1550. Next item of business -- a bit of industry news. The Manhattan Cocktail Classic was canceled! The event was passed to new management this year, and apparently they just couldn't sort out the details in time, so they just canceled it. What a shame...it was such an amazing event. Well, TOTC is coming up! Book of the week its: All About The Guest -- such a great title! Author Steve Difillippo bought his first restaurant when he was just 23 years old and now owns lots of restaurants up and down the East Coast. Steve makes some great points in this book, here is a favorite -- Steve says every decision he makes he asks himself, "is this going to make things better for the guest?" ... an awesome philosophy. He also talks about how you can't let demanding guests distract you from the others --that is, the easy going guests, who are really who you want coming back anyway! He says you need to make sure you give all your guests the attention they deserve. This is good to keep in mind while you are behind the bar! Toast of the Week: I like beer. On occasion, I will even drink beer tocelebrate a major event such as the fall of communismor the fact that the refrigerator is still working.--Humorist Dave Barry

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