Welcome to another episode of Drinking With Robots. I'm your host Rob Nester and today we're going to delve into a chapter of history that reverberates through the ages. The Berlin Wall, a stark emblem of the Cold War era. We'll explore the wall's construction, the lives it touched, and its fall on November 9th, 1989. Tyler Fernberg, bartender at the Sugar House location of Quarters Arcade Bar in Salt Lake City, Utah, will be stopping by a little later to talk to us about why Utah is way cooler than it sounds, as well as his love of crafting cocktails with oft-neglected bottles from the back bar, and his love of good, dumb fun. But first, a word from our sponsor. Upgrade your cocktail game with Remedy Cocktail Company's handcrafted bitters. Order online at RemedyCocktailCompany.com and choose from over 20 flavors. Elevate your drink experience today. In the aftermath of the Second World War, Germany found itself at the center of a growing ideological rift between the Allied forces. The Yalta and Potsdam agreements spearheaded the division of Germany into four occupation zones, setting the stage for what would become one of the most vivid symbols of the Cold War, the Berlin Wall. This physical barrier, erected almost overnight on August 13, 1961, was a desperate attempt by East Germany to halt the mass emigration to the West, which was seen as a colossal brain drain affecting the Eastern Bloc. The exodus before the wall was significant. Around 2.7 million people fled the GDR in East Berlin between 1949 and 1961. The construction of the wall was a hasty and secretive operation. As East German citizens woke up on that August morning, they found their city divided by barbed wire, which soon transformed into a formidable concrete barrier. The Berlin Wall didn't just bifurcate the city, it severed families, friendships, and a shared sense of identity that transcended political ideologies. The impact was immediate and profound, with tales of daring escapes and tragic attempts to cross the barrier becoming synonymous with the daily lives of Berliners. The wall stood as a silent yet potent reminder of the Cold War's ideological schism. It was not just a physical barrier, but it was a psychological one, etching a line of division that would take decades to erase. The narratives from that time paint a vivid picture. The clank of steel as the wall was being erected, the piercing sirens at the sector borders, and the intimidating presence of tanks enforcing the new order. It was a scene of eerie anticipation as citizens peeked through curtains, witnessing their city being cleaved in two. In the aftermath of the wall's construction, Berlin was a city suspended in a Cold War stalemate. As the concrete solidified, so did the ideological divide, with each side of the wall becoming a physical embodiment of the east-west rivalry that marked the global political landscape. The 1960s and 70s saw a city adapting to its divided reality. While West Berlin flourished as an island of freedom amidst a sea of East German socialism, East Berlin endured under the watchful eye of a repressive regime. The stark contrast in living conditions, political freedoms, and economic opportunities between the two sides was a daily reminder of the Cold War's pervasive impact. Internationally, the period was marked by a series of crises and confrontations between the superpowers. Yet, amidst the tension, there were fleeting glimmers of detente. The signing of the Helsinki Accords in 1975, which aimed to improve relations between the communist bloc and the west, was one such moment of hope in a climate otherwise dominated by mistrust and antagonism. As we transitioned into the 1980s, the climate within East Germany was growing increasingly turbulent. The economic hardships, political repression, and the yearning for freedom were fermenting a culture of dissent. Underground groups began to form, dissent was whispered in hushed tones, and the cries for freedom were becoming harder to silence. The political landscape was also shifting. The ascension of Mikhail Gorbachev to power in the Soviet Union in 1985 brought with it winds of change. His policy of glasnos, meaning openness, and perestroika, restructuring, resonated across the Eastern Bloc, planting seeds of hope in the hearts of East Germans. The late 1980s marked the crescendo of change. Protests in East Germany gained momentum, and the voices of dissent were now resonating through the streets. The cries for freedom were becoming a chorus too loud for the authorities to ignore. The twilight hours of November 9, 1989 were charged with a sense of historical urgency. The air in Berlin was thick with anticipation as word spread about a significant announcement concerning travel restrictions. East German government official, Gunther Schabowski, somewhat unprepared, ambled to the podium during a hastily arranged international press conference in East Berlin. Clutching onto papers, he made a surprising announcement about relaxed travel restrictions to the West, albeit earlier than intended due to a misunderstanding. Just after midnight, as the news seeped through the Iron Curtain, jubilant crowds began to gather at the checkpoints along the wall. What started as a trickle soon swelled into a torrent of hopeful citizens, from both sides converging at the barrier that had divided them for nearly three decades. With the guards at the checkpoints unclear on how to respond to the unfolding scenario, the masses took matters into their own hands. The clink of hammers and chisels against concrete echoed through the night as individuals began chipping away the wall. The fervor was contagious, and soon a spontaneous celebration erupted amidst the rubble, embodying a collective sigh of relief and jubilation as the wall crumbled piece by piece under the force of hope and resilience. The guards, initially hesitant and outnumbered, eventually stepped aside, allowing the crowd to cross freely into West Berlin. The sight of East and West Berliners embracing amidst the debris under the gaze of a bemused yet passive security force painted a picture of triumph and unity that reverberated across the globe. That iconic night, Berlin witnessed the impossible becoming possible as the formidable wall that once stood as a symbol of division yielded to the unyielding spirit of unity and freedom. The world watched in awe as Berliners celebrated their newfound freedom, making not only the fall of a wall, but the beginning of a new chapter in global history. The euphoria of that night transcended borders, signaling the end of the Cold War era and the inception of a new world order. A resonance of hope amidst the ruins of the past. The remnants of the Berlin Wall today are more than mere concrete and steel. They are silent sentinels of a tumultuous past, standing amidst a city that has blossomed from the seeds of unity. As you wander along the remnants, the graffitied narratives on the wall echo tales of hope, resilience, and reconciliation. The Berlin Wall Memorial, with its preserved sections, watchtowers, and informative displays, serves as a poignant reminder of the city's divided past. The memorial encapsulates the dichotomy of fear and freedom that once pervaded the heart of Berlin. The east side gallery, boasting over a hundred murals painted on remnants of the wall, has transformed a symbol of oppression into a canvas of hope and artistic expression. As we reflect on the broader impact, the fall of the Berlin Wall was a catalyst that accelerated the end of the Cold War. The ripple effects were felt far beyond the borders of Germany, marking a shift in the global political landscape. The transition from a bipolar world marked by ideological rivalry to a new order sparked dialogues of cooperation, reconciliation, and the dream of a united Europe. The European Union expanded, encapsulating a broader spectrum of nations, fostering economic and political cooperation. The ripple effects of the wall's fall even resonated across the Atlantic, influencing US-Soviet relations and nudging the world towards a new era of diplomacy and detente. In contemporary discourse, the Berlin Wall's legacy serves as a stark reminder of the human cost of division and the transformative power of unity. It's a testament to the indomitable spirit of humanity to transcend barriers, be they concrete or ideological. Furthermore, the symbolism of the Berlin Wall reverberates in today's global political landscape, where walls, both physical and metaphorical, continue to be constructed and challenged. The narrative of the Berlin Wall challenges us to reflect on the essence of unity, the value of freedom, and the enduring hope that fuels the quest for a world unmarred by division. The Berlin Wall's legacy is not confined to the annals of history. It's a living narrative, a reflection on the essence of unity and freedom, a tale that continues to inspire and challenge the status quo as we navigate through the complex tapestry of today's geopolitical landscape. So there you have it folks, the riveting saga of the Berlin Wall, a stark emblem of division that eventually succumbed to the collective yearning for unity. As we reminisce on the Wall's legacy, we're reminded of the enduring spirit of hope and the relentless pursuit of freedom. Now, don't touch that dial. After the break, we're thrilled to have Tyler Fernberg from Quarters Arcade Bar in Salt Lake City, Utah joining us. Tyler will be put to the test against our AI contender in a Berlin Wall-themed cocktail showdown. Our competitors will be tasked to concoct a drink that embodies the spirit of liberation and the collective euphoria experienced on the night the Wall fell. Will Tyler's concoction break down the barriers or will the AI leave Tyler stranded behind the Iron Curtain? Stick around to find out. Are you a full-time professional bartender who thinks they have what it takes to defeat our AI competitor? If so, we'd love to talk to you about being on the show. Slide into our DMs on Instagram or email us at bookings@DrinkingWithRobots.com. I want to take a moment and say thank you for listening so far. I'd love it if you'd connect with the podcast on social media. We're Drinking With Robots on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and threads. And we definitely appreciate your likes and follows. Make sure to hit the subscribe button on whatever platform you're listening to our podcast on so you don't miss any episodes. Also, check out DrinkingWithRobots.com while you're at it. Hey, folks. We're here today with our guest, Tyler Fernberg. He's from Salt Lake City, Utah's own Porter's Sugar House location. Tyler, thank you so much for being with us today. Oh, absolutely. It's a pleasure, my dude. I'm stoked about this. Getting into this from the get-go, I have to say it was kind of funny. I didn't think about it until I sent you your prompt that you were too young to have experienced the Berlin Wall being a thing. And I remember thinking after I sent you, I was like, oh, he has no idea, like, you know, kind of the maybe the significance other than purely in retrospect. So with that said, I mean, did you know anything about this? I mean, maybe high school. Did you learn about it in high school? Yeah, definitely. We went over it in high school. And but I like I hadn't really thought about it since then. So I was as soon as you sent me that I was like, oh, boy, I gotta I gotta do a little brushing up, I guess. But it was super interesting. It was cool looking into it, though, because there was a few things I didn't realize about it that were really cool, like the fact that it was kind of a mistake that it was torn down. Yeah, I thought that was I think that's my biggest takeaway from the research that I did into this was that it was absolutely accidental. And it was just due to like a bureaucrat who was just like, oh, fine, I'll go tell them that we're going to relax the travel restriction. And like he just misspoke. And people were like, what? What did he say? Yeah, you can go. No, literally, he's like the press conference was hilarious. They were he was like they just gave him the stuff. They didn't like even it was like rushed. So as soon as he got up to to do the press conference, he had said, yeah, we're like, you know, we're going to allow people to freely pass through, I think, starting immediately. And then everyone was like, what? And just rushed the wall. And then. Yeah. And then they like they talked to the soldiers about it, too, or like the, you know, the border guards or whatever. And they were like, yeah, we do. You know, they didn't want to like start firing off shots or, you know, they thought people would get killed or injured seriously if there was a panic aside from it. So they like they're just like yellow. Just let it happen. I did watch it live here in the U.S. as it was kind of transpiring. It just about prime time East Coast U.S. And all of a sudden they cut to the scene and people are out there with, you know, sledgehammers and like regular like framing hammers. I mean, everybody. Oh, yeah, something they could sling against these. Yeah, exactly. Whatever they could use. And it's crazy because you think about the fact that like the wall went in and like what? 1961, you know, the fact that it was 20 plus years. So you have an entire generation of people who had been behind this permanent wall. Since 1945, you'd had folks who were unable to see family members who prior to the war had lived just the other side of town, let alone the other side of the country. And that absolute victory of humanity. Think about how badly it could have gone had there been guards there who were maybe a little more gung ho or right. The fact that everybody was just kind of like, yeah, we're just we're done with this. And then the kind of the reverberation of it, what it triggered for the rest of Eastern Europe kind of crumbling in the aftermath of it. It was amazing to watch. Oh, I'm sure. I mean, that had to have been a sight to behold. I was going to say I'm glad to see that the school systems in Ohio do cover recent history. Now, if I understand correctly, were you originally from the like the Cleveland area? Is that right? Yeah, I grew up in Ohio, Northeastern Ohio. It was a place called Ashtabula. If you can say that even. I want to say I've driven through there at some point. Probably actually there's there's definitely like if you take major highways, you'll you'll end up through there. But it's yeah, it's a small like a rural town that doesn't have much going on. Like you don't need to be there unless you live there kind of thing. Yeah. I mean, yeah. So we would we would go to Cleveland for that's why I always say Cleveland, because that's what people most recognize. They don't they don't know Ashtabula. So grew up in Cleveland. You mentioned that you had worked in a brewery for a few years. Yeah. Was that a craft brewery or was that just kind of I don't know what was popular up there as far as regional beers? Yeah. Maybe. Oh, it was. Yeah. I mean, oh, that's all Ohio has is beer, dude. It's beer and in wild Midwest cuisine. Yeah. Grilled cheese sandwiches as big as your head. It's. But yeah, so it was there was a lot of craft breweries that were around. And when I worked for was definitely one of the larger production facilities, we had 32 taps on our on our tap room and they were all our own product. So we made everything under the sun. I was an R&D assistant brewer in the pub working with one other guy. So we just go from like 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. And we'd we'd just go nuts and we do test batches for the major production facility. We would do house account small batches. We would do whatever we wanted aside from that. And it was super fun. It was awesome. Was that your primer for starting to learn to build flavor that may be carried over into what you're doing now? Oh, absolutely. It's I mean, I went through the whole sensory training with beer for all that. Did you get your Cicerone or whatever that is? I did not get my Cicerone. I will say that because that's I I'm kind of in that group of people that I find it is kind of a joke. Like, I mean, I get it. You know, it's it is a certification. It's something that says you're able to do this. You know, you're able to taste beer. Right. We had enough in-house training and stuff that to me it wasn't worth the money and effort. So I just never really did it. I always get a kick out of now. I can't speak to folks that have like like bourbon specific credentials or something like that. But Psalms, I always get a kick out of Psalms because I've seen enough things where they've brought wine in that was a white wine. They've said it from, you know, really like distinguished Psalms who, you know, they give their whole spiel about it. They take the wine away. They bring them the same wine with enough food coloring to make it look like a red and they get a completely different spiel out of them. Oh, dude. Yeah. It's in the same things. It's hilarious. I'm like, all right, come on, guys. Like there's got to be a little more credibility to this. Right. Well, and I think what it is, is, you know, everybody, I truly do believe everyone tastes differently. There's no like right or wrong tasting, you know, and so. But sometimes I'm like, I don't know that I've ever, you know, tasted, you know, worn leather. Oh, sure. Yeah. It's funny that you mentioned that specifically too, because I was just about to say, as far as like my palate goes with being like different from other, like everyone else, whatever. Hey, I, my flavor descriptors are probably the worst flavor descriptors that you could come up with. Um, I'm the person that's like, Ooh, this, uh, tastes like, um, a weird foot with like a slight bit of trash water or, you know, like, all right. You were doing brewing in Ohio. Did you do any bartending really there or was it all in the beer? I did a little bit. Um, because I was, um, the R and D brewer or assistant brewer. Um, they, uh, wanted me to get into the bartending side at our sour facility because they're like, okay, you know what you're talking about with the product. Like, you know, so we want you on so that you can also help the other bartenders learn and be able to talk about the beer, the product. But I didn't do much with cocktail. My actual first experience with cocktail bartending there was funny because it was like the marketing director or something, um, that was in charge of the cocktail list. And it was five signature cocktails that we had. And I remember specifically him saying like, you never shake bourbon. That's how, you know, you're doing it wrong is if you're shaking the bourbon, if you're shaking it, if it's brown, you don't shake it. It's always stirred. And so that stuck with me. And then that's a very simplistic, uh, explanation, which is not always right. No, it literally only was, it was only for the sake of that cocktail we had on the menu. That was it. Um, but it was what he said that it was, it was very funny. So like then later on when I actually got into, uh, bartending and learning more about it, I was like, wait a minute, you can do this. And they're like, what the, yeah, absolutely. What are you talking about? What do you mean? Like, I always love those moments where like, you've been told something very specific at a point in your learning path where you're like, yeah, absolutely. And like, you hold onto it for way longer without even questioning it. And then somebody is like, what the hell do you mean? Yeah. I know exactly. All right. Talk to me. How did you end up an Ashtabula native in Utah? Like, were you just like, I'm out of here one day or? Yeah. I mean, yeah, that was pretty much it. I, I came. So my best, one of my best friends from Ohio, um, that I met in college and we were in a band together for three years. Um, and, um, that was like the wild time of my life that still continues to this day. Um, but he, um, he moved here a year, but a year before I did. Um, and so I came out and visited one February and it's been about almost three years now. Um, and we were up in the mountain skiing one day. We were down in the desert. The next, uh, I just loved everything about it. I was way more surprised, you know, cause when he moved to Salt Lake, I was like, really like Salt Lake city of all places. That's what you picked. Um, and, and then I realized when I got there, I'm like, man, this is incredible. Um, the scenery, like there was some really cool people there. Um, and like as much to contrary, there is, uh, there's a really good drink scene there too. And food. Um, so I, and I was done with Ohio. I lived in Ohio my whole life. I had traveled a bit from the band from other things, whatever, but, um, I just wanted to get out of there. So I decided as soon as I got back from that, um, I was going to look for a job. I found the job. As soon as I got hired at a brewery out in, uh, Utah, I told them I would be there in a week. And I told my parents, Hey, I'm leaving. See you guys later. Um, they were really sad, obviously. Cause I was also like one, the only, one of the only people in my family, um, to move that far away. Like they were upset when I moved to Columbus for college. Um, which is a three hour drive from where they are. Sure. So, um, yeah, I was just like, I'm not, I'm, I'm done. So I, yeah, I just packed everything up in my little Jeep renegade, whatever I could fit. And then drove out, took me three days. Um, and I just did the thing, made it happen. That's all work. Yeah. No, that's awesome. That I love those stories where somebody is like, no, I just, I went to a place. I realized it was beautiful and I wanted to be there permanently, you know, because I feel like so often it's so easy in life where you're like, yeah, well, this is where I'm at. This is where I'm going to be. Oh yeah. You know, and it's so like a unconsidered life kind of, right. It's, it's really, I love hearing those stories. It was like, no, man, I went to this place and it was amazing. Yeah. Well, it's sick. It's like, I don't understand the people that like can, I mean, I get it for some people. It's you do your own thing. But for me, I want to see everything. I want to explore as much as I can. There's a whole world out there. Like why limit yourself to one place? We talked a little bit about this before we started recording. My entire concept of Salt Lake city is heavily colored by, I love the movie. It's classic to me, but SLC punk. Oh yeah. But I mean, I know that's also an early eighties look at city, but, but I'm curious because you said like, Hey, there's great stuff going on here. I'm assuming the scene is way better now than it was. Oh, a hundred percent. No, it's crazy. I mean, well, if you think about it, yeah. Like this is where I got really into bartending and for it to be a place that is known for having such strict liquor laws. And it is run by like a Mormon government, you know, like these are the people that are in charge that have, that don't drink, have never drank are in charge of how we make cocktails and how we sell liquor. Yeah. And I want to kind of, and I want to kind of maybe broach with you because you know, my exposure on the East coast is primarily, it falls into one of two buckets. And it's really all about who owns the store because in North Carolina where I'm at, it's a state run institution. Yeah. You know, when I lived in Boston, that is very much privatized. Yeah. And then, you know, our neighbors to the South and South Carolina, they had a weird thing for years where they couldn't actually pour out of a seven 50. They had to actually use airplane bottles. Now the bonus was you always got the leftover. So, you know, they didn't use the full airplane bottle. You got like a little bonus shot, you know? Oh yeah. What are the wild and crazy rules that you guys have to deal with? Is there anything that like jumps to mind? Oh yeah. Um, I could go on and on honestly, but I'll hit some of the major ones that are, that are interesting specifically with, um, base liquor. Um, we call it base liquor for the cocktails. So you normally have like, you know, an old fashioned two ounces of bourbon, whatever. Right. Um, we can only do ounce and a half of the base liquor. So we'd have to use a flavoring liquor to supplement that ounce and a half to two ounces. Now, can that be more bourbon? See, that's the thing. So that's what I was going to say. It, it, I think it changed recently as to, as long as it's a different label, but it was that you had to use a different spirit. Okay. So technically I could use a rye, but I couldn't use another bourbon. So if somebody wanted to order like a nice bourbon in their old fashioned, I'd be like, Hey, just so you know, I can make this boozier, but it's not going to be with the, it's going to be diluted with a different bourbon or a different ride or whatever, you know? So if you really want to taste that spirit, then I recommend just keeping it at the one and a half ounces. So that's one of them. And then there's the total amount in a cocktail can only be up to two and a half ounces, which people get all weird about. Cause they're like, Oh, that means you can't like, well, you can't make it proper, you know, tropical day tiki drink, whatever. And I'm like, no, okay. Well, for one thing, I feel like two and a half ounces is still a lot of liquor in a cocktail. Um, my personal preference is to stick around the two ounce mark. Um, and we still have overproof rums. We have, you know, all the Navy strength is that. So there's ways to make it as boozy as you need it. Um, and you still make a delicious balanced cocktail. There's that there's the, um, like a Negroni is a really interesting one because remuths count as a wine spirit. So it technically counts as two drinks. You can only have, um, at most at a time, either like a beer and a cocktail, a beer and a shot. Um, you can't have more than two. You can't have more than two beers. You can, I can't serve one person more than two at a time. So there's some similarities with that here. They have an expressed permission for boilermakers, you know, so beer and shot. But otherwise you can't have two glasses sitting in front of you at any time. Yeah. It's similar. So like, yeah, Negroni counts as two drinks because it's liquor and a wine spirit. So I couldn't give you a beer and a Negroni, but I could give you like a daiquiri and a beer. That's kind of wild. Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, I mean, it sounds like you guys have figured out ways to work within the loopholes that are available on things. Oh, another one. Actually, I'm sorry. This is a big one. Um, this, uh, this, this separates us from a lot of other places in the world. I feel like we are not allowed to alter liquor in any way. Oh, so you can't do like a fat wash or anything. We can't do fat wash. We can't do infusions. We can't do like the, the best I think we can do is if it's a wine, we can still do like wine or ciders. I think we can mess with a little bit, but nothing else. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. With our Berg system, that's legal in every single bar. We have to have it. We have to use it. That controls your base spirit. So that's what makes your one and a half ounce or ounce pour into your cocktails. And that clicks every time. And so that matches up with your system. So your sales, whatever that makes it so that you can't. And since you can't alter liquor, you can't mix bottles. You can't batch. You can't do any of that. So every single time you make a cocktail, such as like a Mai Tai, that's five, six touches. So you have to like learn how to, especially in volume bars, you'll have to learn how to be as efficient as possible while grabbing at a time the, you know, your base rum, your next rum, your Curacao, your Orgeat and your lime and your saline or whatever. Like those are all separate touches. Yeah. I mean, cause like here, you know, I, I see a lot of bartenders. They're like, if it's over like three or four touches, I'm not doing it in volume. You know what I mean? Yeah. Um, but I feel like it's because, you know, you can pull off a pretty complex cocktail because you've got three things batched in one bottle, you know? So it's a lot easier. Oh yeah. I don't know how, I don't know how I'd handle that. So I think of it in a way with like, this is my silver lining on it is that, um, it makes us more efficient. It makes us think in ways that we have to be more efficient so that if I do ever go anywhere else to bartend that I'm allowed to do those things, I'll be even quicker. Like there's no, I'll be faster maybe than other people that are working with batch stuff or whatever, because of that in my belt. See, it's like those guys that, you know, they run with the weighted suit. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Oh yeah. The bartender equivalent. I love it. And the same thing with the split base liquor stuff, you know, where it's like you have to use the flavoring liquors. It makes you more creative because you have to learn how to blend certain spirits to make it that same booziness or whatever. I'm just glad that you're not trying to slip, um, brandy into your old fashions like the folks in Wisconsin. I was up there this summer and I, you know, I love the folks that we met up there and that we know up there. They're great people. Don't get me wrong. But the moment someone's like, you want an old fashioned? And I'm like, well, I would like an old fashioned. What you make is not that. Yeah, dude. Oh my gosh. I love that. I think that's so funny. I'm here for it. It's still a great drink, but that's not what I want. Yeah. It's not. It's not. And I, and I love their, they are so kind of passive aggressive about it when you go into a bar and they're in, you're like, yeah, like an old fashioned. Do you want an old fashioned or do you want a regular old fashions? You know, like it's somehow less because. Yeah. Yeah. Or do you want the whole whatever the bourbon little, you know, you know, like everybody else makes. Everybody else wants, you know, just give me some cheese curds while you're at it. That's. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not a small man. We were there in the summer and I've never had to be like willing myself away from a table because I'm like, how do you people do this? Oh, the cheese, man, the cheese. Oh man. Everything. Absolutely. My, my body was like, look, do you want to die this year? No. Then let's leave this state now. Yeah. Yeah. No, dude. I get it. I will say though, like it's, it's crazy about the difference between here and like, you know, Europe, um, especially in Paris. I went to Paris and that's all I ate was cheese and bread and I felt fantastic. All right. So you end up in Salt Lake city. You're doing a little bit of work in breweries there. You get into quarters and you made the comment earlier that they kind of made you who you are as a bartender, right? Absolutely. A hundred percent. So tell me a little bit about like, did you come in as a bar back or were you just straight in as a bartender there? Oh no, I was definitely a bar back. I was door and bar back and it was only for a couple of shifts a week. Um, I think I was working like three days a week to start and two of the shifts were door. And then I was picking up bar back shifts for the private parties that we had there. Um, cause we have a private room that you can rent out and they needed people to help with that. Um, and then I would pick up a ton of other shifts. I picked up so many because I decided that that was the place I wanted to be just by seeing how everybody operated and how awesome of a place in total it was for being an arcade bar that also cared so much about cocktails. So like from the first day when I found out that they had this, this cocktail book of like the Utah specific, like classics builds, I immediately started memorizing those. And that was one of those things where it's like, you had to memorize 75 of these classic cocktail recipes and you would be tested on them on a 50 question test before you could bartend. So you're, you're built to at the very least, if somebody wants a certain cocktail, they're like, I want something like this sour, but like, you know, I don't know. I, and I'm like, okay, cool. Like I can come up with something that if I, if I don't have, or if I don't feel like they are feeling as adventurous enough for me to make them something that like is right off of my head. I always have that classic that I know is good. I know they'll like, you don't have to go crazy. You don't have to be over complicated. It's just part of the repertoire. And then you build that. Once you build that repertoire, then you know, also like, okay, now I can like go off and do whatever I can start mixing ingredients, which is that whole meme about the riff on a classic, whatever. But at the same time, that's what got me to the point where I'm like, okay, now I can, I know spirits. I know how they work with other ingredients and I can mess with all of the ratios, the amounts and different spirits being thrown in whatever and make my own creations and be more creative off the cuff. I feel like everyone needs a basic understanding. Talking about being able to come up with stuff on the fly. Do you enjoy the like dealer's choice option? Absolutely. Hell yeah, dude. See, I love bars where I can walk in and do that. Yeah. I feel like that, that is the, the most, um, like personal experience you can create for a guest, you know, like, so the other bar I work at water, which and quarters also, but water, which before one point didn't even have a menu, it was just roulettes. And that's what people have known it for. So like, we have like the couple of signature cocktails on the, that we'll have on the menu and we'll have some specials on the board, but that's what I always tell people. I'm like, Hey, we're known for like roulettes. I'm known for making like some roulettes. I want to make something personal for you. So like, if you have any ideas of what you're feeling towards this and that, then let me know and we'll come up with something. Yeah. One of my favorite places, uh, in Raleigh, North Carolina, every time I go in there, I'm just like, what's something you haven't touched on the back bar in ages. Grab that. Let's do something. Absolutely. That's my favorite. I love that. Cause it usually a lot of the time too, it's like something that's, you know, it doesn't really go in a lot of like classic cocktails or whatever. It's like, it's like a bottle of sailor Jerry's or cracking or like, or Midori or whatever. Especially working in an arcade bar where we like to have that good and dumb fun where I'm going to make you a delicious cocktail, but it's probably going to have some like really goofy premise to it. So talking about being able to craft cocktails that are fun and exciting. That's why we had you here today. Oh yeah. I want to kind of take a few moments and we'll get into talking about the prompt. You know, we mentioned it right before the break, but you know, just to recap it for folks, your prompt for this episode was to concoct a drink that embodies the spirit of liberation and the collective euphoria experienced on the night. The wall fell incorporate elements that symbolize breaking free from constraints. And in a first, I actually offered bonus points for each German ingredient used. You brought us what you called a German 89. So we get the illusion there. Do you want to tell us a little bit about what went into it and kind of your mindset for how you created it? Yeah, absolutely. So being as this is like, um, something specifically in the instructions you gave about like wanting to be able to make it anywhere, you know, any bartender could kind of throw this together. I wanted to keep it simple. Um, but at the same time, like have that interesting complexity to it. And as we mentioned before, being using ingredients that maybe aren't as regularly used in cocktails, Um, Jaeger was obviously first thing that came to mind being involved with Germany. And I also had a bottle of Baron Jaeger on the back bar that had never been touched in like five years. So I really wanted to use that as well. Um, with bonus points for German ingredients, just like doing research on the fall of the Berlin wall itself, you know, knowing that like it was split between the East and West. Right. And the East was the Soviet occupancy, uh, controlling. And then the West was the, uh, us, UK and France. And so I kind of like, I kind of thought about it in a way that I wanted to use ingredients that represented some of those occupancies at the time too. I mean, as you can see from the recipe itself, it's kind of like, it's a Jaeger bomb. It is a Jaeger bomb. Well, it's interesting too though, because I was a little, I got a sense of like a, a bit of a French 75 meets a Jaeger bomb. Mm-hmm. Exactly. I thought that was kind of cool. That's why I called it the German 89. Yeah. So maybe break down the spec for us then. Oh, absolutely. So yeah, I had two ounces of prosecco splash of soda water, which is around like three quarter ounce paired in a pint glass and then shaken with three quarter ounce of Bombay Sapphire gin that represents the UK. A half ounce of Martel Cognac, which represents France, a fat quarter ounce of Rosemary simple syrup, which is just like a house made Rosemary simple quarter ounce of Baron Jaeger honey liqueur quarter ounce of fresh lemon juice and shaken double strained right into the glass over the prosecco and soda. And then a separate shot glass with a half ounce of Jaeger where you drop it right into the pint. And as I have here in the notes, enjoy quickly. Yeah. It's so funny because, you know, so the judge for the podcast is my wife, Ariana. Yeah. She's the owner of Remedy Cocktail Company. And, and she's kind of got that palette that she's great at like reverse engineering flavor, building flavor and things of that nature. But there's a few spirits that's not in her wheelhouse of fun. And in judging the episodes this season, she's hit both of them. So, yes. So, so basically it's Jaeger Meister from you. And then the Malört from our dive bar episode. Those are the two that she's just like, could you just not? And I'm like, Hey, it's whatever it's, it's whatever comes out of the chute. You know, you're the judge. You gotta live with it. Right. So being the idea of a Jaeger bomb as well. I kind of had that with in mind being like the tearing down of the wall because you're dropping this shot of Jaeger into this concoction that is now kind of representing the ultimate tearing down of the wall itself and the reunification of the East and West in Germany. So that was kind of my, like my processing behind that whole idea in general. No, I thought that was really cool. And the symbolism in your spirit choice, I think was really spot on as well. You know, it wasn't lost on us that you had a British gin, a French cognac, and then obviously the German ingredients in there. So well thought out, well put together. No, thank you. I tried. You did well. Thank you. So now your competition in this. Oh yeah. The AI. So I will say, and I know this is a refrain that I repeat often, but I'm always impressed. Well, I'm usually impressed at nothing else. The naming capacity for the AI. Like usually they come up with something. You're like, oh, all right. That's a, that's a solid name. This one. I'm kind of like, I feel like they phoned it in a little bit. It's called freedom's euphoria. And I'm like, maybe done a little bit better. Yeah. But let's talk about what they did. They spent a ounce and a half of, I don't speak German. So this is going to be rough. Okay. Stahlmühl. Aquavit. Oh yeah. Yeah. Three quarters of an ounce of Aperol. Three quarters of an ounce of fresh lemon juice. A half an ounce of apricot brandy. A half an ounce of Riesling syrup. So that is a simple syrup prepared with German Riesling wine. A dash of Angostura bitters. They garnished it with a lemon twist and a small colored crumbled cookie to represent the wall. Damn. That was pretty straightforward. It was in an old fashioned glass. So chill that. Shake up everything else. Strain into the chilled old fashioned over a large cube. Garnish with your lemon twist and your edible Berlin wall piece. And the little writeup that it gave me was this cocktail fuses German heritage and the thrill of freedom. Featuring the Aquavit and Riesling to pay homage to German roots. The burst of citrus and apricot echoes the zest of newfound liberty. While the Aperol adds complexity and a bittersweet undertone like memories of the past. Forever a part of the jubilant present. Like you said, it's good at writing if it's not good at making cocktails. Damn, dude, yeah. If it's nothing else, it's, you know, that sounds great. That's awesome. All right. So there we have our contenders. You've listened to a few episodes, but just to recap for anybody who may be new here, our scoring is pretty simple. We have three buckets of points. We have taste because after all, that's really what we're here for. You know, we want a good tasting cocktail. That's a total of 50 points. Potentially. We have our presentation because even though we're looking for good tasting cocktails, we, you know, you want, you want to look nice. So that's a total of 30 points and then originality. That's a total of 20 points because let's be honest. How often are you coming up with something that is 100% no one's ever done this before? Original. We're going to get into the scoring. Oh boy. So for your cocktail or taste, potential 50 points, 43. Oh, pretty good. Not bad. Presentation. 17. Oh, originality. 16 points. Okay. Total 76. Plus two bonus points. I'll take it. For your Baron Jager, for your Jager Meister. That puts you at 78. The AI's cocktail. Taste, 41 points. Ooh. Presentation, 24. Mm. Originality. 15 points. 15 points. So that brings them to 80. Ooh. Plus two bonus points for the Riesling and the Aquavit. 82 points. Damn. AI got hands, dude. Sorry, my friend. But I think you have been left behind the Iron Curtain. Ah! Cold War froze me, dude. Oh, that's such a better line than I have. Oh! All right. So I do always enjoy giving the judge feedback. Yeah. You know, kind of give you a sense of kind of where the mind was here. So they did comment that the act of dropping a shot of Jager into this cocktail is very reminiscent of celebration and coming together. Yeah. Does a Jager shot count as a garnish? I, you know, I would say, yeah, it's a garnish. Cause all, you know what? This is my thing about garnishes, especially is that they need to be practical. There needs to be some use of it. There, there has to be some like edible, whatever contribution to the cocktail. So I could say, yeah, that is a garnish. I can get behind that idea. I will say there's nothing worse than getting a cocktail that has a garnish that I can't eat. I'm just like, oh. Oh yeah. Well, I didn't want to put like a, a smoked rosemary sprig on our Jager bomb, you know? Right. So speaking of rosemary, the judge did say they thought the rosemary syrup maybe got a little lost in the mix of flavors on that one. But the effervescence of the Prosecco and the club soda were really nice touch. Yeah. I think helped it be more than what it could have been otherwise. Sure. For the AI, they commented that it was refreshing and complex. The cocktail leans on the tart side of the spectrum while maintaining balance. And they, you know, obviously you got the bonus points for the Aquavit and the Riesling syrup, which they thought was a unique and creative way to bring more depth. No, Aquavit's awesome. I think that was a really interesting thing that they picked. Cause that's, I mean, I love Aquavit. Yeah. And then specking a German one. I think that's, I've never had a German Aquavit. Yeah. I was like, oh, you crafty little thing. Yeah. No, that's rad. It sounds delicious. This is another comment that I think is hilarious. Um, is that when, when I put it all together, um, my manager was around and he's like, what are you doing? And I kind of told him the idea behind what I was messing with. And he, he was like, oh my gosh, I, it's going to be funny if they think that yours is the AI cocktail based on what you're doing because insane it is. It's funny you say that because one of the things I always ask the judge is which do you think is the human and which do you think is the AI? Oh yeah. And initially I don't give it away until after the fact. Yeah. But initially it was like, well, I don't know that an AI would know about a drop shot. And I'm like, you don't think so? I don't know. I feel like that's one of the more popular things. You know, people know about Jaeger bombs. They were sitting there and they were like, well, actually now I'm thinking, yeah, maybe this is the AI. So it was, it's definitely kind of back and forth on whether or not, you know, so. Well, that's fun. So you've listened to a few episodes of the podcast. So you may know what, what's coming. It's time for everyone's favorite part. Oh boy. Yep. Go. Hell yeah. All right. Bring it on. I'm going to interject right now. My standard public service announcement. The comments made by Tyler are not the views expressed by drinking with robots. They're not the views of Tyler's employer. Hell, they may not even be the views of Tyler himself. But with that said, Tyler, don't get me started about pop punk. Go. Pop punk sucks, dude. It's dead. It died. It, um, it's a bunch of whiny old now old dudes, um, and young dudes that don't know anything about real life that are just ripping off about their living in their mom's basement. And, uh, eating a slice of pizza and they might as well slap themselves with that slice of pizza as a reality check. Um, fuck. I love taking the things that people like and just making them have to hate them for a few seconds. Oh, it's so funny. I do love pop punk. I do. But I, you know, it's, if you hear all the stuff about it, you know, you know, everybody has complaints about it. So it's so funny. Well, listen, I want to say thank you so much for taking the time out of your schedule and being part of the podcast. It's been a pleasure. If folks want to keep up with you, how can they find you on social media or the internet at large? Oh, absolutely. No, it is seriously a pleasure. Thank you for having me as well. My Instagram is frown bug. That's like sad insect, F R O W N B U G. And then, yeah, I mean, in the real life, I mean, I work at quarters arcade bar and I also work at water witch. So if you ever in salt lake, stop through. All right. Well, thank you so much. And to everybody out there listening, as always be well, drink well, and take care. Bye. Bye. Bye.