With bartenders resembling chefs more than the drink slingers of yesteryear, and sommeliers looking for the newest endeavour to pair food with, it wasn't long before cocktails made it on the scene. It is not unusual to see wine paired with food but what about tea, water and of course cocktails.

Molceular Mixology, what you need to mix it up with the pros.

It's the trend that's filling people's heads with experimental procedures and outlandish ingredients, forums filling up online questioning its practicality and legitimacy as a bartending trade and making bartenders whisper to one another about the best place to get hydrocolloids. It's this buzz, this charismatic new frontier of mixology that has had everyone rushing around in a veritable panic trying to cram as much information in their heads as possible and taking a very definite scientific stance on the world of cocktailing. Molecular Mixology or MM for short is the reason behind all the global commotion. We are going to investigate this almost X-Files phenomenon and figure out what all the fuss is about.

Who would have thought that playing radio in his basement with his older cousin Jennifer all those years ago in Ajax, Ontario would have led to having one of the most envied jobs in the world today?  Kevin Brauch may have had humble beginnings as a make believe disc jockey but can now testify to being one of the most travelled and well respected spirit professionals in the world.

With most spirits, each has its own sordid past of shame, public indecency and moral corruption. But as the new world evolved so did our spirits, they moved from the back alleys, bath tub joints and boot legging hideouts to state of the art distilleries. While the spirits evolved some of the old impressions of yesteryear still lingered in the minds of the drinker.  So, Rum, is it the Scourge of Sailors or the Nectar of the Gods?

You have made it to the show, congratulations! It is the morning of the competition; you are only about 12 hours from being in front of 200 plus people mixing your creation for the world. You have prepared, prepared and prepared some more, but are you ready for the spectacle that is the arena? This really gets into the Zen of bartending, it exists. The higher state of mixology and competing, some people think this is crazy talk but you wait you will feel it.

I want to take you to through the step of preparing yourself properly for your first Mixology Competition. It is not the easiest thing in the world to do. Standing in front of a crowd is some people's biggest fear and it was mine for a long time. The hot bright lights beating down on you, beads of anticipation dribbling down your forehead...

It's hard to take something that I have been doing for so long back to the basics, but I am going to try. Don't let anyone tell you it's hard to do what guys like I do. Bartending is only a skill like ice skating or knitting and a skill can be nurtured and trained. Anyone can make cocktails; it takes someone special with the necessary skills to make a great cocktail, a memorable cocktail.

So the customers are out, the lights are up and the bar is clean. What happens next? We start our nights by slowing down, unwinding. This usual entails copious amounts of alcohol, sometimes drugs, and of course sex. I choose not to sugar coat this industry, so hold onto to your seats because this is going to be a raw look at the after hour antics of a bartender.

I have been asked many times, what is the best piece of advice I can give someone in the industry? My answer for this is always changing because I simply never stop learning; you never know everything you can in this ever-changing industry. This is for everybody, including bartenders, servers and managers.

We all need to start off somewhere, but when it comes down to how you should prepare yourself for your first bar job there are a few ways you can go about it. The two mains way are by getting a bar backing job in a place that you would eventually like to tend at or going to a bartending school.

I have the bartender's lifestyle. It consumes every facet of my being, my soul, my dreams and my future. I live and breathe the industry. The years of alcohol soaking into my veins now fuels me to sleepless nights, restless days and thoughts of grandeur.