Steve Cottrell

Steve Cottrell was offered (and accepted) his first bartending job on the day he turned twenty-one. It was a college beer & pizza joint in Arcata, California, not a refined country club setting or swanky lounge, but the essential dynamics learned there translated to future bartending positions. In time, Steve advanced from pouring beer in Arcata to mixing drinks in the bustling San Francisco theater district, then as beverage manager at both a country club and neighborhood lounge. In addition,...See more

Steve Cottrell was offered (and accepted) his first bartending job on the day he turned twenty-one. It was a college beer & pizza joint in Arcata, California, not a refined country club setting or swanky lounge, but the essential dynamics learned there translated to future bartending positions. In time, Steve advanced from pouring beer in Arcata to mixing drinks in the bustling San Francisco theater district, then as beverage manager at both a country club and neighborhood lounge. In addition, for five years he managed the legendary M&M Saloon -- in its day one of the best known Irish bars in San Francisco -- and was bar manager at the historic National Hotel in Nevada City, California, the oldest continuously operating hotel west of the Rockies. Cottrell can point to over twenty years "behind the plank" -- complemented by a writing career that has included editorship of three weekly newspapers and an ongoing involvement with two current monthly publications. As he explains in the first chapter, bartenders might want you to think that mixing drinks is some sort of ritual secret -- like the Wizard of Oz controlling the Munchkins. Truth is, understanding the bar business and knowing how to take advantage of that information, is very simple. And Steve Cottrell is the perfect guy to pull back the Wizard's curtain See less