Walking into that place was the most intimidating thing I have ever done in my life. Imagine 200 people made up of your peers, customers and hospitality big wigs. I had my milk crate filled with all the tools I need to get me through the night, my knives, cutting board and other miscellaneous do-dads. I am sitting there in the competitor's section, prepping up for my turn on stage when I realized something. I do not need to be nervous; I am like every one of these people. They are having the same feelings and nerves as I am, I can beat them because I know their weakness is the same as mine.
I get up on stage and prepare my cocktails, four of them, for the judges that are locked back in a room somewhere being plied with alcohol while they wait for the competitor's submissions. It is an easy cocktail, spirits and mixer, but it is my cocktail and I am here making it in front of 200 people. I then suddenly realize I am out of my element, I look at the guy up on stage with me and he's muddling, stirring and spraying all of these weird home made ingredients. This does not deter me; the easiest of cocktails are at the most part better. However, it did teach me to push the envelope even more. I did not win that night; I think I came forth by about 5 points. It did not faze me. I came, I saw and I learnt a lot. You never lose when you learn something new. The next day is when I really shone.
I had entered another competition months before and had completely forgotten about up until I got a phone call during the Chartreuse Cup, inviting me to compete the next day. This competition was for the Australian Bartenders Guild QLD titles, the winner being named QLD cocktail champion. First thing in the morning I headed down to the Gold Coast to compete, I had never made the cocktail I had entered. It was not as big of an affair as the previous night, but important to me all the same. While I was sitting there watching the others compete, I met the godfather of Australian bartending. He was the man who had started the Australian Bartending Guild and had been flairing before Tom Cruise was even born. It was an honour to meet the man and he passed these words on to me: "anyone can make a cocktail, it takes someone special to make a great one". It made my day; whether I won or lost, I was content.
I entered my drink "French Passion", a blend of Galliano, Peach Schnapps, Alike Gold, with apple juice & passionfruit pulp. I had never made it but it did sounded good, and the judges loved it. I didn't know if I had won, after the previous night's performance I did not hold much weight in my ability. I had to wait; I waited for almost 2 weeks before I got the news. I had won by a landslide! I was crowned winner of the Queensland Long Drink Finals, and overall winner of the whole competition. It was an exhilarating experience, and I still have the medal at home. I had a new drive in my career, I wanted to be the best.
I left my job at Ryan's after this win and moved from one bar to the next. I had a state title under my belt and more competitions just round the corner. For the next 5 years I entered about 25 - 30 cocktail competitions. I have made it to 14 state finals, 2 national finals and won approximately five competitions. I have even been asked to invitational mixology competitions abroad. However, all this is nothing compared to my first real management job at Jorge.
I was being well known around Brisbane for my skills, and Jorge had been enticing me over to work for them for months. Jorge was two stories, ultra sheik, and known for its good food, great cocktails and hot staff and guests. It had 75 cocktails on the cocktail list, 150 bottles of spirits and liqueur on the back bar and had access to any ingredient you cared to imagine. It was the epitome of cool, classy cocktails and it was a true honour to even get an opportunity to work there.
I finally relented and began work there as Assistant Operations Manager. This is where I discovered the true art of mixology, its here where I learnt about flambé, foams and Bruleeing. I really pushed my craft to the limit, while still learning and maintaining my roots in the classics. I learned how to make marshmallow vodka, orange peel infused tequila and a lemon meringue martini with bruleed egg white top. There were nights I would make, concoct and create more than 500 cocktails for the thirsty hoards that would descend on the bar on the weekends. I loved it; it made me feel like cocktail royalty. Anything I made, people would enjoy and they would bring their friends back to enjoy my hospitality.
I stayed at Jorge for a full year; I celebrated my eight years in the industry there, and was beginning to feel my age. I kept getting older while the people that I would hire & train stayed the same age. I left Jorge in the summer and moved 1500 miles up the coast to work in the Great Barrier Reef on Hayman Island. The move to Hayman was not really a career move, but more of a personal experience. Hayman gave me time to do some soul searching, get back to perfecting the basics of cocktail making, garnishes and impressing international five star guests.
The cocktail list that was on the island had been there for about 20 years and you could tell. It was full of blended, creamy, unflavoured slushies that may have worked in the seventies, but didn't hold up in the new millennium. The guests that were staying at the resort now wanted more, drinks that they could get back in the cosmopolitan cities they came from. I updated, but kept it simple. The bartenders on the island came and went like I changed my uniform. The cocktails combined simple flavours with basic techniques. They were however, different, and the guests loved them. I trained 15 bartenders who had never made cocktails how to make these drinks successfully. By the time I left the island, I was beverage manager looking after five bars plus my own bar during the day.
When I got back to Brisbane, I seemed lost, out of place. I once again bounced between bars, pawning my services and training people on the skills that I had picked up. I finally realized that I should be being paid for training, and opened Shawn Soole Hospitality Consulting. The company trained people who wanted to be in the industry on how to be bartenders. In a space of 8 months, I trained nearly 150 people on the trade. They all ranged from 18 year old kids to single mothers who needed a job. I was proud that I could give them a little bit of help getting into their new careers. During this whole time I was still a bar manager at a trendy little restaurant on the river, and sometimes wouldn't get out of work until two in the morning then be back up at 8am to train. It was hard, long hours but it was lucrative.
After 8 months of training, I accumulated about $10,000. Not bad for a part time gig. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with the money, but I had a few options. I was asked by some friends to come in as a partner of a restaurant that was up for grabs in the CBD, it was a great restaurant and I would have full control of my own place. It was a dream come true, but was I ready? I pondered and wondered if it was my time. I decided very difficultly that it wasn't, I had never travelled outside of Australia, and was worried that unless I did, I would always regret not seeing other bars. Therefore, I did what any bartender with an itchy shaking hand would do. I sold everything and bought a ticket abroad.
