THE KING OF FLAIR FOR 2005! – Rodrigo Delpech Interviewed

Updated: December 1, 2005

The man that can manipulate bottles and tins in ways no one has ever dreamed possible… Mr. Rodrigo Delpech. From winning almost every major Flair competition this year to being the over all FBA Pro Tour points champion. Rodrigo is no longer “someone’s younger brother” but now he is the undisputed King of Flair for 2005 and a name every Flair bartender knows…

Age? I’m 23 years old.

Where are you from? I’m from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

How long have you’ve been Bartending? I’ ve been bartending for 7 years.

And Flair Bartending? and Flair bartending for almost 9 years.

Where do you work? I’m working at Storman’s Palace (disco in Clearwater) but I’m looking for a Flairbar.

What got you into Flair Bartending? When I was 15 years old, I saw my brother practicing outside of my house in Argentina and I thought: I wanna do that!! so, I start to practice with his bottles and 3 years after that I went to my first comp.

How did you start out learning to Flair? It’s gonna sound a little weird, but I learned by myself, watching some old school videos and practicing to many hours a day. But is really different here, because when you start to flip bottles here, you have complete access to: tins, plastic bottles, real bottles, etc. When I started in Argentina, I was practicing with bottles of wine, champagne, beer, with no spill stop. But how I say: “Even though you got the chance to have everything, It’s not gonna make you the best.”

Why do you Flair now? Now I Flair because is my job, my sport, my hobby, my passion, MY LIFE.

Describe to us your style of Flair? I think that my style is smooth but aggressive at the same time. I always try to do things that people think that is not possible.

What makes you stand out from other Flair Bartenders? I can say my style, but I think that all the Flairtenders in one point or another are similar in style, so, I should say that is my personality.

Tell us about the Flair scene in Tampa and how it has changed in the last two years? It was great. It has changed a 100%, because of this Flairbar. A lot of people want to have a Flairbar in Tampa now and that makes me feel great!!

What do you hope to get out of Flair? I hope that someday, Flair be so popular that any people in their house can see any comp on TV, like today is Billiard, Poker, etc… While I continue competing, I gonna try to help as much as I can.

What is your favorite Flair Bartending competition and why? I have two favorite comps, one is ROADHOUSE, because you can do almost freestyle, they want your best in Flair and show. The other one is LEGENDS, because is the most complete comp. pour, speed, working and exhibition Flair. They want you clean, accuracy, smooth, in a few words: they want professionalism. and, in my eyes, this 2 are the most prestigious competition in the planet.

Who do you look up to in this Sport? I just look everybody, because even the Flairbartender who is in his first comp has something to teach us.

Tell us about the “Hard Rock Hotel and Casino” and how it was working there? Hard Rock casino in Tampa was a good experience as all the jobs. Great Flairbartenders, the management sucks, we met great people in this bar.

What was it like being one of the only Flair bars in Tampa with the talented crew you had? Same answer that in number 10 hahaha.

What are your plans now? I want to keep practicing for all the comps in 2006 and try to find a job in a Flairbar like every Flairbartender wants.

What are your thoughts on owning a particular move and someone stealing your move, Is it a compliment or a bad thing? That depend, if somebody steal one of my moves and take the idea to do another move, is great!!! but, of course that I don’t see very well when somebody steal from me a whole routine or some signature moves and use them against me. A couple of times I got phone calls telling me: hey congratulations for the winning, even when I wasn’t there, jijiji.

How often do you practice? I practice a couple of hours a day when I don’t have comps and when I have one. Depend the comp, I practice 5, 6, 8, 10 15 hours a day.

What is your advice to some of the new people wanting to get into Flair Bartending? I don’t think that i’m the right person to give advice, but all I can say is: practice hard and be professional.

Spell your name? R-O-D-R-I-G-O- D-E-L-P-E-C-H- remember no C – no A – no O – my brother is the world champion.

Tell us about your first Flair Competition and your experiences there, What were you feeling, Did everything go as planned? My first competition was in Argentina (2000) in Tandem with a friend. I went to Sahara Continent to see him compete with his partner, but his partner never went there, so … I did it, was terrible, I had no idea what I was doing. The only thing that I still remember is that my friend told me: don’t worry about mistakes because I gonna do it all.

Describe to us what your ultimate Flair competition would consist of? I want for my ultimate comp: THE BEST COMPETITORS, GOOD JUDGES and $100,000.00 dollars for the top 3.

What are your predictions for Blue Blazer this year? I think that the Blue Blazer is gonna be between my brother Christian Delpech and Oscar Perez. I just wanna be the other Flair bartender in the top 3.

Tell us about your relationship with your brother? Is like all the other relationship between brothers. We talk all the time, we have fight sometimes, nothing not common, but on the stage we are competitors.

Do you feel like sometimes your are in your brother’s shadow? I feel sometimes his shadow, but is not his fault, is not my fault, is for some people who say that I won competitions like Legends or Quest because he wasn’t there. But was a lot of good Flair bartender competing and they forgot that I won King of the Ring and he was there.

After every comp that I won, a couple of website said: Christian’s brother won or they write about him more than me, maybe 5 world championship is not good enough yet to be RODRIGO and not CHRISTIAN’S SHADOW. I don’t want any misunderstood, I still love my brother.

How do you come up with new moves and innovative styles? I just practice really hard, there is not secrets.

If you couldn’t bartend anymore, what would your line of work be? I love video editions,so, probably some about this.

What are your thoughts on Nations and the outcome? What I think about Nations is that they was trying to do a big competition, but they made a couple of mistakes, so wasn’t big this year. My personal feelings, everybody saw it in the ceremony. I don’t need to say anything else. If somebody have any doubt, Nations DVD is on sale.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a wife that Flairs? I think that is all a advantage, because she knows what this means to me and she helps me a lot with everything, from music, to moves, routines, everything.

Now that you are the FBA Pro Tour champion, What do you think of the FBA Pro Tour and how can they improve it? I’m so happy to be the first Pro Tour Champion (please don’t buy the bag because is MY trophy, jijiji). Seriously, is a great idea to have a ranking of Flair bartenders. If I could change something, I would change two things: 1- most of the comps are in Las Vegas next year and to many people can do it all and is a little bit unfair for the rest of the competitors. Everybody want to be part of the PRO TOUR. And 2- I know that SKYY, FINEST CALL are sponsor in every comp, in fact without them there is no comp. But the competition organizers should let us use any shirt or hat of another product. So that way we can be sponsored by any company, we can get money for our entry fee, tickets, etc…

Out of all of your accomplishments this year, What was your favorite? I thought that always would be Legends, but I have to say that my favorite win this year is KING OF THE RING. Because it’s a world championship and was the first time that a beat “THE MASTER”, was in Vegas and was at Carnaval Court (wasn’t easy).

What is your favorite drink? My favorite drink is: If someone pay, Toasted Almond. If I have to pay, glass of water no ice,jijijiji (I need a job).