HAPPY NEW YEAR! This month we take a look back at 2008…

Updated: January 1, 2009

Looking back we saw a potentially huge growth in Flair and our loyal sponsors. More sponsors brought in more revenue and more opportunities for our industry and our sport of Flair bartending.

The future was looking bright… Now with the recession affecting our jobs and almost every Industry… some of the sponsors appear to be pulling out of Flair bartending for 2009. A scary thought, seriously though because of this we now see…

The FBA Pro Tour is still a standard but on a much smaller scale. SKYY Vodka’s continued presence as the Flair bartenders choice of vodka is in question. Finest Call Premium Cocktail Mixes are still the industry standard for bartender friendly great tasting quality mixes. Midori and X-Rated Fusion Liqueur are for now on the side lines and waiting to play. Flairco is still the original and most reliable producers of practice Flair bottles and portable bars to date along with new innovative products ready for 2009. Flairbar.com is still your number 1 monthly source for Flair bartending. The Flair Bartenders Hall of Fame is a reality waiting to happen. More and more Flair orientated associations and groups keep emerging… The demand for entertainment and Flair bartending is a standard for our trade. Flair bartenders are being taken more seriously and not just looked upon as jugglers. Mixology and crafting a great cocktail is like a phoenix rising from the ashes… with new recipes, spirits, ingredients and applications to enhance our craft, the future is looking interesting. With people like you with your continued support, passion and desire wanting more and to help make the hospitality industry better… WE WILL SURVIVE! So on behalf of Flairbar.com… THANK YOU FOR YOU CONTINUED SUPPORT AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO THE CHALLENGES AND OPPURTUNITIES THAT THE FUTURE HOLDS!

One way we are thanking you is by sharing with you our loyal readers the best of Flairbar.com 2008. On the cover we have a collage of the 2008 FBC cover stars and in this issue we picked the best submissions from 2008 and packed it into one memorable issue!

Speaking of memorable, Check out “The World of Flair Changed Today”, the Nations 2008 competition review by James Sordahl. You can check it all out on our ‘Comp Reviews’ page from our October 2008 issue. One of the most talented cast of competitors of the year from the FBA Pro Tour all at one competition. Yeah… it was impressive to say the least!

From competition spawns greatness… next we have our Flairbar.com article with “Becoming Better through Competition”. A must read if you ever thought about competing or questioned yourself why do you still compete. Check it out on our ‘Articles’ page from our April 2008 issue. You might just look back at yourself and realize “I have become a much better bartender through competitions”. I know I have.

Next we have someone who is no stranger to competitions… James Hadhazy. Not only has he made a name for himself in the industry because of his Flair but also now organizes Flair competitions as well. Check out “Juggling a Flair Franchize!” featuring James Hadhazy all on our ‘Interviews’ page from our July 2008 issue. A great read.

Speaking of competitions… next we meet up with Christian Oldan and Juan Llorente, the undisputed Tandem Flair Champions of the world as they teach us a fun five bottle tandem sequence. All on our ‘Masterclass’ page from our April 2008 issue. Wow… they have the instinct of brothers and with all the time they spend practicing together they better like each other.

If entertaining top notch Flair is what your looking for then we have just the thing for you! Next we have Rick Barcode and Jim Allison and their take on the long anticipated Area 51 DVD all on our ‘Reviews’ page from our November 2008 issue. Six of the worlds best Flair bartenders, HD cameras and an all access pass… Where do I have to sign up?

Speaking of signing up… next we head to Las Vegas, Nevada for Legends X and hand the microphone over to you our loyal readers and let your many voices be heard all in “The Voice of Flair”. You can check it out on our ‘And Finally’ page from our April 2008 issue. One of my favorite segments all year!

Then we head over to Paris, France with Laurent Greco from Bar Academy Paris and he shares with us his “Wild Wine Wonders” on our ‘Flavors’ page from our May 2008 issue. After reading that, I’m inspired to go make a drink and write the rest of this… Only question is which vodka to pour ;-).

For all of you other mixologists out there… Don’t forget to look back over the last year of our content collector called ‘Cocktails’. This is where you can share your own SKYY Vodka and Finest Call cocktail recipes with the rest of the world and get credit for it. Have a great drink you invented? Want to share it with the rest of the world? Think it is worthy? Prove it!

Kevin Bednarz is back again with one of our newest additions, “Flairmation” which we revisit “Last Call Larry” dealing with women not knowing how to order drinks. All on our “Flairmation” page from our February 2008 issue. Yeah… that scenario is all to familiar for all of us.

We are pleased to host our formal “Glossary”! Helping non-Flair linguists up to date on our dialect. Be sure to keep an eye on it as we will continue to keep adding to this on going database of Flair bartending knowledge.

Also, for our 50th issue of Flairbar.com be brought you Anthony Alb, ‘In The Mix’ as he shares with us “A tale from Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans” his first submission to Flairbar.com from our August 2008 issue. Wow after reading it… I will not miss that event for 2009!

Next we have our ‘Reader Contest’ based all on Mixology for all of our loyal Flairbar.com readers. You still have time to enter and take advantage of our new prize package for 2009. Plus our regular features, more ‘Barware’, more pages, and more Flair than you can shake the year 2008 at.