Levi Donaldson – The Great White Hope Speaks Out

If there is a Flair competition happening, odds are Levi Donaldson is there. This guy seems to be at every competition around. From competitions to TV appearances, Flairbar.com caught up with “The Great White Hope” to hear him speak out.

Age? 25, my birthday is 11/23/78.

How long have you’ve been Bartending? 4 years.

And Flair Bartending? 4 years.

Where do you Work? Chuck’s on Baxter in Louisville, KY.

What got you into Flair Bartending? I was a server at a restaurant and the bar manager asked me if I wanted to bartend, and I thought cool, more money. So, not being much of a drinker, I underwent a long learning process. I learned how to bartend and to Flair virtually at the same time.

How did you start learning to Flair? My bar manager, Ian Hall,   who is a Flair Bartender, and Chad Catlette, who was one of the other bartenders taught me a whole lot, as well as Ken Hall’s video, “Learn to Flair.” I really feel fortunate to have had these people that helped me out, I don’t know what I would be doing if I had to have a real job .

What makes you stand out from other Flair Bartenders? Hopefully, many things. I would like to think it’s because of my personality and charisma behind the bar as well as my newly acquired originality .

The Video Clip is part of Levi Donaldson’s winning round at BarWars III.

Why do you Flair now? I like hurting myself…just kidding. It’s so much fun. I’m not a person with the biggest patience but when you hit a move you’ve been practicing for ages it’s the best feeling. Also I love the whole socializing part of it, we’re like a huge group of friends with the same interest all over the world. You could go anywhere and for sure you’d meet like minded people, it’s a big party.

When you first started out competing in Flair Bartending competitions, your style imitated Christian Delpech and you got a lot of criticism for it. Now you have your own style, what are your thoughts on going through that process and would you compete the same again? Yes I did receive a lot of criticism for it. But when I got in the game I learned basics from Ken Hall’s “Learn to Flair.”  I needed something else to learn from. So I copied Christian’s moves.  I thought that imitation was the sincerest form of flattery. I eventually gave away everyone of my videos and stopped copying moves. I spent a ridiculous amount of time making up my own stuff.

Its a lot harder to make up your own moves than to steal moves. Once I got my moves I developed a little bit of my own style. Now, I think my moves combined with my crowd interaction and overall performance makes me unique.   I also think I would not be close to where I am today if I had not copied moves. The only thing I would do differently is not use moves soon after they were used by someone else. That pisses me off when I see someone do that. So I know that I stepped on some toes.

What is your favorite Flair Bartending Competition? I would have to say that there are many that I really like. I don’t have a favorite. My Top 5– Legends, BarWars, Campus Classic, Pinnacle, and any FBA event.   BarWars has a special place for me because it was the first time that I won a bigger comp against other awesome competitors. Legends because it’s Legends. Campus Classic because Greco does an awesome job organizing it. Pinnacle because it’s so much fun and very competitive, also very well run. And any FBA event because those are the ones that every different kind of bartender, beginner to Delpeche is there.

Who do you look up to in this Sport? This should come as no shock to anyone. Christian Delpech, Ken Hall, Nathan Taylor, Jim Allison, Fabio Milani, Rick Barcode and Ed Hibbert. I think all of these people have done amazing things in Flair Bartending. There are many more, I just named a few.

We recently saw you on ESPN’s show “Cold Pizza.” Tell us how you came across that opportunity? In 2003 I competed in BarWars 4 in West Palm Beach.   The organizer, you [Rob Husted,] hooked me up with a couple of people who were working for Team Enterprises. This company was working on a tour for Bacardi Limon. They hired me to do the tour and that led to the Cold Pizza show. I think this could also lead to more appearances on the show.

What is your favorite drink? I like Bacardi Razz and Red Bull.

What do you hope to get out of Flair? Rich.

Well said. Thanks, Mr. Donaldson, us too.