MOVING FAST AND MAKING THE MEMORIES LAST! – Rodrigo Cao Interviewed

Updated: October 1, 2005

From Argentina to America and back to Argentina this bartender has made his rounds… Mr. Rodrigo Cao. He has been a Legends finalist, a Quest finalist, Bartenders Bash Champion and Summer Flair Champion. Rodrigo Cao has made an impact on the Flair community and he is just getting started. Now it is time to get to know the man behind the moves…

Age? 24 years old.

Where are you from? Buenos Aires, Argentina.

How long have you’ve been Bartending? I don’t really remember when I started to become a bartender, but for sure five years ago.

And Flair Bartending? Almost fours years ago.

Where do you work? Two weeks ago I left the Seminole Hard Rock in Tampa. Now I’m coming back to my beautiful Buenos Aires. We see what happens then. Nobody can be a prophet in your own land.

What got you into Flair Bartending? I was really interested in art and the expression of art before bartending. I think the Flair bartender is an expression of art and I love the relation between the bartender and their guests.

How did you start out learning to Flair? I knew a Flair bartending school where I’m from and I met a couple of Bartenders that were practicing for Quest for the Best. Before I went there I thought I was good, I had a couple of tricks. After watching these guys practicing, I couldn’t believe what they were doing. I remember Adrian “Palmito” Preus flipping two bottles in one hand. That drove me crazy.

Why do you Flair now? It’s what I do. It’s what I am. It’s a pleasure to be a Flair bartender fro me. I met a lot of people and got to visit a lot places that I only dreamt of before.

Describe to us your style of Flair? I always try to do a show. I try to focus on the crowd for that moment. I always try to say something whether it be an idea or feeling. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fuck it up.

I like having a beginning, middle and end like a story with my show. I always try to put as much of my personality into my show as possible. I want the crowd to remember my performance and not so much the individual moves.

What makes you stand out from other Flair Bartenders? Maybe I am not the right person to answer this question. I see Flair bartending sophomoric, I always try to take Flair to the next level.

Tell us about the Flair scene in Argentina compared to the Flair scene in the United States? I feel like in Argentina the Flair is too much institutionalized, but I think for that reason the Aregentian Flair bartending is what is now. Maybe now is the moment to change some things and get new concepts. Like more personality, individuality and not so much like a factory where everybody is doing the same moves.

In this moment Flair bartending in Argentina is getting more and more prestigious. In the last month Flair bartenders just don’t work behind the bars. They are hired to perform shows just like a juggler, magician or dancer. Flair Bartenders are even starting to show up more and more on television as well. The liquor companies are now hiring the Flair bartenders to help promote their products. That is something that didn’t happen before. Flair bartending came from the underground to the mainstream.

For example, a lot of people that tradionaly don’t drink are now going to bars because they have an attraction for Flair bartending. They want to see what is going on. It is making Flair bartending grow for the masses.

That is the contrast to America. Here Flair Bartending started behind bars. Bartenders wanting to do something different, and now the American sense is getting instautlanized. I don’t know if this is good or not but that’s is what is going on. The people go to the Bar because they tradionaly go to the bar and drink, now they are enjoying the Flair as well.

That’s the difference, In Argentina a new group of people are now going to the bars because of Flair, In America a new group of people are now learning about Flair because of the bars.

What do you hope to get out of Flair? I hope Flair keeps getting bigger and I want to help make it more popular. I would like to see Flair Bartenders really learn how to use Flair as a tool behind their bars and know how to use this tool. When this happens I will be happy.

What is your favorite Flair Bartending competition and why? I have one and a half years of competiting strong. I still have a lot more competitions to do, but for every Flair bartender that really wants to compete… Quest and Legends are two competitions you cannot miss. Bartenders Bash was another competition where I had a lot of fun and really recommend going there. The same goes for the Bartrix competition in Chicago.

But also I remember underground competitions in Argentian where I saw Adriano Marcellino, Rodrigo DelPech, Mauro Garrido, Nico “Nene” Antivero, Matias Supan and sometimes Chris DelPech doing crazy stuff.

Who do you look up to in this Sport? I never really had idols in my life growing up, but there are a lot of people in this sport that do something interesting with Flair. I really admire people that do Flair in a different way.

Tell us about the “Hard Rock Hotel and Casino” and how it was working there? It was a completely different experience, Good things and bad. It completely changed my life. About that I learned a lot. At the beginning was the hard part. We didn’t have any instructions or guidelines to follow. They knew they wanted a Flair bar, but they didn’t know how to run it. After a couple of months we learned together what we had to do. It was a hard bar to work because there was a lot of different customers with different expectations. Some wanted their beers quickly so they could get back to the poker rooms while others came for the show. That taught me to open my eyes and read the customers. Know when to do fast service and when to do the “Roadhouse” routine.

What was it like being one of the only Flair bars in Tampa with the talented crew you had? It was amazing! The guys were doing sick moves all the time. A lot of people that didn’t know each other all from different places with incredible Flair skills all together in the same bar. The customers in Tampa still talk about how much fun they had and still can’t believe what they saw.

What are your plans now? I want to come back to Argentina for a while and know more about my own country because I was in more cities in America then cities in my own country. I really want to compete in Roadhouse and stay in Europe to experience their culture. After that I will come back to the states to keep working and competing.

What are your thoughts on owning a particular move and someone stealing your move, is it a compliment or a bad thing? If somebody is starting out I feel complimented that they used my move the same as with a professional. But I don’t really like people that really do Flair using somebody else’s move all the time. Everybody wants to see something different in our sport. What the point in seeing the same routine from ten different bartenders.

How often do you practice? It depends on the moment. I try to do it everyday but when I have a competition coming up I practice a lot more. It depends on my inspiration as well, if I got a bad day the best thing to do is just leave the bottles and come back the next day.

What is your advice to some of the new people wanting to come and work in America from over seas? I think first you need to be the best bartender that you can be. Learn English and bust your ass practicing. Also, try to be original in your performance because the people are looking for something different.

Spell your name? R-O-D-R-I-G-O- C-A-O- , remember no D- no E- no L – no P – no E- no C – no H. Also I don’t have a world champion brother yet.

Tell us about your first Flair Competition and your experiences there, what were you feeling, did everything go as planned? It was awesome! It was an amateur competition in Buenos Aires and I have a lot of drops. In one of the drops the metal part of the pour spout actually fell inside my bottle and I tried to call “Time Out” to the judges but everybody kept yelling for me to continue and I was yelling back “I can not, I have no pour spout”! I don’t know how but I still won the competition.

Describe to us what your ultimate Flair competition would consist of ? We had an idea a couple of months ago with the rest of the guys from the Hard Rock to run a competition where you gets points for breaks, extra points for stealing somebody else’s moves and the worst tasting drink. I’m afraid to say the rest just in case we run it next year but the name will be “Liguilla”.

What are your predictions for Quest this year? My prediction for Quest, I don’t know what is going on in rookie and advance division (but I saw a couple of “Pro’s” signed up in the advance division.) but in Pro the winners will win because of their Flair and showmanship. A couple of the top competitors will score really high in the speed round together and leave a big gap for everybody else.

Talking about the final outcome, I’m not sure about this because in the last FBA event I was completely wrong in the outcome. This year like the last one there will be a tango beat for the top competitors. I’m sorry guys I’m really sad about it but I think the first place trophy will stay in South America.

You recently won the “Summer Flair Bartenders Competition” in Florida, Tell us about your experience there? It was a really fun competition. The competition started off small and every qualifier it got bigger. The final turned into a really big competition. I made the finals in the first qualifier and that gave me a lot of time to prepare for the finals. I had a lot of expectations about the competition because this competition will be my last one in the Untied States after a year and a half. I’m really happy because I hit my performance. I don’t think everything was perfect with my performance but it was enough.

If you couldn’t bartend anymore, what would your line of work be? I never thought about it but I remember before I was a bartender I wanted to be a musician, but now that I’m in the hospitality industry I would like to stay in the same industry. If I think a little bit more I would love to be an immigration lawyer. It’s amazing how much money they make doing what they do!

What is your favorite drink? My favorite drink is “Fernetcola”. This is the 90210 version because 90% of Fernet, 10% coke and two pieces of ice.