I have bartended 30th, 40th, and 50th birthday parties, and last night in Woodland Hills I was the bartender at my first 60th birthday party. The guest of honor thought she was going to have dinner with a few relatives, and got the surprise to see over 30 of her friends and relatives in attendance. Her son and daughter had hired me as the bartender. I have bartended many surprise birthday parties and it is always nice to see the look on the surprisee’s face when they get surprised.
The house where the party was held was near Serrania Park in Woodland Hills where I have a lot of history. My kids attended Woodland Hills Elementary not far away, my wife worked at Woodland Hills Country Club, and we always brought our dog to Serrania Park. It is a really nice area in the San Fernando Valley and there are some very nice homes there. This house had a very nice bar and room for entertaining. They had purchased martini glasses for the party.
I made cucumber martinis, lemon drops, cosmos, and classic martinis. I make the cucumber syrup and a lot of people really like it, but it is very concentrated and sweet and I have to be careful not to use too much of it. Last night I used a shot glass to measure it and I think the results were better. One of my clients complained in his Yelp review that the drinks were too sweet and I certainly took note. When I was drinking – I hated sweet drinks.
Next week on Friday I will be bartending a 21st birthday party in downtown LA. That will be another first for me. It is a Moroccan themed party and I have to come up with some Moroccan themed cocktail ideas. Saturday I am bartending a strictly non-alcoholic party in Orange County and I came up with several non-alcoholic cocktails for that event. I am doing at least two events every week and hope during the holiday season, it will be at least three.
If you are looking at this right now and you need a last minute bartender, don’t hesitate to call me. I will help you if I can. There have been times when bartenders didn’t show up when they were scheduled or showed up drunk and I stepped in. Weekends are my time to work and I love bartending parties all over Southern California and meeting new people. Call me! Follow me on Twitter.
Shaken Not Stirred in LA 