Neyah White is winding up his four-year stay at Nopa in San Francisco and soon will become West Coast brand ambassador for Yamazaki Whiskies. He’ll be sharing the brand with Gardner Dunn, who now will work the east side of the country for the Japanese whiskies.
Throughout June, Paul Pacult and Dale DeGroff worked five markets for Cointreau — San Francisco, Dallas, New York City, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale and Chicago — to implement a bartender education program managed by local distributors. The two trained distributors on Cointreau’s attributes, including the brand’s history, authenticity, quality and usage. Each distributor representative received an educational bartender’s toolkit to be used as a training tool throughout the program.
San Francisco-based Josh Harris and Scott Baird announced the launch of their beverage consulting company, the Bon Vivants. From creating original cocktail programs to leading formal educational training sessions for bar staff, the Bon Vivants “offer tailor-made programs for clients based on talent, creativity, proven success and a bit of whimsy,” according to the boys. The company also specializes in guerilla marketing and cocktail event design and execution, and Harris and Baird are also in the process of launching their own branded line of aromatic bitters and hand-crafted bar tools, expected to be on the market by the end of 2010. Baird can be found behind the bar at 15 Romolo in North Beach, San Francisco, where he is co-managing partner and chef, creating tempting dishes to complement the cocktail program. Check them out at www.bonvivants-sf.com.