World Bartender Day 2026

Bartenders were once the best of my friends. I remember nights on liberty at the local watering hole on Rivers Avenue in Charleston, SC. The white building with the overstuffed seating and Klipschhorn LaScalas playing soft and clear — and the strapping marine privates with their trying to pour drinks down some fugly older broad in an attempt to subsequently take her to a hotel.

Over the years my attentions turned away from the bar scene. After all my brother has this propensity for choosing his life partners at bars. This is his target rich environment. I preferred solitude to some barfly as my partner in life. When all you can do is hook up with someone stupid or bossy I ask you, "What is left?".

My candidate paramours have all been discovered in libraries and church with a couple of them or so also at work ...

But NEVER in drinking establishments.

Today is World Bartender Day.

It is observed each February 24th under the auspices of groups in Australia and New Zealand to honor the skill, creativity, and hospitality of bartenders worldwide. The day recognizes that artistry which is involved in mixology and the important role bartenders play in the hospitality industry and for sots everywhere.

So while their role in my personal life is most certainly diminished over earlier times, I can say they had their heyday in their own place and times in my life because I wasn't always a teetotaler and yes ...

I have been known to drink a little here and there despite being a "nondrinker".

Happy World Bartender Day to alkies everywhere.