Speaking & Writing
Master Bartender, Entrepreneur and Advocate Michael Neff has written extensively about cocktails, bars and bar culture.
He has also traveled the world presenting, speaking and training on the power of the bartender as the hub of communities.
Speaking & Training
Neff has traveled the world speaking about the power of community, the importance of mindset in business and in life, and how humanity & hospitality can transform the simple act of making a cocktail into something that can change people’s lives.
He has spoken to thousands of people, sometimes hundreds at a time. Bartenders are storytellers, and Neff uses all of his skills as a bartender, as well as his parallel career as a playwright, to connect his experiences as a professional observer of humanity with the larger themes of the power of bonhomie, community, and the inherent need for people to gather together to share a glass in company.
Excerpt from Bar Convent Brooklyn’s 2020 Global Bar Week
Cocktail & Bar Writing
Neff has been a semi-professional writer as long as he’s been a bartender, with an entire career as a playwright.
His writing these days focuses on the bar, and his work has appeared in various online and print publications.
His column, “From Behind the Bar,” was featured on Serious Eats for two years, a few of which are featured below.
Visit Serious Eats to see a complete list of those columns.
The Magic
“I’ve always thought of cocktails as theatrical performances. Each is made according to a script, but each is fundamentally different from one execution to the next. When actors perform a play, they talk about how a particular audience affects a night’s performance. Individual cocktails are no different.”
On Hospitality
“I love making cocktails as much as I love drinking them, but their creation is not my primary job. The first purpose of every bar, cocktail or otherwise, is to provide an enjoyable experience for our guests. It starts and end with hospitality. Period.”