Shaken & Stirred: The Story of Flair Bartending

Most people won’t know that the fancy juggling tricks you see when ordering a Margarita are not just a bored bartender’s way of keeping themselves entertained or picking up girls. Flair bartending has a history that involves international contests, rigorous training and competitive rivalries, and these are the subject of Deborah Richards’s fantastic documentary Shaken & Stirred.

 

The feature-length film delves into the history of flair bartending and how it emerged from established bars in the US to become a worldwide phenomenon where competitors meet to try and outdo each other with ever-more outlandish tricks with bottles, shakers and more. The different forms of the art are discussed, as well as organisational splits that mean different styles have emerged demanding different skillsets. The film covers one of these organisations and the competitors looking to become the best, showing their personal stories and the meaning they found behind the bar.

 

Shaken & Stirred is impressive not just because of the detail it provides on flair bartending (of which there is plenty). Its best quality is its critical and unflinching analysis, which highlights the struggles that flair is experiencing at a competitive level. Much of the film is spent with female flair competitors like Lindsay Palumbo, who speak openly about their experiences of misogyny in the sport which prioritised their appearance over their skill. The decline of the competitions and events are highlighted as well, detailing a drop in interest since the Tom Cruise-in-Cocktail-inspired peak. Richards allows her subjects to speak openly and honestly, with many happy to oblige but clearly feels no obligation to give her own filter – a surprising and refreshing thing considering the access she has to the world of flair.

 

Different competitors in the FBA championships are highlighted throughout the film such as Colby Ashton and Lorenzo Garcia, who discuss their backgrounds, standing and how they came into flair. It can be a little difficult to keep track of so many competitors at times, but the ensemble approach shows that flair does not attract just one type of personality. Audiences will be invited to find their favourite amongst the group – though a camaraderie is evident from Richards’ presentation. Their tricks themselves are given ample airtime, with the bartenders’ abilities allowed to speak for themselves – and destined to take audience’s breath away. These are not the guys flipping a shaker down at your local, and it shows!

 

You could probably cut Shaken & Stirred down a little bit or rework some of the sequencing of the film to more imaginatively present the competition alongside the history of flair as a sport. But this film is a genuinely insightful and engaged look at a world most of us will have been exposed to, but very few will know about. To entertain and inform is the simplest aim of any documentary, and Deborah Richards’ film effortlessly achieves this. But as with the bartending world, it is the flair that makes it stand out – in this case coming from the film’s in-depth and honest analysis and loving criticism. This is one film well worth raising a glass to.

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