O’Shaughnessy Distilling Company in Minneapolis is not only home to Keeper’s Heart Irish & American Whiskey. It’s also where beverage director Pip Hanson developed a cocktail-making technique called “tandem bartending,” in which a team of two bartenders make drinks in a fraction of the time it would take one person to do it.
In this video, bartender Stephen Pecker (left) and assistant bar manager Tyler Newcomb demonstrate how they divide their labor and make five cocktails in less than four minutes.
Hanson explains that Pecker handles the bottle rail and garnishing, while Newcomb shakes, stirs, and strains the drinks.
“The result is much faster than if you just had Tyler on one station and Stephen on another station making tickets alone … so it’s exponentially faster,” Hanson said.
There are added benefits to this method: Training is easier because the staff only needs to learn half of the process initially. Also, since the bartenders know how to work in synch, they don’t need verbal communication, so they can spend the time speaking with their customers.
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