I watched Kelley strut from end to end of the banquette, projecting his voice over the heads of his class and out above to mingle with the sounds of a busy Happy Hour service.  Sixteen students gathered on the mezzanine to assemble cocktails and learn a brief history of rum this past Tuesday night.  Two rums were sampled straight up: Clement VSOP and Bacardi 8; one made from sugar and one, molasses.  Every four students had a complete mini-bar mixing station,  and under Kelley’s instruction assembled such cocktails as the Daiquiri, The Hemingway Daiquiri, and the Mary Pickford, and El Presidente.  The kitchen sent up some truffle fries to snack on, and I caught some delighted looks cast by low-light dappled faces.  I lingered for a bit and watched the class.  I felt slightly envious of those students, but lucky to work with Kelley daily, to have him as a friend, coworker, resource; to have enjoyed him speaking and teaching about a topic that is his passion.  Comforted by the assurance of future inspiration.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 26th, 2009 at 9:12 am and is filed under Kelley Swenson, by Jeff McCarthy, class, spirits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.