ORIGINS I was 18, not yet in college, and working as a cashier at a small-town supermarket. I was sick of scanning bar codes on frozen pea bags and cereal boxes, having done it through much of high school. A friend's mother needed a salesperson for her wine and spirits business and offered me the job. So there I was - no experience with alcohol, hardly able to tell the difference between Polish vodka and Californian chardonnay. At that point in my life, it wasn't something I would [have considered]; I didn't even drink. But I was always up for a challenge. So I went to the library every week, asked as many questions as I could and immersed myself in this new culture. Of course, I gave all the products I was selling a taste, but honestly that was it: just a taste. And from then on, I have always been a taster.
My first bartending job was pretty cool. My college girlfriend was working at a pizza and pasta restaurant just off the Yale campus in New Haven [Connecticut] and I got a job behind the bar. It didn't have a liquor licence and was only legally allowed to sell wine. But towards the end of the night, and when a VIP came in, I'd pull out bottles stashed in the secret drawer and mix up a cocktail. Some really great cocktails were invented there. I'd mix liqueurs that had flavours I thought would go well together. Sometimes they'd work, other times they wouldn't.
ON THE JOB Back in the golden age of bartending, it was a full-on career. A drink was built as a piece of art, something to be proud of. Somewhere along the way, that was replaced with the desire to show off and pump out get-drunk-quick shooters and concoctions. The bartender became the guy who can make 50 vodka and Red Bulls in five minutes. What I see now is the re-emergence of the classic career bartender, who takes pride in his trade and his work.
The fact some mixologists ... have become recognised and, more importantly, praised for their work has helped to fuel the increase in [the number of] career bartenders as well as to motivate people to take cocktail culture seriously. When you're behind a bar you're on stage. Sometimes it's an ear to listen or a story to tell or a show to put on, but it never ends with the delivery of the drink.
THE DAYLIGHT HOURS Bartending often allows you to utilise your days in ways many people with a nine-to-five job aren't able to. I've tried my hand at different things. I've been a personal chef, worked as a computer programmer, travelled the world as a fashion model, sold real estate in New York and acted for television and film. Media attention is kind of a necessity for what I do - or at least advantageous to my career. And, hey, I enjoy it. Sex and the City [Boroski made cameo appearances in the TV show] was a great experience.
HERE AND THERE I really enjoy my visits to Hong Kong. It's a vibrant, cosmopolitan and efficient city with lots of great people. To me, it's the closest thing to New York in Asia.