Derek M. Brown is a font of bartending information. He can talk at length about how the Tom Collins got its name (from a joke, not a man), the first bartender (Jerry Thomas), or why, in his opinion, cocktails are one of America’s greatest contributions to the world, next to baseball and jazz. A certified sommelier who trained at the Beverage Alcohol Resource Program, Brown was named the 2009 Bartender of the Year by Washington City Paper for his work at the Gibson, where he still pours a few nights a week. Looking for a way to combine his love of cocktail history and his knowledge of spirits and wine, he started Better Drinking early this year, offering private classes and bartending services for events.
Brown, who teaches at culinary schools CulinAerie and L’Academie de Cuisine, says that although he enjoys passing along techniques and historical tidbits, his main aim is to bring people together. “If a company throws an event, whether it’s teambuilding or some form of entertainment, and it doesn’t have cocktails, that’s not where the staff is bonding,” he says. “People bond and cultivate relationships with each other over cocktails.”
Through Better Drinking, Brown offers classes for groups of all sizes, ranging from tutorials on mixing seasonal drinks to more informative sessions on the history of cocktails. “Someone might say, ‘I want to learn more about the drinks of Mad Men.’ I can go into detail about the drinks of that era, demonstrate how to make vodka gimlets, talk about the history of the old-fashioned,” he says. “For complete geeks, I can talk about the chemical structure of ice or the concepts of bartending in different countries. Or if someone just wants to learn how to make a good martini, I can do that, too.”
For events, Brown can execute custom cocktails on site with his own bartenders. His creations range from simple to showy, from a white nectarine sangria for a summer event at the Phillips Collection to a white wine-cachaça-lapsang souchong tea punch served in glasses filled with applewood smoke for Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation benefit in March. “If people are looking to me to do a seminar or event, I am going to make them the best cocktails that I can—not the cheapest. I am open to anything, but I am not going to just do ordinary gin and tonics,” he says.
FreshFarm Markets, a nonprofit that operates farmers’ markets throughout the Chesapeake Bay region, hired Brown for several events, including the 2008 Farmland Feast gala at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington. Brown oversaw the wine donations for the gala’s five-course dinner
and 10 area sommeliers who poured wine. “He is able to work both small and large events with equal grace and skill, as well as entertain and socialize with people of all economic and intellectual levels,” says Maddy Beckwith, FreshFarm’s administrative and chef-at-market coordinator. “And like a good Boy Scout, he is always prepared. What other mixologist comes to an event with a complete bar in his backpack?”
