Elliot Ball

Tomorrow, the day shall be upon us. That’s “us”, as in anyone attending the show, but particularly these folks right here, who’ve put wild amounts of effort into a moderately irresponsible take on an education programme… There’s one big ‘a lot’ involved in getting something like this together, and that’s before we acknowledge the unfathomable body of work from titans like @anguswinchester before us - sometimes it feels like they built the Sagrada Familia for @jack_sotti , @maria.rravdis , @lalalamel_ and I to balance a sand castle on its roof, on a windy day. But it’s somehow been an actual joy to oversee, and starting a project with which you’re (supposedly) familiar enough to be qualified, and then becoming actually inspired by its content is… kinda crazy when you think about it. Way too many people to tag and thank - all the BCB folks, all the presenters (but fine, @damiengchrd , because he’s a legend and also took this photo/album cover, and @priyankablah for being way more supportive than is considered sane) Hopefully catch a bunch of you tomorrow and Tuesday - we’ve got an unreal lineup of folks ready to drop genuinely awesome stuff - and it’s BCB, so there’s obviously much other cool shit happening. There are still some complimentary tickets available last time I checked - link in the @barconventlondon bio. Plus the opening bar tonight at Eagle Bar (Rosewood) from 5.

No cap(tion needed) 🧢

@barconventlondon brings together the best in drinks, spirits, and hospitality for two days of tasting, learning, and connecting🙌🏻 Hear from Speakers like @realjontaffer , @mindfullycami , @whiskymatthew , @samboevey , @mikey.pendergast and more! 🍸 Grab your ticket before you miss out🎟️ #BCB #Hospitality

Work has begun - soon we’ll have the pleasure of announcing this year’s full board of education, but we’ve already been hard at work/play putting together what already looks like a pretty epic lineup. I’ll post more fully in the coming weeks about this and the folks involved, but there’s honestly so much stuff our industry has been utterly crying out for, finally coming to the stage. For now, though - if there’s anything that can make this program more exciting, it’s you. We’re in the exciting stage of looking at so many great ideas, and weaving together a plan. So please - if there’s something that matters to you, something that can help our industry and in which education is currently lacking, then… we need you. Hit up @barconventlondon - link for submission is in their bio.

New Year, same me, though feeling invigorated with some fun new plans - or at least I was yesterday when I wrote this - today I’ll be feeling tragic on a subatomic level after last night’s staff party. Anyway - I’ll keep this uncharacteristically brief - I cannot overstate how fortunate I feel to have been offered this position, and am legitimately pretty nervous about it - always a sign of a worthy challenge. I’ll post some stuff in the coming weeks about the direction and plan we’ve got for education this year - and I say ‘we’ because we have a board, and I’m still getting my head around the folks we’ve managed to get together for it. I hate to blandly state stuff like ‘exciting stuff coming’ or particularly ‘watch this space’, but y’know what, if you care about the direction of education in the hospitality industry, you should probably do just that. More details soon, and wishing everyone an awesome start to the year.

Question of the day from @realjontaffer : When will bartenders finally stop complaining about the Ramos Gin Fizz?? - Die Frage des Tages kommt von @realjontaffer : Wann hören Bartender endlich auf, sich über Ramos Gin Fizz zu beschweren?? #BarConventBerlin #BCB #ThreeQuickQuestions

This year marked the very first BCB London — and while the scorching heat was on everyone’s lips, @damiengchrd seized the chance to chat with the brilliant @realjontaffer from @thecocktailtradingco ! Read more: #linkinbio - In diesem Jahr hat der BCB London seine Premiere gefeiert – und während alle über die brütende Hitze sprachen, nutzte @damiengchrd die Gelegenheit für ein Interview mit dem großartigen @realjontaffer von der @thecocktailtradingco ! Mehr dazu: #linkinbio #BarConventBerlin #BCB #ASipOf #London #BarsOfLondon

Gotta say, pretty wildly cool that @barconventber are letting me do this talk. Partly because it’s awesome that they’re taking more of an interest in things that contribute to the wellbeing of bartenders and our industry as a whole, rather than the trap many fall into with education - purely focusing on products. But partly because, over the months of researching and writing this presentation, it’s been so nice to fall back in love with it as a topic, and remember how insanely important it really is. And yeah, going from presentations about spreadsheets and ops to a deep dive into this is kinda mad, but they’re both answers to a simple question: What is something undeniably vital to our industry, for which there is no education? So you wanna find out, BCB, main stage, today, 3pm.

CTC's drinks are known for a few things - usually their humour or just-plain-stupid visuals - but there's quite a lot that happens behind the scenes, as any of the team will tell ya, probably with a grumble. Building these menus is a bizarre amount of work - tasty drinks are one thing, but getting all the concepts, visuals and overarching themes to talk to each other, and work at high volume for the duration of a whole menu... yeah, it's a lot. But we've steadily developed systems, and that's what I'll be running through next Tuesday at 2, at CTC - useful for getting cool shit to work properly. Link below if ya fancy. /events/43119/trade-only-bartender-knowledge-drinks-creation-workshop-with-cocktail-trading-co/ #londoncocktailweek

Pssst. If you, like the Notorious P.U.G. in pic 2 here, would perform lewd acts for tips in the unrelentingly nebulous quagmire that is business ethics, then great news - I’ve got a keynote on it, Tuesday at @excellondon for @tradedrinkshow As is hilariously appropriate to the venue title, I’ve tailored a spreadsheet talk to specifically address ways bar businesses can benefit from ethical decision-making. Ie. the stuff which is ethically sound and/but; - Costs you money (maybe still do that bud) - Doesn’t cost you money (probably really do that) - Actually saves cash, enhances revenue (f*cking c’mon) So yep, Tuesday, 11am at The Excel .More deets here: /?utm_source=KNCOCKTAIL

Doesn’t get old, having @barconventber tag me in stuff - no one’s 2025 bingo card had “RealJonTaffer” being referred to as the “crème de la crème” of anything but the sponsor of a bankruptcy firm. But here I am with another seminar. So what topic this time? And what the entire fuck is happening in the photo? Hormones. Hear me out - last time, the ops/spreadsheets/clippy-fetishism thing came to me as a strong example of what industry education misses - vital for progress, somehow absent. Same story here. IMO, all therapy boils down to getting us to reconsider reality - inner and outer - revealing unseen insights, connections and potential solutions. And while therapy is now available to many, certain approaches dominate, limiting these insights. Dopamine, serotonin, endorphin, oxytocin, insulin and cortisol aren’t just the best, and worst, names for a litter of puppies, they’re basically who we are. And having the right people, places and things regulating these has many titles - health, inner peace, happiness. Meanwhile having “bad” habits or relationships quickly fills a life with vice and strife - I’ve gone to the effort of picking a photo to illustrate; can you spot all 5? Also thanks to @whiskymatthew for the snap, and to @ojbrading for holding me so tenderly. You might be wondering how this is a hospitality thing - it’s the same as for the spreadsheet stuff - this IS the subject of other industries, but it’s especially vital to us as we live and work in a 14-in-1 Ninja-endorsed pressure cooker. And, as with last time, I don’t want to get on a stage and just lecture about something because I think it’s interesting - this one’s being developed so that each attendee leaves with a toolkit for looking at their life and work through a new lens. So I’ll see y’all on the main stage on Wednesday 8th at 3pm. BYO dopamine as a guy who got a degree in Neuroscience to then become a bartender (sorry mum) basically tells you how to stocktake your brain. #BarConventBerlin #BCB2025 #Education #Seminar #LectureTalk #Speaker #Stages #Crab

The Freakshow comes to Krakow. OK, I know that title’s pretty sketch, but it’s just too fun not to. Similarly, #KrakowWithYaCrackOut encourages an insensitive mispronunciation of a great city, so that absolutely can’t be a thing either. It’s also childish AF. Anyway, as you can tell, I’m working hard to keep a post about giving my spreadsheet talk at @betterbarshow moderately entertaining… The presentation’s been changed up a bit, focusing much more on the tools that are useful to bartenders specifically. But don’t you worry, it also gives me a bit more time to demo a sheet that tells you how to ‘catch up’ with your partner, depending on each of your alcohol consumption and demographic factors influencing metabolism. We all know these are the real questions. Plus I’ve got the absolute joy of a guest shift at @tag.cocktails , repping @royalcocktailexchange with @ant_orme_00 First time in the bar, and everything about it looks awesome, plus I already know the team there are gonna be legends. So there’ll be plenty of silly fun things, and people - if you’re around, please do pop on down.