Talking with Tiffanie Barriere is like listening to your favorite childhood song. A bartender’s bartender, Barriere’s skill as a mixologist is surpassed only by her ability to make you feel heard and cared for. Maybe it’s the rasp in her voice, that telltale hoarseness of someone who’s spent more than a few nights having to talk over the crowd. Maybe it’s that gentle Southern charm, like brown-sugar frosting on a cinnamon bun, reassuring you: She’s dripping with sincerity. In an industry rife with charlatans, she’s not faking the funk.
Barriere has the superpower of making people feel safe in an industry that has historically been unsafe for members of marginalized communities — a fact she, as a queer Black woman, knows well. But that hasn’t stopped her from becoming (arguably) the highest-profile Black bartender on the planet. With guest appearances on Netflix shows like Drink Masters and the award-winning High on the Hog, she’s also lent her expertise in collaborations with national brands like Pepsi. Still, despite her high visibility, this Louisiana and Texas native remains enigmatic. “I’m private,” she says. “It’s chaos out there.”
Formerly the beverage director at One Flew South in Atlanta (named the “Best Airport Bar in the World” by Tales of the Cocktail), Barriere has the distinction of having accumulated a mountain of accolades without the stability that comes from working for a brand. “I love not having a boss,” she says. In a highly competitive market, the choice of freedom over (imagined) security hasn’t always been easy, especially considering Black women still make 64 cents on the dollar earned by similarly positioned White male colleagues.
“In order for me to be successful, I have to be in this space. But I check the waters first. My creativity, my writing, and my teaching are all extremely intentional,” she says.
In addition to her prodigious mixology skills and luminescent spirit, she’s made herself into a preeminent cultural historian of Black drink history. Her knowledge of both cocktail culture and the various ingredients and techniques that form the basis of many beloved spirits is unmatched and nearly encyclopedic. Barriere goes far beyond dusting off mundane trivia as a show of intellect, and she explores the connective tissue between factoids and culture.
This remarkable combination of skill and soul and culture means she’s in high demand internationally. From Berlin to Brazil, Barriere stays on the go: teaching, speaking, shaking up things that need to be shaken, be they cocktails or systems of oppression. To counteract the ever-increasing demands on her schedule, she chooses to root herself in culture. “I spend my downtime searching history. My family makes time for me,” she says. “I make time for me. There’s something I love about broken things; I love being able to see problems and how to fix them.”
Jackie Summers was a 2022 Food & Wine Drinks Innovator of the Year.
+ There are no comments
Add yours