Who pours almost 4,000 draft beers in one night, hustles a thousand cases of beer across a very crowded bar and grabs roughly 800 glasses off all the tables and the bar? This person in essence “backs the bar” and so has the well-deserved “bar back” title.
And so Natalie and Chad went forth to Bluesboro Rhythm & Blues Company to relieve Andrew Enricco, the bar back of the evening, of some of his responsibilities.
Easier said than done. A bar back is responsible for many things. They have to make sure things go smoothly throughout the night, and they are the ones who “keep the beer coming”, pouring drafts and changing kegs as just some of many required duties. Most of the prep work was already done when we arrived, so we were easily fooled when the rush actually hit and we couldn’t do enough, it seemed. Though we got a crash course in bar backing from Enricco, the extensive nature of the job was almost overwhelming. Other responsibilities included making sure all the glasses were retrieved and washed via dishwashing machine, lemons and limes had to be cut and ready to serve and bottles of beer and liquor had to be restocked. Cups had to be readily available for the servers, bartenders and bar back. The “towel in the pants” was put to good use, as Natalie went through three-and-a-half kegs in two hours, which makes for a lot of beer foam and wet hands. But it doesn’t stop there. Spills throughout the bar are also the Bar Back’s responsibility. The bar back, for the most part, is the one who does all the work behind the scenes.
Thursday night is one of busiest nights at Bluesboro due to the low cover charge, live bands and 50 cent draft beers. College Night was a perfect night to get a good feel of what the job really entails. When The Trailer Choir performed, this band had everyone dancing and having a blast. After helping for an hour over the original allotted time that had been planned for us, leaving the bar was hard because imagining how they usually handle things under the same circumstances was inconceivable. The night turned out to be pretty fun.
A special shout out to the courteous staff for letting us participate and try to help in the club and photographer, Don Wright, for getting some candid shots. You can see more pics from the night at www.donwrightdesigns.com
