A number of issues will be true on the identical time. Do Downtown Nashville bars have an issue with patrons being drugged? Actually. Are they making efforts to acknowledge and stop this legal act? Completely. Virtually 50 Nashville bars already skilled underneath the Secure Bar Initiative, a bystander-intervention-based academic coaching program. Learn Scene reporter Hannah Herner’s story from 2022 about this for background.
However latestly, there’s been fairly a little bit of buzz on TikTok and numerous Nashville guests teams that it’d truly be the bartenders who are sometimes chargeable for drugging their very own clients. That has created fairly an uproar amongst different on-line teams, together with the Nashville Hospitality Professionals web page on Fb.
It was there that native United States Bartenders’ Guild South regional council consultant Chris Mallon determined to talk his piece.
Mallon is an skilled native bartender and educator on the Tennessee Whiskey Workshop, the place he leads mixology courses to teams and people. On his firm’s web site, he determined to deal with the accusations which have been leveled at native bartenders in a considerate — however clearly annoyed — protection of the trade.
Chris Mallon
He begins by describing the standard specious claims on the web:
“Watch out! I feel I acquired drugged on Broadway. I solely had two drinks!”
Immediately, there’s a pile-on. Everybody’s chiming in. “That occurred to my good friend too.” “It was positively the bartender.” “Watch your drinks, y’all!”
And identical to that, a witch hunt begins — no proof, no police report, only a vibe and a viral thread.
Let me say this clearly:
Bartenders are usually not drugging you.
He asks what attainable motive may a bartender must drug one in all their clients. Anger over a shitty tip? Undoubtedly not price risking a job or a profession over.
Extra probably, explains Mallon, patrons made some unhealthy choices that led to an unlucky end result.
“You’ve been ingesting all day within the solar. You skipped dinner. Now you’re two drinks deep at 10 p.m. and abruptly the room is spinning. That’s not a roofie. That’s biology.”
Different contributing elements embrace the recognition of high-proof cocktails. There actually aren’t any mixers in an Previous Usual, a Manhattan, an espresso martini or a Negroni, so in the event you’re used to vodka sodas again residence and determine to get all fancy at a Nashville cocktail lounge, you’d higher pump the brakes. Add within the rise of CBD/THC drinks and gummies, and numerous downtown patrons are in all probability not less than a bit … elevated earlier than they’ve their first drink in a bar.
Ultimately, Mallon hopes to repair the issue as an alternative of the blame. He presents choices for help and for investigation for anybody who appears like one thing has gone incorrect throughout a bar go to. Complaining on Fb doesn’t do something to determine and cope with the true issues of downtown ingesting, however getting actual in regards to the points will help.
I encourage you to go learn the unique put up right here — and likewise to overtip your bartenders. They’re working laborious to maintain you cheerful and protected!
