PRCW 2019

San Juan, Havana, London, Paris, Rome, Istanbul, New York, Cairo — from the 1930s through the 1960s, legendary mixologist “Joe The Bartender” was everywhere and nowhere, always one step ahead of governments who accused him of being a secret agent because he served so many heads of state, generals, and journalists.  This seminar reveals the untold story of the trained chemist from Egypt who survived two revolutions, imprisonment, and exile to create such infamous exotic drinks as the Suffering Bastard and Tropical Itch (one of several classic drinks he invented for the Caribe Hilton in Puerto Rico). Presented by Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, who spent two years tracking down his elusive subject.  Wrote the Washington Post: “The career of Joe ‘Joe the Bartender’ Scialom sounds like rich material for a 1960s novel: A man who speaks eight languages fluently, works in famed hotels around the world, invents tiki-bar staples like the Suffering Bastard and numerous other cocktails and is frequently suspected of espionage…”.