special to viewRodrigo Cao balances bottles as part of a previous Best of the West Flair Bartending competition.
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The Best of the West Flair Bartending competition is in full swing at RoadRunner Saloon in Henderson.
The contest, which pits bartenders from all over the world against one another, began its seventh annual competition on Jan. 7. Each Monday night during January, bartenders have been flipping bottles at the bar in hopes of making it to the finals that will be held on Monday at the saloon, 2430 Pebble Road.
Ken Hall, who works as a bartender for Pure Management Group, created the event. Hall has been a flair bartender for more than 15 years.
"I started flipping bottles at Walt Disney World in 1991," he said.
Hall has won six world championships.
In 1997, Hall started the elite Legends of Bartending competition, which judges bartenders on speed, accuracy and flair.
Best of the West is not as stringent. Participants are judged only on flair.
"I wanted to do something more fun for competitors," Hall said. "This is pure flair and show. It's all about flipping bottles and fun."
The competition has taken place at RoadRunner for the past six years, and Hall said, "It's a great success for the local competition."
A stage is set up for participants to perform their five- or six-minute routine, which is set to music. Each competitor makes two drinks, and the top two bartenders from each night move to the final round. Hall also will select wild cards, bringing the final competition to 13 or 14 participants.
Although some competitors are amateurs, Hall said even people new to flair bartending have been doing it for a few months, and they all practice for more than seven or eight hours a day.
"You don't just get involved in a competition," Hall said.
There are competition videos and practice bottles that people can use if they want to learn how to how to perform flair bartending tricks.
Robyn Closson, a flair bartender at Carnaval Court restaurant and bar at Harrah's on the Strip, said she got started in Tampa, Fla.
"There weren't very many girls who did it, so I wanted to," she said. "Once I started, I didn't want to stop."
Hall said the art of flair has really grown since he began competing.
"I remember when I won my first world championship in '96, a three-bottle juggle was a big thing," he said.
Today, the three-bottle juggle is standard, and some bartenders can do five-bottle tricks. Hall said it's really about each competitor's style.
Competitors will be awarded $10,000 in cash. The first-place winner will take home half, and the other $5,000 will be split between the second- and third-place winners. Every finalist receives a trophy.
Drinks made during the competition are auctioned off with entertainment packages, including golf packages and tables and bottles to clubs such as LAX and Pure. The money raised is donated to Opportunity Village. Hall said more than $20,000 has been donated to the local charity in the five years that Best from the West has been giving them the funds. The first event took place in 2001 following Sept. 11, and the donation was given to the Displaced Workers Fund.
The event is free to the public and begins at 9 p.m. Monday at the RoadRunner Saloon. The party starts at 8 p.m. A last-chance qualifying round will be held at 9 p.m. Sunday.
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