A Latin bartending collective is shaking up the way Minneapolis drinks

Daniel Torres looks around the table at the four men he calls brothers. “We keep a nice frequency,” he said.

The men, all bartenders, share a common goal: to promote their passion and skill through events that benefit a greater good. Torres, along with Mike Hidalgo, Danny Guerrero and Ariel “Angel” Torres, founded Behind a Bar in 2022 as an opportunity to do that, as well as to collaborate and trade ideas with others in the industry.

“We also didn’t see a lot of other bartenders that looked like us,” said Hidalgo.

“When I was thinking about Behind a Bar, the first person I thought of was Danny Guerrero,” he said. “I want to build community, not just get behind the bar and have fun. Of the 15 to 20 years that I’ve been in the States, I’ve seen a minimal percentage of Latino people [behind the bar]. People were behind the kitchen, washing dishes or prepping food. Not even bartending.”

Hidalgo and Guerrero agreed that the best way to get more Latinos behind the bar was to invite them in.

“It was very important to gather this crew who understands the culture as we do and to build community,” said Hidalgo. A recent event celebrated Women’s History Month; donations were gathered for Esperanza United, an organization that helps women escape domestic violence. Each bartender created a cocktail inspired by women who changed history.

The foursome share a kinetic creative energy that bubbles beneath the surface when they’re together — swapping ideas, slipping between Spanish and English — and each lends a distinctive verve to the cocktails they create.

Mike Hidalgo moved here from Mexico City when he was 20, spending years working in Twin Cities restaurants. He started as a dishwasher and slowly worked his way up the ranks, eventually running the kitchen at popover mecca the Oak Grill.

Growing restless and seeking more connection with people, he decided to try working where the people were. He worked his way up again, and started busing tables. He fell into bartending, working with a friend who spoke Spanish and English. “He kind of started directing me on what bartending really was.”

It wasn’t an easy industry. “I remember asking people for help, like knowledge about bottles or spirits, and there was often this barrier,” said Hidalgo. There was never time, or willingness, to slow down and share that knowledge.

Soon he found himself in the subterranean bar Constantine under the direction of Jesse Held (who now works at Earl Giles). Hidalgo was an eager student of the bar’s intense level of craft, from hand carving ice to building intricately flavored cocktails. “I fell in love with the culture of bartending there.”

That generosity is part of what he hopes Behind a Bar brings to the industry.

“When I’m talking to people about tequila, they might come in with expectations,” he said. “I can say, ‘Let me guess, you had a little Cuervo when you were young?’ And I pour them some killer drink, or a tequila I know. I love to blow their minds.”

But the conversations ignite a passion and pride he has in common with his Behind a Bar friends: sharing something that is integral to their roots with a curious public.

Guerrero came to Minneapolis from California. He’d dabbled in a few other potential careers, but his creativity always drew him into making something to share with the world. Bartending became a natural outlet for him.

“I was working at the bar because I’d just moved here and didn’t have a lot of friends,” he said. He’d been lured here in the summer. “Yeah, nobody told me about the weather.”

Bartending was mostly for fun while he worked in human resources at Franklin Street Bakery. “It felt good because like 80% of the workforce were Latinos who didn’t speak English. Helping them translate felt nice, but being behind a desk at a computer all da.y ... ” he said. “I thought this was the American dream, but I realized that what I love is interacting with people.”

“It makes sense that we fall in love with spirits from different parts of the world; whiskeys, rum. But some of these tequilas and mezcals have been made for hundreds of years in Mexico, but weren’t known by the wider world until recently.”

Daniel Torres is a more recent Minneapolis transplant. “I’m from Brooklyn and probably started in the industry about 10 years ago,” he said. He was delivering food for a restaurant right after high school graduation, but didn’t like it much. “It was difficult and not much fun, but the money was good.”

He came to Minnesota for college and worked jobs from retail to sales and before landing back in the industry around 2015 or 2016, when he started at Nico’s Tacos and Tequila.

“I think in a restaurant is where I really shine,” he said.

Torres started studying how to make classic cocktails and syrups, going deep on margaritas. He landed on the opening staff at Iconos Gastro Cantina with his cousin Angel, working under chef Cristian de Leon. Then he opened the Latinx lounge Rumba Uptown, where he found himself working with Hidalgo.

Born and raised in New York City, Angel Torres moved to Minneapolis during the pandemic. He’d been a bartender before everything shut down, and started working at Iconos when things opened back up. He now leads the bar at Oro by Nixta, which is a finalist for a national James Beard Award for best new restaurant.

He didn’t know what to expect in Minnesota, but the city has quickly become home. “Like any creative venture, it starts by taking a risk,” he said.

Launching Behind a Bar was one of those risks. The group wondered, would anyone come? The events are growing in popularity, and the bartenders are willing to put in the work, from pooling meager resources to bring in a chef from Mexico City, to keeping details of the next event under wraps. (It’s expected to be held in June at a venue that “feels like family.”)

“We’ve all taught each other different things,” said Guerrero. “That’s the beauty of this collective.”

There are plans to structure Behind a Bar as a limited liability company, and there are plenty of ideas ready to come to life. They’re also looking for sponsorship opportunities that align with their vision.

The goal is also about bringing others up behind them, like their mentors did for them.

“I’d like to make an invitation to all Latinos,” Hidalgo said. “We can do it. We have big dreams. Big goals. But we can do it.”