Nightlife: Extreme bartending

This was not your typical Monday night in Maple Grove. In late June, about 200 rowdy onlookers packed the bar at the local T.G.I. Friday's, each vying for the best view. An announcer introduced the night's entertainment -- six bartenders -- trumpeting their names as if he was introducing champion prize fighters. It was showtime: One of the bartenders flipped a liquor bottle into the air, letting it somersault several times before catching it on the back of his forearm -- the bottle balanced perfectly as if it were sitting on the bar top. After a string of tricks, the bartender hit the finale of his routine by juggling four bottles as if they were bean bags.

This is extreme bartending, otherwise known as "flair." Tom Cruise in "Cocktail" has got nothing on these guys.

The world of flair bartending is a small one -- only a handful of these bartenders live in the Twin Cities. The best are like athletes, testing their skills in competitions that take them around the world. While some might see it as a showy circus act, flair bartenders say they sacrifice a lot to perfect their craft, including injury (dropping an errant bottle on your face can hurt).

The biggest names around here are Brian Zachau, 32, and Paul Trzcianko, 28. The longtime friends own a flair consulting business called Liquidmotion (www.4liquidmotion.com). Zachau has been the top U.S. competitor in T.G.I. Friday's World Bartending Championship five years running. Trzcianko has competed in flair competitions from Vancouver to London to Moscow. The duo produced the flair show at T.G.I. Friday's last month, which featured champion flair artists from Las Vegas.

Beyond 'Cocktail'

Flair bartending got its big break in the late '80s when "Cocktail" hit theaters. It sparked the careers of a lot of flair bartenders, said Scott Young, a Vancouver-based expert. Young, 39, was in the Twin Cities recently, teaching a seminar on flair at the Library bar. His company, Extreme Bartending, conducts training sessions all over the world (www.extremebartending.com).

"When I started it was so very simple, hardly anyone in the world was doing it," he said, noting that times have changed. "The technical difficulty has just gone through the roof."

Trzcianko, who learned his first move from Zachau, has been a fixture on the international pro tour for several years. It's overseen by the Flair Bartenders' Association (FBA), which regulates competitions and ranks bartenders. In 2008 Trzcianko was ranked 8th in the world.

Some of the country's big-money flair contests are scaling back because of the economy. But in the Twin Cities, T.G.I. Friday's is ramping up its flair-ness with a summerlong tournament called Bar Wars.

Way of the flair

The teacher-pupil relationship is a common one in flair bartending (like samurai and Jedi knights). Today, Trzcianko has his own prize student, James Doyle-Joyner, a 27-year-old who works at T.G.I. Friday's in Burnsville.

At last month's T.G.I. Friday's show, Trzcianko gave his apprentice of four years an opening spot on the card. He watched in amazement as Doyle-Joyner wowed the crowd. "That was one of the best routines I've ever seen him do," Trzcianko said.

"I didn't really have a plan for my life," he said. "Then I discovered flair and I figured out that this is what I want to do. My mom keeps telling me to get a real job. But where else can I juggle at work?"

Trzcianko said most flair bartenders have one goal in mind: Making it to Las Vegas, which many consider the flair capital of the world. Vegas bartender Dario Doimo was flown in to be the headliner at the T.G.I. Friday's show. Originally from Italy, the 25-year-old Doimo is now a star in Sin City. Last year, he took first place at Legends of Bartending, which some call the Super Bowl of flair competitions. Trzcianko placed fifth.

It's flair or nothing

Trzcianko, who bartends at the Imperial Room and the Refuge, has never worked in Las Vegas. He's been offered jobs there but always turned them down. "I was too scared to go," he said.

Now another position has presented itself -- this time at the Rio Hotel and Casino.

"I think I'll give it one more year," he said.

After pausing to contemplate, he continued: "But I said that last year and the year before that. It's hard to give it up."

thorgen@startribune.com 612-673-7909