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–
PubClub Profile –
The Best Bartender
in Vancouver?
Oran Feild Plays His Version
of Spin the Bottle at a City Hotspot
Poised to perform,
Feild mixes fun with alcohol for an intoxicating show.
When Oran Feild makes a drink, he also
makes a friend.
The head bartender at the Element Sound Lounge at the base of the Georgia
Hotel – Vancouver's newest nighttime hot spot – is a showman
with a shot glass, an entertainer with an extra spin, the king of this
city's cocktails.
Ask him for a drink, and a smile the size of a swizzle stick comes
across his face. It's like giving Wayne Gretzky an open net or Tom Hanks
a movie script.
When mixing a drink, Feild takes a shaker, whips it behind his back,
does a little body lean to catch it by his side, then picks up various
bottles and flips them with similar flair. Bottles twirl in the air
like ballerinas and Feild catches them like a gold glove first baseman.
It's a bit like watching a magician perform a trick. You almost expect
him to pull a rabbit out of the glass, except he doesn't have anything
up his sleeves.
Somehow, all the ingredients find their way into the shaker and eventually
a glass. Yet as good as the show is, the drinks are even better. Many
of the unique martinis featured at the Sound Lounge, such as the "elementini"
(raspberry Stoli, triple sec and cranberry) are his own creations.
"The quality of the drink if the most important thing," Feild
said. "The show is really secondary. My goal is to bring Euro-style
bartending to another part of the world."
Despite the obvious parallels, Feild is no Tom Cruise wanna-be auditioning
for the celebrities that frequent the Sound Lounge or the next "Cocktails"
movie (he leaves the acting to his brother, who has appeared in a movie
with Michael Cain). It's just Feild being Feild, and for him it's as
natural as the mountains that surround Vancouver.
"We think he's the best bartender in Vancouver," says a smiling
Sam Wainright, co-owner of the Sound Lounge. "There's nobody around
here quite like him."
Feild comes to Vancouver indirectly by way of London, where he studied
under Brolin Tolski, kind of the Scotty Bowman of bartender coaches.
He honed his art 3-4 hours a day, then went out and put it to the test
at a local bar.
"I would practice at home as soon as I got up in the morning,"
he said. "Then I would go to work and go at it again the next day.
Spinning bottles is something I wanted to do and the customers really
seem to enjoy it."
He eventually made his way to the Greek
Islands, a place where a bartender can get quite a bit of
practice during the busy summer months. While there, he met his wife,
and the two eventually relocated to Vancouver.
"I wanted to live in a place where I could work at night and get
up in the morning and go snowboarding, windsurfing and do other outdoor
activities," he said. "I looked at places like New Zealand,
but Vancouver turned out to be the perfect spot."
Oddly, despite the obvious attention he receives for his showmanship,
Feild grew up a bashful child.
"I was pretty shy as a kid" he said. "It took a long
time to get over that, but I'm no longer shy. At least behind the bar."
Feild's techniques are soon to be duplicated at the Sound Lounge, as
he is training other bartenders at the new establishment in drinks,
etiquette and yes, bottle tossing (although it's hard to imagine anyone
could be as good as the original).
So, what's the favorite drink of this bartender with a twist?
"Purple Passion Tea," he says without hesitation. "It's
a Long Island Tea made with passion. I use fruit juice and raspberry
liqueur topped with lemonade."
Have a few of those and Feild's bottles won't be the only thing spinning
at the Sound Lounge.
 Next
Pub Club Profile: Kenny The Cab!
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