Meet Denzel Heath, CAP Tales 2016

By Chilled Magazine

Self-appointed #TravellingBartender, awarded bartender Denzel Heath is a firm believer in the craft and graft of Hospitality.

Hailing from South Africa, he has spent his most recent years travelling the continent of Africa to share his love and passion for bartending as a career with likeminded individuals of the trade. Currently he resides in Dubai where he is the Head of MMI Bar Academy responsible for Spirit Education and Bar Consulting and is also the Ambassador for Bartender Brands that fall under the Maritime and Mercantile International Portfolio.

He was selected to complete the Cocktail Apprentice Program at the acclaimed Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans and plans to make his return in 2016. He has completed his Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Spirit Educator Program, as well as the acclaimed Beverage Alcohol Resource BAR 5Day Course.

Check out what Denzel has to say about the CAP program at Tales and the events influence on his bartending career.

Tell us about your experiences with Tales of the Cocktail, and also specifically the CAP program.

In 2014 I was a Tales Virgin! And lucky for me, that very year, after an undisclosed number of years of unsuccessful applications, I was accepted into the CAP family! Knowing little about the program and TOTC itself (because everyone thinks they know, until you have actually been), I embarked on, what is for me, the most career impacting weeks of the year! If I were to describe TOTC in two words, I would choose to use: “opportunities lurking”!

For me TOTC is so much more than educational seminars, trend spotting opportunities and product evaluations – all ‘official’/corporate terms I use at the office, when securing these days off in my calendar every year! For those bartenders that have been so lucky as to have competed in a global cocktail competition, TOTC can be likened to a similar experience, except that TOTC is more high paced and with an even more networking and educational opportunities. Of course you cannot attend every seminar and/or event, but you sure as hell will try to!

Denzel Heath, CAP Tales 2016
Photo Courtesy of Hyku Photography

“Opportunities lurking”. Personally I find the networking opportunities (more corporate lingo in case my boss is reading this) more than enough reason to attend TOTC on a yearly bases! Last year I attended as a guest (a change from the CAP perspective) and within the first couple of hours I had bumped into at least 50 people whom I had met previously. For some perspective, the number of contacts built over four years could equate to one week at TOTC, in my experience.

If I were to describe the CAP program in two words, those two words would be “family time.” Where TOTC allows for networking opportunities, as a CAP you are welcomed into the TOTC family. A family of like-minded and respected bartenders and industry professionals, which includes every single attendee, speaker and host! While TOTC could be likened to the glamour of a cocktail competition, CAP can similarly be likened to working 10 back to back double shifts at the best bar in the world with your best mates, where you get to serve and enjoy a cheeky shot with industry greats like Dave Wondrich and Jim Meehan – true story.

Due to the strenuous work schedule and lack of sleep (due to the fact that you try and attend every single event) you end up showing the best and worst version of yourself. You work together. You learn together. You experience lack of sleep together. But most of all you have fun together. The CAP program includes bartenders from all over the world, hailing from a multitude of different countries, cultures and diverse backgrounds. You learn tolerance, patience and endurance while at the same time acquiring new technical skills, service techniques and industry know-how. Have I mentioned that you don’t get to sleep allot?

Denzel Heath, CAP Tales 2016
Photo Courtesy of Hyku Photography

How has Tales/CAP influenced your work and your career?

The CAP program empowered me, through its Tuition Reimbursement Program granted by The New Orleans Culinary and Cultural Preservation Society (NOCCPS), to attend and complete the renowned Bar (Beverage Alcohol Resource) 5 Day Program, hosted annually in New York City. This has allowed me to elevate my career as a bar professional and has undoubtedly lead to my move from South Africa to my current role where I am the head of MMI Bar Academy based in the thriving city of Dubai.

What would you like other bartenders/people in the industry to know about the CAP program?

In 2014, in a seminar on the business of bars, hosted by Sean Finter, president of Barmetrix, I learned of an interesting statistic. Only 5% of people were born to serve. How often do you, as a bartender, get home after a long and strenuous shift, and have more energy than when you arrived on shift? It’s a strange phenomenon – one that resides with the best bartenders in the world. The CAP family is a collection of such like-minded individuals and the program not only develops your abilities as a bartender and a team player, but solidifies you in a global family.

Denzel Heath, CAP Tales 2016
Photo Courtesy of Hyku Photography

In your opinion, what does an event like TALES do for the industry?

It is said that bartending is in it’s Platinum age, having past the golden age of yesteryear and having triumphantly overcome the luminous age, and in so doing is reaching newer and greater heights every single day. The trade of the barkeep is today, in the information age, growing faster than ever. TOTC, as an institution, is not only at the forefront of this development, but it has also been established as a platform where individuals responsible for this rapid development are celebrated and acknowledged.

It grants bartenders from all over the world the opportunity to experience forthcoming spirit and cocktail trends whilst simultaneously allowing them to network and develop new strategies and ideas. TOTC plays an imperial role in global cocktail and bartender development and is in my opinion the single most impactful cocktail event on the globe.

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