The Handlebar Tempe Announces Employee Accolades and Honorable Wins

TEMPE, Ariz. - May 28, 2014 - PRLog -- The Handlebar Tempe, a modern American beer garden located on Tempe’s historic Mill Avenue proudly announces several employee wins and accolades with national trips and event participation. Opened in 2012 by local restaurant entrepreneur, Julian Wright, principal of Fork & Dagger Bar and Restaurant Development Company, The Handlebar Tempe has quickly become a Mill Avenue staple and destination for craft beer and craft cocktails.   The location features experienced industry veterans including a U.S. Bartenders Guild member and a resident ‘Beer Geek’ on staff.

Staff member Jerame “JT” Tillman, a member of the U.S. Bartenders Guild, hosts a weekly Tuesday night event featuring craft cocktails and oversees much of the location’s in-house aging of spirits.  JT recently participated in, and won three separate cocktail competitions, including "War of the Pour” at the Chandler Craft Spirits Festival; an Iron chef style of competition, meaning the base spirit was unknown until competition time.  The winning cocktail was a “Tito's Tai Chai Punch” a tropical style punch drink featuring Tito’s Vodka.  JT also won “Finlandia Scottsdale Farmers Market” a “Dinner Impossible” style team competition where the team was required to obtain items at the farmers market in under 30 minutes to create their concoction.  Tillman’s team name was "Team of Champions”, and along with teammates Clint Spottleson and Michael Soo, created the winning drink called "The Noble Experiment", consisting of Finlandia Vodka, grapefruit, fresh grapefruit and lemon juice, fig syrup, muddled ginger and basil.

Lastly, Tilman was venerably selected to participate in, and won the “Jack Daniel’s  Rock and Roll Cocktail Competition” -- a statewide contest in which only seven contestants were selected to compete for the grand prize of an all-expenses paid trip to the Jack Daniel’s distillery, Johnny Cash Museum and private party and concert on BBQ Hill at the Jack Daniel’s headquarters in Lynchburg, Tennessee.  Tillman won the “Peoples Choice” award for his rock and roll inspired cocktail entitled "Take Your Tennessee Home”; a nod to both the sour mash Tennessee whiskey with which it was made, and a Van Halen song called "Take Your Whiskey Home”.  JT’s winning beverage, which scored him the trip to Lynchburg, Tenn. is a beer whiskey cocktail that Tilman describes as follows.

“The ‘Take Your Whiskey Home’ is a refreshing beer whiskey cocktail, perfect for summer.  The grapefruit bitters really help merry the citrus and sour beer elements with the sweet and tasty Tennessee whiskey.  Finally, the orange zest helps give the final touch of aromatics and color.”

The winning drink is available for purchase at The Handlebar Tempe for $8.50 for a limited time and is made with Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, grapefruit hopped bitters, fresh lime juice, simple syrup, and topped with Monk’s Café Flemish Sour Ale and an orange zest.

In addition to Tilman’s three recent wins, The Handlebar Tempe is also proud to announce that resident ‘Beer Geek’ and staff member Nick Nitz was selected from a significant pool of regional candidates to attend Sierra Nevada Brewing Company’s “Beer Camp” in Chico, California.  The multi-day beer camp features brewery tours and tasting, samplings and education, activities with the brewers and brewery staff and creating a new beer recipe with fellow camp members.

“We will be formulating a recipe, brewing the beer, and then it will be distributed in Sierra Nevada's distro footprint, which is nationwide now,” states The Handlebar Tempe’s ‘Beer Geek’ Nitz.  “Not sure what we are going to brew, but either way it’s gonna be awesome. While there I will be continuing my quest for beer knowledge, and of course – all the beers!”

“I couldn’t be more proud of this team and their recent accomplishments,” stated Julian Wright, The Handlebar Tempe’s owner and principal of Fork & Dagger Bar and Restaurant Development Company.  “We’ve got a great little team in here doing off-the-wall fantastic things weekly and these recent wins and awards are a testament to putting Tempe’s flourishing food and bar scene on the map.”

For additional information about The Handlebar Tempe, please visit: http://www.handlebaraz.com.

Fork & Dagger is a bar and restaurant development company based in the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan region.  The company was founded by Arizona State University alumni Julian Wright, whose passion for the local community pervades the company’s offerings including innovative, modern concepts focused on seamless integration with their surrounding neighborhood.   Members of Local First Arizona and The Tempe Tourism Office, all Fork & Dagger locations in Arizona source locally when possible and employee dozens of Arizona residents bringing inspired dining experiences to local patrons and visitors alike.