Mixing it up: Mankato bartender earns berth on Midwest Manhattan competition

Aug. 16—In his usual Hawaiian-esque shirt and long braided ponytail, Chris Geels puts a chilled espresso mug on the edge of the drink rail. With the adroitness of an emergency room physician — a description he'd likely scoff at — Geels mixes in a pint glass shots of Woodford Reserve Rye, Carpano Antica Formula Vermouth and J. Rieger's Cafe Amaro Liqueur.

"It's whisky's answer to the espresso martini," says Geels of his Alive and Revived Manhattan cocktail. "It's very much a Manhattan. It's really well balanced. And it leans into the fact that it is a coffee-based flavor profile Manhattan, so it's also your get up and go at the start of the day. For brunch, for after dinner, for whatever."

Geels, a bartender at The Wine Cafe in Mankato, is on a bit of a roll. He's created a number of must-have cocktails recently that make up the craft cocktail list at The Wine Cafe. But, more importantly, his Alive and Revived creation — and the rest of his application for the Woodford Reserve Manhattan Experience competition — earned him a trip to Chicago.

Geels is one of just a handful of "mixologists" who were invited to compete in Woodford's annual competition. And this isn't his first time doing well in a cocktail competition. Last year he advanced to the finals of a statewide Woodford Reserve cocktail competition.

The competition wrapped up this week. While Geels didn't walk away with a trophy, he says the experience was worth it.

"I got rave reviews from the judges and the crowd. The judges loved my attention to detail, the crowd loved my cocktail and the competitors were an absolute joy."

Geels says he sees competitions like this more as a stop on a journey he has no plans of abandoning anytime soon.

Each competitor had to answer a few questions in their applications explaining a bit about where they are from and how their cocktail relates to the community. Here is, in part, what Geels wrote:

"Since June of 2020 I have worked at The Wine Cafe. The bar sits right in the middle of the original downtown of Mankato, and I am able to see all of its history and progress from here. Mankato is a small city nestled in the valley created by the confluence of the Minnesota and Blue Earth rivers. Due to the readily available resources, people settled in the valley and began farming and building up the area around the river.

"As time has passed, Mankato has reinvented and reinvigorated itself, most recently from a hard partying college town to a vibrant local arts scene with a growing group of conscious cocktail consumers. When I look out at my city from the bar, I see where we have been, where we are now, and where we're headed. South Central Minnesota's Pride Parade starts right next to the bar every year. Across the street, grain silos for the mill have been painted with a mural that reflects Mankato's history and diversity. From the back patio, I have seen protests and celebrations on the Veterans Memorial Bridge. My cocktail reflects the journey of this city through time."

Geels goes on to explain how Alive and Revived reflects the community: "Starting with a base in classic cocktails, changes are made and depth is added. The new (service) industry of Mankato is showcased with the introduction of Barrel Aged Malört. I went to the local arts co-op to make the stamp for my garnish, as well as to screen print the custom cocktail napkins I quilted."

And you thought it was just a simple Manhattan.

Iowa stock

Geels was born and raised in Sheldon, Iowa, population 5,428. A conservative community, Geels says he likes it, but he was ready to leave.

"I visit for holidays, mostly. There's not a lot of things to do in the area. At least not the kind of things that I would enjoy. If you like hunting, fishing — there's plenty to do there."

After high school Geels attended Dordt University, a small Evangelical Christian school with fewer than 1,500 students. He chose Dordt, he says, because that's what you do in the Geels family — they all went to Dordt. And he liked it. He'd intended to major in communications and had actually worked at radio station in Sioux Center before starting freshman year. But he eventually made his way to the theater program, and that's where he found himself.

Geels majored in theater, specializing in set design and costuming. And when he graduated, he found work in that field a few hours north at Minnesota State University — though he didn't stay long, just a few months.

At that point, he began getting more serious about a hobby he'd been nurturing for a few years: mixology.

Geels doesn't remember exactly when he bought it, but well before he could legally drink, he'd acquired a pair of cocktail books that tapped into his set designer mindset: "The Mr. Boston Delux Guide for Bartenders" and "The Playboy Host and Bar Book." Those two volumes showed him the endless possibilities available to a bartender who is willing to be creative.

Geels' first legal drink wasn't a beer, wasn't a glass of wine, wasn't a shot of Jack Daniels. It was a martini.

"I'm unsure as to why I was drawn to that," he says. "The martini is probably one of the most portrayed drinks in any media. It's constantly seen. And so, to me, that's a cocktail. The martini just seems like the drink if you're gonna have something that's not a rum and coke or a gin and tonic. It's a martini."

Wine Cafe

Geels' first serving/bartending job in Mankato was at Number 4. That's where he got his initial education for mixing drinks. He'd worked at a coffee shop prior to that, where he learned basic mixing techniques, but his Number 4 experience got him into working with whiskey, gin, vodka and everything else.

Over the next few years, he also worked at Country Inn and Suites Event Team, New Bohemia, Buffalo Wild Wings, Bonfire and the Loose Moose before Wine Cafe staff asked him to join their team.

Since coming on board, he's upped the cocktail game at the Wine Cafe, one coworker says.

"Chris' self-cultivated skills and hard work has elevated our historically 'two-part drink' bar," Gina Abbas says. "He has made seemingly difficult drinks easy for our staff to replicate. That alone takes skill. The most popular drink that Chris has made for us is definitely the Purple Reign. However, his new cocktail and non-alcoholic menu is still helping us achieve new heights."

Geels says the day he learned he'd made it to the competition was ... odd.

He'd gotten an email from Woodford thanking him for his interest but saying, unfortunately, he didn't make the finals. He went to bed thankful that at least he had an answer.

But when he woke up, he had another email from Woodford saying the first email was a mistake and that he did, in fact, make the finals.

"Then I freaked out a little bit," he says. "And I came down here and just had to, like, talk at people."