Santa Fe's Simons is a top 15 bartender in U.S.

Jul. 26—Weston Simons knows there are tons of bartenders in the country who are better than he is.

He openly acknowledges he learns every day from the "vast knowledge" of his current boss, Winston Greene, who owns Tonic in downtown Santa Fe, where Simons tends bars Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

"Winston didn't enter the competition," Simons said. "I learned so much from him."

But Simons was one of the more than 10,000 applicants for the 2022 USBG World Class Sponsored by DIAGEO bartending competition put on by the United States Bartenders' Guild across the first half of 2022. Simons made the first cut to the Top 100 with his essay about "mindful menus," where he was selected for tackling the culinary evolution of New Mexico through a cocktail.

Then he made the regional finals in April in Tucson, Ariz., where 10 bartenders were whittled down to three at five different regionals across the country. Simons was one of the chosen three and thus part of the field of 15 bartenders that competed June 19 to June 22 in the national finals in Nashville.

Only one champion was named. No second place. It wasn't Simons. He's fine with that.

"Really, why I joined the competition, for each round they give you feedback," Simons said. "One of my strong suits is I am a very good presenter. The way I talk about my drinks make them very approachable. I always tried to treat the judges like they are a guest in my bar."

Before the bartender competition, Simons worked two stints at Santa Fe Spirits before and after months in Amsterdam for comedy school with his wife. First, Simons staged offsite events and managed the distillery tasting room. Upon his return, he managed both tasting rooms. He left Santa Fe Spirits in February, once again continuing comedy school in Amsterdam.

"Creativity, really," was the first thing that came to mind for Santa Fe Sprits owner Colin Keegan. "He was a very creative person behind the bar along with being personable and liked. He shone behind the bar. He runs the whole gamut of knowledge and ability. He is extremely well read, which is unusual these days. Weston goes home and reads ancient books."

Simons, 29, has translated this "gamut of knowledge" into a bartending consulting business that he calls WestonDrinks. He launched in April 2020, just in time for the pandemic. Oddly, the pandemic opened the world to him. Instead of training just local bartenders, he's had Zoom classes with students around the world.

He started teaching in 2018 but formalized the process with WestonDrinks.

"I did it because of my love of teaching," Simons said. "A few bad drinks I actually had got me going. I noticed bartenders didn't have a deep grasp of what they were doing or a solid understanding of the techniques they were using."

Simons has had a combination of live and Zoom classes involving American hotels, bars, restaurants, private corporate classes, even a class in Amsterdam, where he and his actor wife, Rikki Carroll, have made frequent visits since moving to Santa Fe in 2017.

"Where does alcohol come from? What is the difference [between] these spirits?" he said. "A more knowledgeable bartender is able to sell bottles at the back of his bar that otherwise would just be gathering dust."

WestonDrinks also assists with bar design and build-out, creating cocktail menus and auditing bars "to see how they are losing money."

Simons said he will run the bar for the Tri-M Productions gala Sept. 9 at the governor's mansion.

Simons fit the USBG World Class competition between acting/comedy classes he and Carroll have been taking in Amsterdam at the Boom Chicago Academy, which is part of Boom Chicago, an improvisational comedy company founded in Amsterdam by three Americans in 1993. Carroll grew up in the Netherlands and Santa Fe.

Simons grew up in Los Lunas with a photographer father and dancer mother and dinner parties with "all sorts of weird guests." He got to Albuquerque, was a bartender at the Copper Lounge, met Carroll, and eventually they moved to her hometown of Santa Fe.

Before that, his first bartending job was at the Apothecary Lounge at the Parq Central Hotel in Albuquerque.

"I hired him for his first job at Apothecary," said Sara Jo Mathews, who now co-owns the Prairie Hill Cafe at the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas, N.M. "He was very precocious and eager. The moment he turned 21, I said, 'Let's get him behind a bar.' "

Mathews went on to open Borracho's Craft Booze and Brews in Las Vegas, N.M., in 2016 and brought in Simons to help train the "baby bartenders."

"His best quality can't be taught: passion," Mathews said. "You either have the passion, motivation and drive or you don't. Weston is definitely a leaders in our industry."

Before the national bartenders competition, Simons always thought he would have to go to the big city to further his bartending craft. But the competition revealed to him being in New Mexico gives him an extra edge.

"Getting started in a smaller market, I was looking outwardly for inspiration," Simons said. "I learned to value myself and my own experience. I've learned to trust myself more. A lot of time I would second-guess: Would people like this flavor combination? Now I realize the unique culinary experience here is valuable everywhere else."

The national finals had four rounds.

For the Spirit of Don Julio, Simons created a limonada with dragon fruit and sour soup with the Tequila Don Julio to "share with Don Julio while walking in the fields with him." His second drink was a mole and honey old fashioned.

The next test was Taste the City, where competitors were ask to pick a dish from the host city Nashville and pair it with a cocktail. Simons paired country ham with a sweet tea, orange juice and bourbon cocktail.

Home Brew called for two cocktails with an ingredient unique to the competitor's home region.

"I used the osha root," he said.

Simons created a citron vodka and osha tonic and an osha-infused sherry and blanc vermouth as a classic martini.

He started working at Tonic two weeks before the national finals. Tonic was his training ground for the one finals segment calling for competitors to prepare eight cocktails in 10 minutes.

"I know they are consistently busy, and I could work on my speed for the competition," Simons said. "I finished with a minute to spare [in the national finals]."

He didn't end up winning but was satisfied with the journey.

"I had no expectations at all," Simons said. "I was surprised every time I made it to a new round."

And he's still at Tonic and just as eager to keep learning the craft.

"I am always willing to learn from anybody," Weston said. "That's stuck with me."