The Rural We: David Guenette
David Guenette is the jovial, professional bar manger at Number Ten steakhouse in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Over the years he has also worked as a writer, editor, and artist. From behind the bar (and his great mustache) he is indulging his passion for story telling with his TalkTails series of events. During these intimate Monday night gatherings, Guenette discusses the history and mysteries contained in the loaded liquor cabinet at Number Ten.
I lived in Cambridge (Massachusetts) most of my adult life. I was a book editor and then electronic publishing trade journalist and editor, and a digital publishing consultant and analyst, and then I realized that I had advanced beyond my interests.
I moved out to Housatonic to pay more attention to my art—assemblage sculpture, typically with furniture and lighting aspects. I’m in New Marlborough now, and I hope to reconstitute my studio, but I’ve been busy for quite a while with my writing and I’m still trying to figure out just exactly how many lives I can live.
I started bartending almost 10 years ago, mainly because I knew American whiskey pretty well and could make a decent drink. Vern Kennedy, who had bought Castle Street Café in early 2017, brought me in as bar manager and to develop bar programs for his relaunch as Number Ten, which, by the way, I’m happy to note is a great restaurant!
And then there is TalkTails, which is basically a tasting program, but it is also there to help drinkers expand their experience and knowledge of alcoholic beverages, to understand elements of whiskey or cocktail structures, and to know what to look for and ask for at a bar so that they can more likely get what they want in a drink. Not to mention that TalkTails is fun. We run weekly, on Mondays, as a small group that requires signup.
Great Barrington is a good town for drinks. At Number Ten we concentrate on finding and presenting cocktails from the great traditional cocktail repository, although often updating recipes toward the more contemporary taste. Then you have Billy Jack Paul at MoonCloud around the corner, where he takes his deep knowledge of cocktail structure and develops new cocktails and syrups and bontanicals—very impressive. The big difference is that I’m looking at the rich history of cocktails and crafting these as best I can, while MoonCloud looks to create new variants—either way, you’re going to have a very enjoyable drink!
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