Bartender from Carry On takes home the trophy at Last Slinger Standing

Ruben Fernandez, III, remembers being in awe of the bartenders going head-to-head in the local competition Last Slinger Standing.

“I was like this is crazy, these people must be so good, I could never do that,” Fernandez recalls of watching the bartending gauntlet as a spectator in 2018.

Seven years, two previous cracks at the competition and four balanced drinks later, Fernandez has won the title of Last Slinger Standing.

The event, which took place on Monday night at Republic National Distributing Co., caps the packed, multiday Arizona Cocktail Weekend. To even get behind the bar, Valley slingers must try out and earn one of the 16 spots.

During the event, two bartenders face off in challenges where they are asked to use a secret ingredient or technique to craft a drink. A panel of three experts picks their favorite sip, and bartenders continue to face off in a bracket-style competition until only one remains.

A rowdy crowd of industry peers, friends and family gathers behind the panel watching the shaking, stirring and throwing happening behind the stage-like bar.

When all three judges – local mixology and hospitality veteran Jason Asher, Sarah Berardi of Hendrick’s Gin and Matteo Bonoli of Italy’s Fratelli Branca Distillerie – voted for Fernandez’s drink as their favorite in the final round, he says he was in “disbelief.”

“I didn’t feel like I had it in the bag at any point,” the Carry On bartender says. “I think it was a long time coming and I can’t believe it still.”

‘Down the rabbit hole of cocktails’

Fernandez, 33, started bartending in 2016 to pay his way through school, working at Hula's Modern Tiki and the now-shuttered Bitters Cocktail Bar & Food.

The bartender says he was unsure what he wanted to do after high school, so he looked for a spot where he could play soccer, ultimately enrolling at South Mountain Community College. After that, he decided to pursue a degree in business at Arizona State University, but it wasn't the right fit. As an athlete who'd undergone surgeries on his knee and shoulder, Fernandez appreciated the impact made by his physical therapists, so he switched his major to kinesiology. 

His first visit to a craft cocktail bar, downtown’s Bitter & Twisted Cocktail Parlour, opened his eyes to the possibilities in mixology.

In 2020, he got hired at Century Grand, the immersive space that boasts three bars under one roof, only to have that hiring put on hold because of the pandemic. He waited a year and reapplied. Working with a team that, at the time included founding partner Asher and beverage director Jax Donahue, Fernandez “went down the rabbit hole of cocktails, books and all of the nerdy stuff,” he says.

He graduated from ASU, but decided to continue in hospitality. He found overlap in helping people and being a sounding board. Plus, the things he excelled at in school were helpful in making drinks.

“This is all a whole science and mathematical realm,” he says. It's also a way for him to express himself creatively. “It’s kind of the only thing I’m artistic at. I mean, I can’t draw, I can’t do a lot of artistic things, but for some reason, that’s my art form.”

When first working with Fernandez, Donahue observed someone eager to learn and not afraid to ask questions.

“I was extremely impressed by his attention to detail,” Donahue says.

Fernandez logged three years at Century Grand’s Platform 18 and UnderTow and built a friendship with Donahue, who today is the beverage director for Pretty Decent Concepts, the team behind the nostalgic air travel-themed immersive bar Carry On. Before joining Donahue there, Fernandez tended bar at the Global Ambassador Hotel’s rooftop restaurant Thea.

Perhaps his best preparation for Last Slinger Standing was a project that Fernandez just wrapped – writing the cocktail menu for the soon-to-open downtown Chandler restaurant George & Gather. Donahue’s Pour Form Consulting business took on the project, and he asked Fernandez to take the lead in developing 10 cocktails and two zero-proof sips.

“It was an opportunity to let his creativity shine,” Donahue says.

Cocktail curveballs with gin, coffee and fig

Leading up to Last Slinger Standing, Fernandez was full of nerves.

“The day of, I was so stressed out and didn’t know what to do with myself that I decided to make some Crock-Pot birria,” he says.

The former athlete used to count macros, but says in the last two years he's started cooking more for "comfort and flavor" and to better understand some of the spices and ingredients he uses daily behind the bar.

When the clock struck 7 p.m. on Monday and it was time for the competition to begin, Fernandez was ready. For the first round, he had to use cucumber gin and pineapple juice. He added Carpano Bianco Vermouth, lemon, lime, honey and a bit of absinthe.

“The first round, I just wanted to do something light and refreshing,” he says.

Fernandez advanced, but the second round’s mystery ingredients, a pineapple gin and coffee liqueur, threw him.

“The next round was a little hairy,” he says. “I kind of had a mini meltdown.”

The bartender steadied himself and quickly decided against making an espresso martini. Instead, he leaned into the tropical flavors, coming up with a tiki-inspired sip that played off the classic cafe drink, espresso and tonic. He figured the judges would love it or hate it, and he managed to survive another round.

The third throwdown didn’t get any easier. Fernandez was tasked with using blanco tequila to make three fizzes in a matter of minutes. He managed to time his pours to ensure the foam in the drinks stayed fluffy, and with that, the born-and-raised Phoenician found himself in the finals.

For the last round, he faced off against Felisa Rivera of Gin & Reel. The two had to use fig puree and a limited-edition release of Hendrick’s Gin called OASIUM. He felt confident, in part because he’d worked with fig for a previous bartending competition. Leaning into the flavors of the desert, he added more gin, lemon, peach, simple syrup and rosemary. It proved to be a winning combination.

Being named Last Slinger Standing is validating for Fernandez, who says he's put in lots of time after hours to learn about his craft.

“I haven’t got to work at too many bars where you can freestyle and make what you want. All this is done in my kitchen at home,” says Fernandez, who also has a mobile bartending service, Reliance Mobile Bar.

It was also nerve-wracking to be judged by his former boss, Asher.

“I knew he didn’t vote for me because he knew me. If anything, he judged me harder,” Fernandez says.

The bartender says making drinks off the cuff for Asher was also a full-circle moment. After securing the trophy, he thanked Asher for helping him get his start in bartending.

“It changed the course of what I was going to do with my life,” Fernandez says.

Following the announcement, Ferndanez’s friends hoisted him in the air, bouncing him up and down, trophy in hand. Among them was Donahue, who was working on Monday night, but keeping tabs on the competition on social media. Seeing Fernandez continue to advance, he hopped in his car to catch his final round.

“He’s an incredibly humble and very smart human being,” Donahue says. “I wouldn’t want it for anybody else in the world.”

Fernandez receives more than bragging rights after the win. He walked away with $2,000 and a ticket to the mixology conference and awards event Tales of the Cocktail. Fernandez will also place the trophy, the Bobby Kramer Cup, at Carry On. The trophy is named in honor of Kramer, a beloved local mixologist who died in 2021.

Once the competition was over, he stopped in at Highball to see his girlfriend and swung by the Last Slinger afterparty at Luckys Indoor Outdoor. Then, Fernandez went home and tucked into his 14-hour birria.

“It was amazing,” he says. “It tasted better with a win, too.”