A new coffee-table book is set to document the history and cultural development of flair bartending, tracing its evolution from early experimentation behind the bar to its emergence as a global competitive and performance-driven discipline. Flair Bartending: The Origins | The Golden Era | The Untold, written by Marco Canova and Tom Dyer, will be released worldwide on January 19, 2026.
Developed over four years of research, interviews, and archival work, the 500-page volume is the first publication focused exclusively on flair bartending. The book presents a chronological overview of the discipline’s development, examining how technical skill, performance, and hospitality combined to shape a distinct branch of modern bartending culture.
From Early Experiments to International Competitions
The book charts flair bartending’s progression from informal bar techniques to organized competitions and large-scale events that helped define its so-called golden era. Through historical context, rare archival imagery, and firsthand accounts, it documents the individuals and venues that played a central role in shaping the movement across different regions.
Performance and Technique Behind the Bar
Beyond competition, the book explores flair bartending as a working practice, highlighting the balance between precision, speed, creativity, and guest experience. Interviews and personal narratives provide insight into how flair influenced training methods, bar design, and the public perception of bartenders as performers as well as hospitality professionals.
A Global Perspective on Flair Culture
Contributions from bartenders, hospitality figures, and industry professionals add international context, reflecting how flair bartending developed differently across markets while maintaining a shared visual and technical language. The book’s visual presentation and design were developed in collaboration with Liquid-Hub, aligning the content with a high-end, archival format.
Preserving a Chapter of Bartending History
According to the authors, the goal of the project is documentation rather than nostalgia, creating a permanent record of a discipline whose history has largely existed through live performance and competition footage. The book positions flair bartending within the broader evolution of modern bar culture, rather than treating it as a standalone spectacle.
Printed in full color on premium coated paper and presented as a hardcover with a protective slipcase, Flair Bartending: The Origins | The Golden Era | The Untold will retail at £59.95. Global shipping begins on January 19, 2026, with availability via flairbartendingbook.com and U.S. distribution through barproducts.com.
