DC Bartender Glendon Hartley Featured in New Collaboration from Santa Teresa Rum
/Service Bar’s Hartley helped in a effort to support the bartending community during Covid
Glendon Hartley, co-owner of Service Bar on U Street. Photo courtesy of Santa Teresa 1796.
By Matt Yan | Edible DC
To celebrate bartenders around the globe and assist the bartending community during Covid, Santa Teresa, Venezuela’s oldest producer of single-estate rum, launched the Santa Teresa 1796® Crafted Together Limited Edition bottle. Glendon Hartley of U Street’s Service Bar was one of 26 bartenders hired to design the label of the bottle in an effort, he says, to bring the trade community together for support.
”Initiatives like this are what bring the hospitality industry together – it helps the community come together and stick together through moments of hardship,” Hartley says. “The fact that all of us, across the world, are going through such a massive change in our daily lives, yet have come together is a testament to the people and respected relationships we have in this Industry.”
The Crafted Together initiative provides direct support and opportunities to the global community of bartenders. In an effort to further their commitment to the beverage community, Santa Teresa’s limited edition bottle and label illustrate the creative minds and stories of resilience from each of the bartenders. Santa Teresa will also donate $10,000 to the USBG Bartender Emergency Assistance Program.
For Hartley, this project served as an opportunity to be a part of something so meaningful to him and collaborate with bartenders throughout the world. The design process began with one bartender designing a portion of the label, then was passed onto another bartender until it was complete. Each individual design evoked themes of resilience and strength, illustrating how they persevered during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
“To collaborate with so many bartenders of this caliber, from all across the globe, has been a truly memorable experience,” he says. “Seeing different peoples’ expressions on the same theme from around the world really is eye-opening.”
For each of their designs, the bartenders had complete creative control in their mediums and subject matter. His design, Hartley describes, features the trupial – the national bird of Venezuela – with sugarcane and rum aging barrels within its wings. “To me, this piece signifies nature’s ability to be resilient and change to fit any circumstance,” he says.
“Just as the different designs come together to make one final new label,” he adds, “the trade [consists] of amazing individuals, who when working together create a truly spectacular community.”
Hartley shared an in-season summer drink that he loves with us. Recipe below for the Santa Teresa 1796 Old Cuban Bellini.
Santa Teresa 1796 Old Cuban Bellini
Photo: Glendon Hartley
Makes 1 bellini
4 mint leaves
3/4 ounce lime or lemon juice
1.5 ounce peach syrup
1.5 ounce Santa Teresa 1796® Crafted Together Rum
1.5 ounce sparkling wine
To make the peach syrup:
Take equal parts fresh peaches and granulated sugar by weight and let sit overnight in room temperature. Add half the amount of water by volume and stir until sugar is dissolved. Keep or discard peaches.
To make the drink:
Add sparkling wine to a chilled coupe or cocktail glass. Add all of the ingredients except the sparkling wine to a Shaker tin or Boston shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously and strain contents over sparkling wine. Garnish with a citrus peel.
The Santa Teresa 1796® Crafted Together is available here for purchase. Visit Glendon Hartley at Service Bar located at 928 U St NW.
Matt Yan is an editorial intern at Edible DC and a student at Northeastern University, where he is pursuing a combined degree in Journalism and English with a minor in French. Follow him along his food adventures on Instagram @yan.matt.
