American Hustle with Eli Sanchez

Shift Drink

Eli Sanchez spent the last 5 years working as a bar manager, General Manager, and cocktail guru for two of our restaurants, The Inferno Room and Rook. But, like many of us that cut our teeth in the 90’s, craft cocktails weren’t even part of the experience in the beginning of our careers. He spent 12 years working at one of the city’s old school watering holes, The Elbow Room, when one of his colleagues left to work at Indianapolis’ first real craft cocktail bar. Eli shunned the move initially, believing that so much though wasn’t necessary when it came to drinking. But he soon after got hooked on the scene. And that set the stage for his career.

He spent the following decade honing his craft at every craft cocktail bar that would give him a shift. His hustle to learn from anyone that was willing to teach has paid off. In recent years, he’s won numerous cocktail competitions, worked at the best bars and restaurants. But he got into a rut in 2019 and needed to shake things up. He made a leap to New York in late 2019 to work at Pouring Ribbons and Mother of Pearl. Unfortunately, he moved just a few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States. He’s now in limbo, navigating a new city and new jobs.

Toward the end of the show, we also get into a conversation about cannabis legal reform and modern research into cannabis benefits.

We’re all over the place, but these things happen when I have old friends on the show. These conversations over the past months haven’t only brought new episodes into existence, but serve a release for those of us that have been cut off from the social nature of careers. It’s cathartic. It’s therapeutic. And these recent episodes serve that as much as any professional purpose.