Tom “dangerous” Dyer, alias “the professor” is one of the most successful flairbartenders in the world at the time. He is 25 yrs. old, 1,93 m tall, lives in London/UK and maybe is truly “genetically modified to flair”. He won a lot of competitions all over the world. It´s a great pleasure Tom Dyer answered the questions.

1. What do you think about the arising voices in the community complaining the “big dogs”, like you, are cheating by making “empty bottle flair” ?

Tom Dyer: Things like this always happens in whatever sport you do. Whether it is jealously or ignorance or something else I don’t know, but we will never get away from it. These people should use their anger and frustration and enter a competition and try and beat us. Rules and regulations are so strict these days that it is impossible to cheat. I really couldn’t care what they say about my flair. I don’t flair for them, I flair for myself. If they think that the “big dogs” cheat then so be it, that’s their opinion……..Their opinion doesn’t matter!

2. Do you think that flairbartending could become a kind of sports or do you think that flairbartending will always belong to the bar culture ?

Tom Dyer: I think that flair bartending is a kind of sport, but I don’t think it will ever become an official sport because it is involved with alcohol. I quite like it this way. If flair became more popular and more and more people started doing it then the media would take over and I think it would lose its individuality. I like the fact that my job is something a bit different from the norm. I hope it stays with the bar culture and the other bartenders around the world can accept that it is here to stay and it is a part of the bartending scene!

3. How long will you be an active flairbartender ? What are your dreams for the future ?

Tom Dyer: I think that once you’re a flair bartender you will always be a flair bartender. I don’t know how long I will compete for but I’m not stopping yet. My dreams for the future would be to make flair bigger (but not too big), but just enough so that the uys and girls putting in all the effort get the rewards they deserve. I would like to have my own school and also my own flair organisation, and then in the distant future I would love to own my own chain of bars all over the world.

4. What do you think about the german flair community ?

Tom Dyer: I have only had a chance to experience the German community once. Everyone was very kind and welcoming and I saw some good flair too. I am a good friend of Vasko Lalic so he gives me some information about the scene over there when I see him in different countries. From what I gather I think flair is still growing quite a lot in Germany and we can expect to see big things happen there in the future.

Thank you for this interview. For more informations about Tom Dyer visit http://www.dangerousdyer.co.uk/ or http://www.myspace.com/tomdyertheprofessor