Maestro of Drink Has Free Hand

The old bartender struggled to explain his art of inventing cocktails, finding new blends of liquor, liqueurs and juices. He poured an imaginary drop of liqueur into his palm and rubbed his wrinkled hands together. He cupped his hands over his nose.

“You smell. I can tell what will taste good that way.” The small, dark-skinned bartender smiled. “I wonder, ‘Why do I know liqueurs? Why do I know how to put drinks together?’ I don’t know why.

“I was born to be a bartender.”

Bobby Batugo, 79, of Valencia is the only bartender selected four consecutive times to represent the United States Bartenders’ Guild in the International Cocktail Competition. He won the international contest in 1973 with his concoction “the icy sea,” a mixture of gin, rum, Amaretto, grenadine, triple sec and tropical fruit juices.

3-Time National Champ

Batugo has also won three USBG national championships, more than any other bartender, with such inventions as “the best year” and “the universe,” the latter of which contains vodka, melon and pistachio liqueurs, and pineapple and lime juices.

The gray-haired bartender does not have a favorite drink. In fact, he said he rarely drinks at all, save for an occasional glass of white wine with dinner. He said he sometimes tastes the drinks he invents but already knows in his mind what they will taste like by what he puts in them.

“When I am making a new drink, my mind is a million miles away,” Batugo said. “It takes imagination. Sleep well, don’t dream about it. But, when you come to work, that’s when you do it.”

During the 1930s and 1940s, Batugo worked in some of Hollywood’s most exclusive clubs, pouring drinks for movie stars and even doing a daily bartending-comedy routine on a nationwide radio broadcast for eight years.

Artistic Freedom

In 1948, Batugo was working at the private Key Club when the late Tip Jardine asked him to go to work at a small restaurant and coffee shop in Valencia. The job at Tip’s Restaurant offered no excitement or glamour, but for Batugo, it offered something more appealing--artistic freedom.

Batugo explained that, at most bars, management limits the amount of money the bartender can spend when ordering exotic liqueurs or drink mixes. For Batugo, there was more to bartending than just mixing a quick brandy Alexander or making the perfect dry martini. Jardine told Batugo that he could experiment with exotic drinks as often as he wanted. He gave Batugo an unlimited budget, and Batugo has worked at Tip’s ever since.

The restaurant and coffee shop sits on a hill above Interstate 5. It has a modest dining room with brown vinyl booths and Formica tables and a small, dark bar. It is a favorite meal stop for California Highway Patrol officers.

Salesmen from around the world come to Tip’s to ask Batugo to use their liqueur, he said. When Batugo won the 1978 national championship, using a Japanese brand of melon liqueur, the liqueur company featured Batugo and his winning drink in an international advertising campaign.

“A great cook needs his equipment; it’s the same for a great bartender,” said Olive Griffin, general manager at Tip’s. “Bobby can order anything he wants.”

Worked for Chaplin

Batugo, whose given name is Valerio, came to the United States from the Philippines in 1926. He was 20 years old and dreamed of being a prizefighter. He worked in a sawmill in the state of Washington until he saved enough money for a bus ticket to Hollywood.

Once in Los Angeles, Batugo got a job as a busboy at Henry’s, a restaurant he said was owned by silent film star Charles Chaplin.

“He was a very friendly man,” Batugo recalled of Chaplin. “He always asked me what my name was, and I said, ‘Valerio Batugo,’ and he always said, ‘What?’

“One day he called all the help into the dining room to pick me a name. They called me Bobby.”

When Batugo wasn’t working at the restaurant, he was boxing in the gym.

“I fought seven years. I fought for the California championship, but it was a draw.” Batugo smiled, tugged on his ears and laughed. “Seven years fighting and no cauliflower ear. I’m not punch-drunk. I had some talent.”

First Bartending Job

It was in 1932, during Prohibition, that Batugo got his first job as a bartender in a speak-easy. Bartending came naturally to the young Filipino, and he loved the work and the people. But Batugo worried about making his living illegally.

In December, 1933, Prohibition was repealed and Batugo’s job became legal.

“Now I say to myself that I am going to make it a success,” Batugo said.

He went on to work at Sardi’s in Hollywood, a popular restaurant for stars during the 1930s and ‘40s. At the same time that Batugo was working at Sardi’s, a man named Tom Breneman was broadcasting an early-morning radio show, “Breakfast at Sardi’s,” from the restaurant. The show, one of the most popular in the nation, featured Breneman walking from table to table, interviewing patrons, poking fun at them and himself.

On Road With ‘Sardi’s’

One day, Breneman grabbed Batugo as he was walking to the bar and asked him to tell a joke on the air. Batugo’s joke was a hit, and he became a regular feature on the show, Batugo said.

When “Breakfast at Sardi’s” went on the road, broadcasting from restaurants in major cities across the nation, Batugo went with it. He told jokes in the morning and often worked a night shift at whatever restaurant the show was featuring.

“The people hear me on the radio and they come in. I could really bring the people in,” Batugo said. “We went everywhere with the show, and that is how I learned every drink there is in the United States.”

When the show ended, Batugo went back to Hollywood and worked at several clubs before taking the job at Tip’s. At the Valencia restaurant, loaded with an expanded arsenal of liqueurs and mixes, Batugo said he began experimenting with new drinks every night.

‘What’s It Called?’

“If a customer came up to the bar and did not know what to order, I would ask her what she usually drinks,” he said. “If she said, ‘Vodka,’ then I’d come up with some drink using vodka. They always loved it and they’d ask, ‘What’s it called?’

“So I say, ‘What’s your name?’ If she says, ‘Gloria,’ then I say it’s ‘Gloria’s dream of love.’ And I have to write it down, because next time they come back, they’ll order ‘Gloria’s dream of love.’ ”

Over the years, Batugo said, he poured hundreds of experimental drinks. But it was not until 1971, at the age of 65, that he entered one of his creations in a competition.

“Anybody can be a cook, but there is only one chef,” Batugo said. “You need a special talent.”

Training His Nephew

Batugo is now training his nephew, 32-year-old Mario Batugo, to be the next great bartender in the family. The two work side by side at Tip’s. Mario won the bartenders’ guild’s national championship in 1981 with a concoction called “blue heaven.” Now, uncle and nephew are preparing for the state championships in May. The drinks are on the drawing board.

“The competition is easy,” Batugo said. “To please the customer is hard. The competition is exciting, but to please the customer is more exciting, because that is where you get paid.”

He laughed. An elderly gentleman approached Batugo and shook his hand. The man said he had been coming to Tip’s for many years and had enjoyed Batugo’s drinks.

Batugo said, “They never forget me. That makes my job a pleasure. I love to be loved and I love ‘em all.”