Hall of Famer Is a Mix of Psychologist, Pal, Bartender

In an Anaheim restaurant crowded with some of the most hoity-toity bartender-critics in the land, a newly famous drink-maker paused to ponder a most weighty question.

Why a bartender? Why devote a life to mixing drinks?

Lee Williams, 47, shook his drink shaker and surveyed the room for so long it seemed as if he were thinking back to every cocktail he had ever mixed, to every tongue-wagger who ever pulled up a stool to bend his ear.

And then Williams, who on Thursday became the first Orange County barkeep inducted to the national Bartender Hall of Fame, finally offered his thoughts:

“I make drinks because I get to be part psychologist, part bartender, part friend all at the same time,” he explained.

To be sure, Williams is bartender first.

He has done it for 20 years and, to his colleagues and customers, he is one of the chosen few, a gifted man who has poured like no one else has poured.

But beyond the drinks, competition judges said, one of the reasons he was chosen for the Hall of Fame was that he is a well-rounded man, somebody who elevates the task of mixing drinks to something more, said Raymond Foley, publisher of New Jersey-based Bartender, a trade magazine that created the Hall of Fame awards in 1989.

“Bartending is a profession that goes beyond the bar,” Foley said. He said judges were impressed with Williams’ community service.

Williams was one of eight bartenders named to the hall from among thousands of contestants this year. With it comes the honor of being a king drink-maker. And with that comes the sterling silver plaque and a Super Bowl-esque ring for his pinky.

Williams’ full-time job is at Disneyland’s ever-so-private Club 33. He also works part-time down the road at Mr. Stox Restaurant, where Thursday’s ceremony took place.

Over the years, he has followed two personal guidelines: He gives advice only when asked, and when he does, it is humbly offered. And, he doesn’t drink.

“I just make them,” he says, wiping the bar down clean.