Deniseea Head Wants To Talk.

The “Educator of the Year” on teaching Black history through cocktails, finding common ground, and why she loves strawberry jam as an ingredient.

By Matt Merkin

When Deniseea Head answers the phone, it’s immediately clear why she’s so successful as an educator in the bar world: she’s warm and disarmingly funny, asking good questions and explaining her work’s philosophical masonry with the easy fluency of someone who knows exactly what she’s doing, and why.

In other words, she draws you in.

Before you know it, you’re swapping bar tales and pandemic hustles when something she said clicks. It’s all about connection. Connection is why Deniseea chose cocktails as her classroom. Connection is why she uses simple ingredients. Connection, she says, “is meeting people where they are.” Once you’re there together, the learning can begin.

Though a natural organizer and host, it was only after moving to New Orleans that she found bartending, and almost by accident. The owner of a neighborhood spot needed help and Deniseea happened to be sitting at the bar. She started for a flat day rate plus tips. “It was what we call a ‘hole in the wall’,” she explains, “and there were lots of locals who gave me first hand experience of Nola drinking culture.”

Soon the bar training dovetailed with her love for research, scrolling newspaper archives and old cookbooks, in search of rabbit holes to explore. She found that recipes—and the spices and ingredients available at the time—opened up deeper questions and histories. Even the humble Daiquiri has a lot to teach about the histories of sugar and the transatlantic slave trade. Cocktails could make history immediate and tangible without feeling like a history lesson. Guests began to pay attention.

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As an educator and cocktail maker, Deniseea’s work grows out of her focus on community, accessibility and connection. Below, she shares her top three philosophies, in her own words.

Philosophy #1

“We don’t have to recreate the wheel”

Why It Matters:

Innovation is amazing but sometimes we overlook things that are simple.

Bartenders can get caught up with the newest technique or the flashiest trend, when actually the best answer is not only the simplest, it’s also cheapest and most time-efficient…unless you just love extra prep work that much? I know I don’t!

In Action:

I travel a lot for work and not all ingredients are available in different parts of the country. Therefore, I rely on ingredients that are common amongst people everywhere. REGULAR DEGULAR SMEGULAR kitchen items are the best.

For the Grand Encounter, I created a cocktail using strawberry jam as the sweetener. Instead of traveling with bottles of syrup or trying to source produce on the road, I utilized a ready-made product I knew would be available and consistent. As a bonus, this also means my guests can recreate it easily at home.

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Philosophy #2

“We don’t want to sit with the cool kids. We just want to sit down.”

Why It Matters:

My experience the past few years is that there’s a lot of community within the industry. That can be the sharing of resources and recipes, or just exchanging helpful info. I’ve watched and been a part of what seems like a cocktail union forming.

Years ago when I got into the industry, it sort of felt like there was major gatekeeping within these bar spaces. This “You can’t sit with us vibe” was unspoken but very loud, not demure at all. That’s over. We’ve all been through so much as people and an industry that we have to make things accessible to one another, to make both our lives and our jobs easier.

In Action:

Down in New Orleans I’ve been a part of a community that thrives on sharing knowledge with one another. I’ve worked with Turning Tables since its conception and I’ve watched how a community can thrive with the help of one another, with industry leaders guiding up-and-coming hospitality folks. From techniques and bar tips to how to get your first job behind the bar, to transitioning from behind the bar and beyond. Things like this make me feel like we aren’t competing with one another—we want to share and make things accessible to build our industry together because we are better in numbers.

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Philosophy #3

“Use things your audience is familiar with.”

Why It Matters:

Using familiar things allow guests to understand what we have in common, which puts them at ease and allows connection.

I understand we all come from different walks of life and have different beliefs and traditions. But the beautiful thing about history is that we all have a connection: No matter where you are from, there are traditions you’ve adapted. We all have them. With my guests I can share traditions or stories that have been passed down for many generations, and that story alone can spark a memory or connection to their traditions.

In Action:

A bar is place where people enter as strangers and most of the time leave as friends, with ultimately a better understanding of another person. On the surface it may just seem like a fun night with drinks flowing, but when done correctly (and responsibly), it’s actually a night filled with an exchange of information, traditions and rituals.

What I’ve witnessed with pairing storytelling with cocktails is that my guests are more interested in listening and learning new things. It’s like they’ve drunk a cocktail of curiosity.

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Follow Deniseea Head on IG: @chickenandchampagne