Spilled Ink: Brooklyn Bartenders Talk About Their Tattoos
Photos by Moni Briones and Austin McAllister
If asked to sketch a Brooklyn bartender in your mind, there are bound to be a few common traits: nice teeth, for one. Everyone working at a bar in Brooklyn seems to have really straight, white teeth. Watch for it the next time you’re out. Very scientific statistics show that nearly everyone in the profession also has at least one tattoo (that is, out of all the bartenders we asked to contribute to this piece, only three were inkless).
You see them all the time — these flashes of color grazing your vision while a bartender hurriedly mixes and pours, lifts and shakes. We talked to a few tending our favorite neighborhood haunts about the stories and meaning behind their inked limbs. Turns out you can learn a lot about a person based on the images and words they decide to get marked on their body for eternity. Now you have a few talking points in hand for the next time you see them behind the bar and need a drink, fast.
