Cheers Pub, Shalimar Caitlin Duffey may not know your name, but when she’s tending bar at Cheers, it doesn’t matter. She knows her beers, and since Shalimar Cheers Pub offers 80 of them on tap, that’s important. A native of Fort Walton Beach, Duffey has been at Cheers for a year. She started...
Category - Bartender of the Issue
Doc’s Oyster Bar, Valparaiso Mike Pelletier may be a Chicago native, but he’s called Niceville home for the last 17 years and has no intention of returning to the Midwest (“No ma’am, not at all!”). Chicago’s loss is our gain. When he’s not kayaking, fishing or hanging out at the...
Bijoux, The Market Shops at Sandestin Hunter was born and raised in Destin. He’s 26 years old, and 12 of those have been spent working in the service industry. The journey began when Hunter was 14, busing tables at Buster’s in Miramar Beach. He worked his way up to fine dining at...
Harbor Docks, Destin Mikey has been at Harbor Docks since 1984. At age 19, he started working at the legendary Destin restaurant. Initially he collected money at the front door, but soon found his home behind the bar, where he’s been for the last 33 years. “A girl that was working here...
Richie Spence AJ’s Oyster Shanty, Okaloosa Island Richie was born in Ohio, but he’s lived in this area since he was three years old. His food and beverage career started at this very location, when it was Fudpucker’s. This was in 1988—Richie was 16, and started out washing dishes and working as a...
Josh Durichek The Other End, Destin Josh and wife Britney moved to Destin from Orlando last August after visiting here just a few times. “I’ve always wanted to live by the beach, and the Destin area is where we agreed on,” says Josh. They saved up and came here with a two-month-old baby and no...
AJ’s on the Bayou, Fort Walton Beach If you’ve ever imbibed along the northern part of Eglin Parkway, chances are you’ve had the pleasure of being served by Tammy. Her self-described (but we agree) “charming personality” first turned up in the ‘90s at the old Don Carlos, housed in the very...
Floyd’s Shrimp House, Okaloosa Island Darrin was born in Atlanta, and grew up in Douglasville, Georgia. He moved here in 2010 to look for new opportunities. He had attended Jacksonville State in Alabama for two and a half years, majoring in hospitality services. Darrin started out waiting...
Solaris Yacht, Miramar Beach When you are sailing the salty sea on a vast vessel like the 125-foot Solaris Yacht, moored at the Baytowne Marina at Sandestin, you want a heavyweight who can handle sailors, a motley crew and precocious pirates who may belly up to the bar. The Solaris has Megan...
Swizzle Stick Lounge, Okaloosa Island Danielle, originally from Mobile, has been making customers happy at this popular drinking spot since she moved here in 2003. “I like the atmosphere and I like the people,” she says as she tops off my Crown Royal and Coca-Cola. “And Chris Hayes would...
