Flair Bartending, while new to many of those outside the bartending scene, has been happening in bars and nightclubs for almost 40 years.

Flair Bartending History, as taken from Miss Charming’s Flairtending Site:

• T.G.I. Fridays; focus on training their bartenders flair in the 1970’s and 1980’s and host the first known flair bartending competition.
• John JB Bandy; winner of the first T.G.I. Friday’s Bar Olympics, put out the very first flair bartending video, and was the choreographer and bartender trainer for Tom Cruise and Bryan Brown for the 1988 film, Cocktail.
• Wayne Collins; was the first flair bartender in London, England. He worked at the Roadhouse bar, which is now home to the largest flair bartending competition in Europe.
• Magic Mike Werner; started the first flair company, Showtenders.
• Todd Connell, Ken Hall, and Kent Brooks; created the first international flair competition, Quest for the Best Bartender held at Walt Disney World’s Pleasure Island inside the nightclub, Mannequin’s..
• Chuck Rohm; sold the first flair bartender video on the Internet.

• Toby Ellis; started the first full flair website, barmagic.com. It was also the first website to rank flair bartenders and flair bars around the world. Ellis coined the phrase, Flair Bar, and was the first to perform flair on the Food Network.
• Toby Ellis and Alan Mays; founded the FBA (Flair Bartenders Association). Ellis served as President.
• Jim Allison; was the first Vice President of the FBA and is the current President and CEO.
• Ken Hall, Alan Mays, Todd Connell and Steve Bushur; opened the first flair bar in Vegas at the Voodoo Lounge atop the Rio.

• Dean Serneels; invented the first flair bottle and first bar unit that folds up into a suitcase which is used at flair competitions.
• Scott Young; put out the first series of flair videos.
• Ken Hall; created a style of 3-bottle non-juggling flair that helps him win 5 world championships, solidifying him as one of the best bottle-flippers in the history of flair, and influences flair bartending for the next 10 years.
• Ken Hall and Alan Mays create Legends of Bartending, the first independent World Bartending Championship becoming the most prestigious bartending competition in the world.
• Jim Allison and Toby Ellis are the first to arrange a US National TV special on Flair Bartending.
• Leigh Miller, Paul Mason, Rhys Oldfield and Steve Lock; start the first independent flair bar in London known as B@1 (Be at One).