Ethan Kelley

Ethan Kelley was born in Michigan and raised in the suburbs of New York City in the shady hamlet of Westfield, New Jersey. He went to study Fine Art at Elon College in North Carolina. It was here that he began what would become a career in hospitality and a passion for distilled spirits.

Ethan has 17 years of full time experience behind the bar. He has functioned and worked in all styles of venues; nightclubs and pubs to high end lounges and cocktail havens. Recently he was the Beverage Director for the esteemed Brandy Library in TriBeCa in Manhattan, one of the most revered spirits collections in the World.

Not only has Ethan developed spirit lists for many notable bars and restaurants in the country, he is also a well respected teacher on the subject of spirits. He prefers to teach the consumers and other people interested in the subject especially in the culinary arena. However, much of his time is devoted to instructing members of the industry from bartender trainings, to marketing professionals, and sales forces.

Ethan has been featured in a number of publications and has appeared on TV many times as an expert in his field. Some of these include New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Martha Stewart, Modern Marvels, and Fox Business.

He has also been selected to be a judge in some of the most respected spirit reviews in the world including the Ultimate Spirits Challenge, Ultimate Cocktail Challenge, New York Bar show, New York Spirit Awards, and the New York Times tasting panel.

Today he is the founder drinkstraight.com, an online resource for consumers about spirits. In addition, he is also developing spirits training for industry professionals in emerging markets around the world, and teaching full time. Yet, every once in a while you may see him show up behind a bar, as they say, you can take the boy out of the bar, but you can’t take the bar out of the boy.