BOISE, IDAHO — Boise's newest reality TV star is an artist, but her canvas doesn't involve any paint or brushes. You can find her work being created inside fancy bars, high-end events, and now, on a popular new Netflix show.
Aisling Gammill says she nerded out in college big-time, but not with technology or comics or your stereotypical things to nerd out on.
"I spent hours and hours tasting and analyzing and getting ultra-nerdy about all things beer, wine, spirits, cocktails," said bartender and Drink Masters star, Aisling Gammill.
But don't jump to conclusions when you hear about a college student sampling various alcohols for hours on end. It was all part of her curriculum.
"To me, in culinary arts, it's all part of the same thing. So the beverage side is all part of the same tree. It's kind of the intersection of drinks and food at the same time because you really have to have strong culinary concepts to execute really good cocktails," said Gammill.
Post-college, she would end up bartending or managing a few different high-profile establishments around the country before landing in Boise, not too far from Northern Nevada where she was raised. It was here in the Treasure Valley that she saw a life-changing social media post.
"Hey there's this media company, they're gonna try to film something about cocktail bartenders and here's an application. I just filled it out and forgot about it. Two months later, somebody called me and wanted to have a Zoom interview," said Gammill.
A few months and several interviews later, Aisling was the newest cast member of the new Netflix reality/competition show, "Drink Masters." She was praised by fans for creativity and calm, or at least appearing to be calm.
"No, I was freaking out the whole time, the whole time! It was really cool that I appeared that I had it together on camera because in my brain, I was like ahhhhhh the whole time!" exclaimed Gammill.
And despite the fact it was a competition show, she says the competitors all became close right off the bat.
"We kinda got a little bit in trouble because, for example, we would help each other with our drinks and then we were told 'Hey you can't do that! Stop it! It's a competition!' and that sort of thing," laughed Gammill.
Spoiler alert! Despite the opinions of many fans, she didn't win the competition in season one, but still came away with a ton of confidence, especially with how often she was relied upon to help others.
"To be in that type of competition and have that level of bartenders relying on me to tell me if something is imbalanced or not was...that was like the big prize for me. To have that knowledge and to know that it truly is my superpower and what I'm good at. I am good at this craft, dang it!" exclaimed Gammill.
Now that she's back in Boise, her ultimate goal is to open her own establishment.
"It is insanely difficult to open a bar in Idaho, but I love Boise and it's about quality of life so my ultimate goal is to open a bar here so we'll see. Hopefully I get to do that at some point in life," smiled Gammill.
Though Aisling doesn't have her own bar quite yet, she does have her own bartending service and craft cocktail consulting business called Jellyfish drinks. Most recently, she played a huge part in the drink service for all of Treefort 2023, including the promo program for Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston's visit to the City of Trees. To find out more about Aisling or contact her, you can check out her website:
https://www.jellyfishdrinks.com/
or just search for "Jellyfish Drinks" on most major social media outlets.
