Albuquerque bartender wins national competition

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A New Mexican bartender has put Albuquerque on the map after winning a national title with proceeds from the competition going to charities that support breast cancer research. “It really… almost was like a dream-like state,” explained Tammy Bouma describing what it was like to win the competition.

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Bouma is a bar manager at the award-winning Happy Accidents bar in Nob Hill. Just last month, she was recognized as being one of the fastest, and best woman bartenders in the country. “I don’t have to sit in a cubicle, that’s nice,” Bouma said.

Bouma won the 2024 Speed Rack competition, an exclusively all-female contest, pitting bartenders against each other to see who can make drinks the fastest, most accurate, and best-tasting. Unlike most bartending competitions, proceeds from the event go to several charities that help fund breast cancer research, like the Breast Cancer Emergency Fund, The Pink Agenda, and Bright Pink to name a few.

The competition also focuses on highlighting some of the best women bartenders across the United States. It has raised more than $1 million. “It’s been a very historically male-dominated industry,” said Bouma.

Bouma has been bartending for about ten years now. She’s moved around the country from Texas, Massachusetts, and most recently- Baltimore, Maryland. For the last two years, she’s called Albuquerque her home. When she was younger, Bouma said she wanted to work for law enforcement.

However, she decided bartending had everything she was looking for in a career after hopping behind the bar top. “My partner at the time looked at me and was like, ‘Tammy, you have done zero law enforcement applications; you don’t care what the Secret Service is up to right now, but you’ve bought five cocktail books in the last two months,” Bouma added, “Maybe you should be a bartender.'”

Bouma said she will continue to master her craft and looks forward to her next competition. “There’s so many different aspects to specialize in [and] to learn about,” Bouma said.

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