Cheryl Charming (born November 19, 1960) is an American bar professional and published author of 16 books on
cocktail
A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as tonic water, fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. Cocktails vary widely acr ...
s and bartending. She currently works as the Bar Director at the Bourbon "O” Bar in
Azusa, California
Azusa (Tongva: ''Asuksa-nga'') is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.
Its population was 50,000 in 2020, a ...
, to Barbara and Gordon Caple. In 1965, the family moved to
Little Rock, Arkansas
( The "Little Rock")
, government_type = Council-manager
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, leader_name = Frank Scott Jr.
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.
While attending Bryant High School, Cheryl took her first job at age 16 as a waitress at a pizza parlor. This gave her the experience to obtain a food waitress position at John Barleycorn's Vision, a restaurant & bar in Little Rock with many themed rooms. A cocktail server called in sick one night and she was asked to cover the position – her bar career began. Later, Cheryl took a job as a cocktail server at the Cabaret on Kavanaugh Blvd. in the Heights. After six months, owner Lynda Johnson promoted her to head bartender. Cheryl found herself serving minor celebrities such as President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (Birth name, né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 ...
's brother and
Gennifer Flowers
Gennifer Flowers (born January 24, 1950) is an American author, singer, model, actress, former State of Arkansas employee, and former TV journalist. In January 1998, President Bill Clinton testified under oath that he had a sexual encounter wit ...
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the ...
. tending bar for five years aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, Charming began working at
Walt Disney World
The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, ...
in Orlando, Florida in 1989. She was part of the opening team of Pleasure Island. Later she transferred to the Grand Floridian Beach Resort & Spa where she tended the beach bar serving the rich and famous. There, her knack for bar tricks and bar magic earned her a job teaching those skills to other Disney cast members through Disney's food and beverage training program called Quest for the Best.
Bar tricks and bar magic was the subject of Charming's first book, ''Miss Charming's Book of Bar Amusements'', published in 2000 because she had collected almost 1000 tricks. Since then, she has published a total of 16 books on cocktails, bar magic, and related subjects. Her most recent book (The Cocktail Companion) was released in November, 2019.
After the turn of the millennium, Charming went back to college to study graphic design, hosted seminars at the New Orleans-based Tales of the Cocktail Festival, and began working as a freelance mixologist and cocktail menu designer for Brown-Forman. While working on a book project, Cheryl needed to know when the first Cosmopolitan was mentioned on the television series, ''
Sex and the City
''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the same name, the series premiered in the United St ...
''. Her Cosmopolitan research lasted many years and is documented on her website and in her 16th book.
In 2010 Charming moved to
In April 2013, she took over as bar director of the Bourbon "O” Bar in the Bourbon Orleans Hotel. Charming has been an early proponent of the
craft cocktail movement
The craft cocktail movement is a social movement spurred by the cocktail renaissance, a period of time in the 21st century characterized by a revival and re-prioritization of traditional recipes and methods in the bar industry.
History
The cockta ...
, she set out to modernize her menu with contemporary seasonal cocktails, recipes for the Bourbon Street clientele, renovate the interior, and introduce a live
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...
program. The Bourbon O Bar is the first "fresh" cocktail bar on Bourbon Street. Many of Charming's innovations and "bar hacks" have been widely recognized in cocktail culture and cocktail media.
In December 2014, Charming was named ''New Orleans Magazines Mixologist of the Year in recognition of her work at the Bourbon "O”.
She has been called the "Martha Stewart of the cocktail world."