photograph by bruce vanwyngarden
Amber Carey serves up a “Mexican Mule.”
“I graduated from Bartlett High School in 2004, and now the 21-year-olds I’m carding were born in 2004, so that’s fun,” Amber Carey says, with a wry but disarming smile.
After working for 11 years at T.J. Mulligan’s, Carey has been a bartender at the booming Brookhaven Pub & Grill in East Memphis for eight years. She’s very good at her job and has the awards to prove it. In fact, if the Memphis Flyer’s Best of Memphis’ “Best Bartender” poll was the Olympics, Carey would have been on the podium three times.
“I won third in 2021, first in 2022, and second in 2023,” she says. “And my daughter was born in 2021, so that was a really good year for me.”
That’s an impressive run, but it’s easy to see how Carey won over so many voters. She’s direct, friendly, looks you in the eye — and she knows what her customers like.
“We keep things simple around here,” she says. “A lot of our regulars are beer drinkers, beer-and-shot kind of guys. We have a huge happy-hour crowd, and a huge Trivia Night with 25 to 30 teams. Lots of people get off work and stop in on their way home.”
“This place is owned by Rick Spell and Christy Spell Terry, who also own Babalu in Midtown,” Carey says, “and they own several Florida restaurants that are run by Christy. A lot of Florida restaurants have this kind of furniture and this kind of feel.”
Carey has nothing but good things to say about her bosses. “They are such great people,” she says, “and they’ve let me keep my two-nights-a-week shifts for years, which is important, because I’m a single mom and need my days free. I was even able to pay my way through college by bartending. I had no school loans and I got two associate business degrees from Southwest Tennessee Community College.”
Carey was born in Oklahoma, but her father died when she was five and her mother moved back to Memphis to be closer to her family. “I’m a big Oklahoma Sooners fan,” she says, “in honor of my dad. And my daughter carries his name, Shawn, as her middle name. You never realize how much your life changes when you have a child. I was 35 and alone, and now I have this wonderful little human in my life.”
“I think just working two shifts a week is good for my mental health, and because I don’t have to do this five nights a week, it’s fun for me to come to work. I go two or three days without seeing these people, and I like them, even outside of work, so it’s fun for me to come here and do my job.” — Amber Carey
As I gaze around the bustling patio, Carey’s professionalism kicks in and she notices my near-empty water glass.
“So, what would you like to drink?” she says.
“You decide,” I say. “Something summer-ish.”
“How about a ‘Mexican Mule’?” she says. “It’s like a Moscow Mule, only with tequila instead of vodka. It’s blended with non-alcoholic ginger beer, Rose’s Sweetened Lime Juice, and lemonade.”
“Sounds perfect.”
And it is — limey, fizzy, with a touch of lemonade’s sweetness, while the tequila lingers underneath, awaiting its turn on the palate. It’s a straightforward and simple drink, like something you might get in Grayton Beach, sans seagulls.
“What’s your secret for doing this job so well, year after year?” I ask.
“I think just working two shifts a week is good for my mental health,” she says, “and because I don’t have to do this five nights a week, it’s fun for me to come to work. I go two or three days without seeing these people, and I like them, even outside of work, so it’s fun for me to come here and do my job.
“We have such great regulars. And with us staying open until 1 a.m., all the restaurants around here — Hog & Hominy, Amerigo, and others — when their employees get off work, they come here. So it makes for a great night, because at the very end of the shift, you get great tips from the service industry people. And that’s one of the ways you build your regulars.”
Spoken like a winner.
Brookhaven Pub & Grille, 695 W. Brookhaven Circle
