The issue of distiller & bartender or art VS skill seems like a chicken & egg battle.
Is it the art of the distiller which allows a bartender to create a cocktail worthy of the bottled spirit or is it the bartenders skills that infuses life into a cocktail ?
We generally accept that when spirits journey from bottle into serving glass that the art of the distiller ends and the skill of the bartender begins.
Distillers understand that their prized liquids will be mainly used in cocktails, whether created by a brand or bartender.
Ultimately it’s the distillers vision which create the platform from which bartenders leap.
On the other side, many bartenders believe it’s their skills and creative process which provides the magic in a cocktail, thereby giving the liquid true form, a little like Michelangelo releasing a trapped “David” from its marble slab..
Whether distiller or bartender, each actor plays their part separately yet together it's their duality which creates the outcome that’s greater than its parts.