Murray Stenson

Murray Russell Stenson (July 29, 1949 – September 22, 2023) was an American bartender in Seattle, Washington.^[1][2] Stenson was an instrumental figure in the cocktail renaissance of the early 21st century, most notably behind the bar at the Zig Zag Café where he reintroduced the pre-Prohibition cocktail The Last Word.^[2][3] In 2010, Stenson was named "Best Bartender in America" by Tales of the Cocktail.^[1]

Stenson was born in Colville, Washington, and grew up in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland.^[4] After dropping out of Shoreline Community College, he worked a series of service jobs before being hired as a bartender at a Seattle restaurant called Benjamin's.^[4] He was dissatisfied with what The New York Times called "the sickly sweet [cocktail] concoctions of the 1970s", and began reforming the bar's drink offerings with new ingredients and styles.^[4]

Stenson later worked at Il Bistro and the Zig Zag Cafe, where his reputation grew among cocktail enthusiasts from the 1990s onward, and lifted the profiles of each establishment.^[4] He left the Zig Zag Cafe in 2011, unfavorably comparing it to Disneyland due to the amount of attention he attracted; he explained in a 2020 interview that he "only ever saw [himself] as a bartender" and disliked the fame.^[4] He worked for short stints at a variety of establishments thereafter, before retiring due to poor health and the COVID-19 pandemic.^[4]

Stenson was married to Cynthia Carson from 1980 until divorcing in 1982, and to Antonia Busto from 1982 until divorcing in 1984. He had two children.^[4] Stenson died from complications of Guillain–Barré syndrome at his home in Seattle on September 22, 2023, at the age of 74.^[4]

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