Tom Ziegler has not bartended for about a year at the Tap Room, but he’s omnipresent.
“Honestly, people don’t think that he’s left,” said Richard Oseran, Hotel Congress owner.
The longtime Hotel Congress/Tap Room bartender, known affectionately as “Tiger,” is the stuff of local legend. As the story goes, a young lady came in to have a drink. She sat next to a larger gentleman who invited her to have a drink with him. It didn’t take long before he’d decided to have his way with her, groping her breasts.
Ziegler wasn’t having it. The thin-framed bartender stood up to the big burly customer and said, “You’d better leave.” Though Ziegler recalled the customer left in a huff, instead of breaking him in half.
Bar patrons began hooting and hollering, a couple of them shouting, “Get ‘em, Tiger.” And from then on Tom Ziegler the bartender became “Tiger” the bartender.
The humble barkeep downplayed his impact when that same lady came in years later to say thank you. “Oh, she just came in again to have a couple of drinks,” Ziegler quipped.
Together, they took a photo, something that Ziegler cherishes to this day.
“I just treated her the way I would treat anybody. How easy it is to be kind, you know?” Ziegler said.
Ziegler was with the venue so long that, in 1985 when the current owners purchased it, he came along.
“Not only did we inherit a lot of wonderful (historic elements), but we inherited ‘Tiger,’ too,” Oseran said.
Ziegler frequented Hotel Congress’ Tap Room when he was working for a trucking company. After a full day of using a teletype, he came into the bar to throw back a cold beer.
“I enjoyed this bar,” Ziegler said.
When the trucking company shifted ownership and it appeared Ziegler might lose his job, the then-owner of the Hotel Congress hired him to work part-time.
“I was kind of nervous, of course, but when you’re young like that, it’s OK,” Ziegler said.
It was a long time ago, but Ziegler vividly remembers the first drink he poured.
“It was whiskey … a whiskey Collins, in fact,” he said about the drink with whiskey, lemon juice, simple syrup and soda water.
“I never made those fancy drinks, you know. I kept it simple,” Ziegler said.
At the time, Coors and Budweiser were the main beers on tap — 15 cents for a small glass and 25 cents for a cold pint.
Bartending is known to be linked with tough situations like dealing with drunken or belligerent patrons, learning how to navigate fights and when to cut someone off.
He recalled coming home one night after his shift when his mother was visiting. He was upset because he’d had a tough altercation at work.
“I told her there’d been a wisecracker and I’d yelled at him,” Ziegler said.
Ziegler recalled his mother saying, “Tom, when you have someone who is mean and arrogant and unruly, what you do is you very quietly say, ‘I’m sorry, but I think you should go have some dinner and some coffee,’ in a talking voice.”
Keeping his mother’s advice in mind, he didn’t face many more of those issues. He enjoyed making a bloody mary or pouring a beer for a guest. However, what has kept him most happy was interacting with guests.
“It’s good to be able to talk to people,” Ziegler said.
“Don’t be mean, don’t be argumentative because they’re spending money in your place and you better be nice to them. There’s no reason to be obnoxious or snotty or any of those terms. Just be nice.”
He was such a fixture at the Tap Room that, for Ziegler’s 80th birthday, Hotel Congress renamed the spot Tiger’s Tap Room.
People come from around the country to visit the infamous “Tiger.” Among them, a Green Valley couple who drank at the Tap Room, and two older ladies with health issues who visited to drink cocktails.
Tiger bartended at the Tap Room until 2020, when COVID-19 forced restaurant and bar shutdowns across the world.
Shortly after the shutdown, Ziegler called Hotel Congress’ owners.
“I’m just going stir crazy,” he said, according to Oseran.
The bar wasn’t ready to reopen, but Oseran had an idea. He hired Ziegler to be a greeter. Every day, Ziegler stood outside, masked dressed in his sparkle suit and fedora, waving at cars.
He returned to work as soon as the Hotel Congress reopened. Ziegler continued bartending until a stroke forced him to quit.
Intent on following his doctor’s orders, Ziegler slowed down, although it’s an unfamiliar concept. The focus now is on recovery.
“It’s slow, but it’s good. I have no pain,” Ziegler said. “But I miss my people, my customers, my friends.” The owners and the staff keep in touch with Ziegler through snail mail and postcards.
Though Ziegler is missed behind the bar, in many ways, it feels like he’s never left.
“His spirit’s there all the time,” said Rebecca Hanley, general manager. “He comes and has his coffee and visits with his regulars and sees all the staff.”
His sister-in-law, Bea-Ann Ziegler, aids him in his recovery process. She ensures that he gets rest, recuperation and meds — and brings him to the Hotel Congress weekly.
He likes to sit in the lobby and converse with everyone, chatting about the rotating artwork found on the wall (currently Steve McCurry, photographer most well-known for “Afghan Girl”) or about the hotel’s history.
“I get to meet all these beautiful people,” Ziegler said.
“I’m not sitting at home twiddling my thumbs. I’ve met lots of people — of course, some of them are dead now, but it’s so good to be able to talk to people.”
And who knows, maybe he’ll be back behind the bar soon enough.
“We wouldn’t be surprised if he came back,” said Oseran, laughing.
Hotel Congress
311 E. Congress Street, Tucson
hotelcongress.com
