A “destination restaurant” is a restaurant that people who don’t live in the neighborhood go out of their way to dine at. A “destination bartender” is a bartender so good that people go out of their way to have that bartender’s concoctions.
 
The term “destination bartender” has been cited in print since at least 2007.
 
     
Amazon.com
Food & Wine Cocktails 2007 [Paperback]
Dana Cowin (Editor), Kate Heddings (Editor)
Book Description
Series: Food & Wine Cocktails | Publication Date: May 1, 2007
As a scene-scoping, style-setting, modern magazine, Food & Wine always keeps tabs on the trendiest nightlife. These 150 cocktails are the ones making a sensation in the hippest eateries and bars throughout the nation, the drinks bartenders get asked for again and again. And mix-masters won’t find better recipes for traditional favorites. Each chapter focuses on a particular spirit type, and every page highlights one special cocktail, along with a description of the establishment that provided the recipe, its address and phone number, and behind-the-scenes anecdotes. Plus, there’s lots of exciting new material, including a refreshed spirits lexicon and, for the first time, a super party planner with suggestions for libations, snacks, and even iPod playlists. And, you’ll find lists of essential addresses for mixologists, stores that carry essential bar tools, fun websites, and a box focusing just on ice. The back of the book also now features a special guide with icons that say if a place has a destination bartender, a great chef, live music, or a late night scene.
     
Nashville (TN) Scene
The Lust List
by The Committee of Insiders
February 08, 2007 News » Cover Story
(...)
Stephanie Johnson Just as there are “destination” restaurants, Stephanie Johnson is a “destination” bartender—though in reality, she doesn’t so much tend bar as hold court.
 
Honolulu (HI) Weekly
Windy City
by Christa Wittmier | Jun 22, 2011
Chicago, Interisland Terminal / So I’m in Chicago right now.
(...) 
I hope Jess Shedlock is working because she is becoming more and more like the destination bartender in Chinatown.
 
The New Yorker
The Ring and the Bar
The Bob Bozic stories
by Nick Paumgarten
January 30, 2012
ABSTRACT: OUR LOCAL CORRESPONDENTS about bartender and former boxer Bob Bozic. Fanelli Café, at the corner of Prince and Mercer Streets, in SoHo, is said to be the second-oldest continuously operating drinking establishment in New York City. In recent decades, Fanelli’s, as it is usually called, is a tin-ceiling beer-and-burger stalwart. In 1990, the owner, Hans Noe, hired Bob Bozic, a former heavyweight boxer and bookmaker, to tend bar.
(...)
Twenty-two years of this, at Fanelli’s, has turned him into a destination bartender.