Recently in Bartending Category

It seems a post from the past (April 2004) has jumped to the forefront again and has brought with it more interesting comments, courtesy of Fark. The post was about an article published in the San Francisco Chronicle, about drinks bartenders hate to make. I basically responded to the article (Five Drinks Bartenders Hate to Make) in a way that seems to irritate some bartenders, and occasionally it generates some surly replies, similar to the “Fan Mail” diatribe posted a while ago. Today there are an additional 20, or so, responses. This time there are some good community counter arguments, which I like. But most of them are still at the troglodyte level.

The number one email question I get is “what should a rookie bartender know before they start their first shift?” or “what should a new bartender do to becomes successful?”. So instead of answering each question independently I figured I could put together a good summary post that will get the basics out of the way. This is also a good post for anyone that frequents a bar because it will give you some insight into what goes on behind the mahogany, or laminated press board.

As I was perusing the Liquid Muse’s blog, Natalie had a great topic in one of her posts. During an interview she called Rick, from Martini Groove, a “mixologist” and his response was that the term should be banned from the English lexicon. I found that to be an odd response. But a little discussion started about which term is used where and why people would choose one over the other. I found it quite interesting and decided that we should open up the discussion over here.

As many of you know I’m currently not tending bar. This is the first time in about four years that I’ve had Friday and Saturday nights off, which is kind of nice, but I don’t know what to do with my weekends. Anyway, I’ve been browsing the “Want Ads” and there seems to be plenty of bartending jobs out there, just ones I’m not interested in. Yes, I’ve become fussy. I want to work at a place where I get to do what I do best, not what some high school drop out, who drinks too much, tells me what to do.

 

At the bar I often get complimented on the quality of my drinks and cocktails. Some say the consistency is great, or that the flavours are nicely balanced, and sometimes it’s something they can’t put their finger on. All of these things have to do with technique. When I watch people who don’t often make cocktails, like a new barback that I’m letting help, they make a lot of simple mistakes that seem obvious to me, but maybe not to them. Most of this isn’t secret bartender stuff, but, like a lot of other things in life, it is the little details that count. If you execute these little details, your drinks will taste much better and you can wow guests at home or start earning a good living behind the bar.

I've been reading Waiter Rant and the good Waiter has posted a couple of good articles: 50 Signs You're Working in a Bad Restaurant and 50 Signs You Might be An Asshole Customer. These posts inspired me to write one for bartenders, since I've worked with more bad bartenders than good ones. Your not a bad bartender if only a few of these apply, but you might want to think about modifying your work habits. Please feel free to add to the list by leaving a comment.

When you first decide you want to be a bartender, you usually pick up a book or two about cocktails and then maybe sign up for a bartending course. All of this effort will get you started, but bar schools usually don’t impress employers, they want experience. Knowing all of your cocktails is great too, but just because you know them doesn’t mean you can make them on a night when you are so behind it’s yesterday again. A seasoned bartender thinks clearly under pressure, rookies, not so much. So how do you get behind the wood if you don’t have experience? That is one of life’s great paradoxes. At one point every bartender had no experience, so it’s possible to become one. Aside from slogging it out and being persistent, a good resume can help your case. Here’s my bartending resume that got me employed behind the wood.

It is the weekend so lets review a video and see if we can identify some cocktail and bartender related issues. I came across this video on the Webtender forums and it just made me chuckle. The video comes from a Florida bartender competition, kind of. Basically, it’s a bunch of video’s where you get to vote for your favourite bartenders based on the drinks they make, or more likely their cleavage and muscle build. This particular video is of a Woodford Reserve Mint Julep, made by Andrea who was voted “Best Bartender” in South Florida. Let us see how she does.

When it comes to making the world of cocktails a better place there are a few things that halt the growth. Many people would say it is the bartender because they focus too much on speed or the money, instead of customer service. This is partly true and there are a lot of bad bartenders out there. I almost never order a cocktail, on a night out, because I know the quality won’t be there, unless I’m in a known place where the bartenders are skilled. But most bartenders don’t have any formal training nor is there any encouragement at their establishment to work on quality. Also, the culture of “bartending schools” focuses so much on speed that quality isn’t even mentioned. A typical bar school teaches about 150 drinks, of suspect quality, and then there is the speed test where you have to make as many drinks as fast as you possibly can. Good drinks are crafted, not slapped together at 100 kilometres per hour. This isn’t the fault of the bartender, it is managements fault, because that’s what they want, efficiency.

Every once-in-a-while I like to reflect back upon certain bartending moments in my life, and one that always comes to mind is my first bartending shift ever. I, like many others, started bartending by doing group events, mine happened to be a Christmas party. The job seemed simple, two bartenders would serve basic drinks to a group of between 300 and 400 from 6PM to 2AM. The catering company stated to me that the experienced bartender, who was actually their employee, would bring everything for the night. Supposedly that included the stock, tools, mixers and cash float. By my use of the term “supposedly” you probably know what is about to happen.

One of the contributors to the decline of the professional bartender is the Ready To Drink Malt Beverage (RTD), aka coolers or alcopops. These beverages are the quick solution to a thirsty crowd and a low overhead, money machine for the bar owner. They come in an amazing array of colours and flavours, mostly synthetic, and are usually carbonated. They are sweet with an alcoholic punch, usually a higher ABV than beer, and they are made so that they won’t offend most people, nor will they impress anyone. The target market is Generation Y and Generation XL, thankfully I’m Generation X and have no interest in a sickly sweet, lightly carbonated, candy flavoured alcopo. But there are many people out there who love them, or at least think they do, and this is a problem to the professional bartender.

Ask any bar manager what’s the most important skill is for a bartender and you’ll get a lot of different answers. Some will respond that speed is key, others will say a good personality, more will say appearance is important, and then you’ll get one or two who say mixology skills are key. There are a lot of things that definitely make a great bartender, like being trustworthy, friendly, reliable, hard working, clean and organized but those are important aspects for any employee. The one skill that I think makes a great bartender is memory. And if you are an aspiring bartender I’ll explain why and give you some tips on improving your memory.

When you work behind a bar one of the key things to do, to develop a loyal clientele, is remember peoples drinks. The surprising thing to me is not that my head has a database of hundreds of drinks and customers faces, but the fact that these people rarely ever change what they drink. Is it proper to go through life only drinking one brand of whisky? Is it ok to only drink a dry Grey Goose martini, up with a twist and never deviate? The other thing about brand loyalty is that it seems to apply to spirits and beer, but not wine. What is the psychological reason for this brand loyalty and if bartenders could break it, would it be good for the cocktail world.

In the previous article on bartender tools I looked at the equipment that you will use frequently. In this article I'll be looking at items that if you didn't have, you would survive, but having them will make you life easier and your guests experience more pleasant. If you take bartending as a profession, then giving your customers the best experience possible is the goal. In return, your tips will increase and hopefully those customers will return, and regular customers are the best.

Behind the bar you need a lot of equipment, sometimes more than you think, especially if you want to be perceived as a professional. Most bars will have the basic equipment, such as shakers and bottle openers, but depending on where you work, they may not provide all the things that make your job easier. Aside from the most common items there is a whole list of other tools and things that are useful behind the bar. Now this list is what you as a bartender should bring to work, not the things that should be naturally supplied by the restaurant / bar. The key reason for all of this stuff is that it will make your life easier and it will help increase your income, believe it or not. A lot of the stuff in this list is there to help your guests have a better experience, and in return they will generally reward you with a better gratuities.

Recently there has been a lot of blog posts (Waiter Rant, Boozenews.ca, etc.) about tipping, and I figure I should throw my two cents into the ring. In general, tipping or providing gratuities, for a job well done by a server or bartender is a given in the food and beverage business. But it is always a crap shoot from the servers point of view. Sometimes we get stiffed even though we provided exceptional service, sometimes we get stiffed because we sucked that night, which is rare because most professionals can turn “it” on when they need too. I personally hate the “tipping system,” I’d rather get paid a decent wage with benefits, like a normal job.

There are lots of bartending styles, but some styles are different than others. The most basic bartenders pop tops off beer bottles, and mixes up a mean rum and coke, but beyond that they are just very hard working “droids.” This is mostly because of the establishment they work in. On the other hand, there are establishments that do quality over quantity. Well crafted cocktails, interesting wine lists, micro brewed beers and a fine selection of quality spirits are all indicators of a quality bar. But it always comes down to the bartenders abilities that  determined whether a bar is good. A great bartender can discuss the sports, recent news, local events, and any number of other topics. But, they must also know what they are working with to provide that extra level of service and product knowledge is just as important as the news.

The sweltering humidity has been hanging like a wet blanket for the better part of a week. The restaurants air conditioning unit is cranking out the cool air, but the temperature behind the bar is still repressive, but at least I know the kitchen guys have it worse. I don’t envy them one bit. The bar is packed with guests and cold drinks are the primary request, be it a cold bottle of Corona or a frosty martini. But for me there are only a few drinks that can provide relief from the scorching heat and humidity. The Mojito is one of those drinks and when a Cuban bartender is sitting at your bar and orders one, it better be a good one.

It is official, Mint became fully operational on Thursday (July 20, 2006). With any restaurant opening there was the last minute preparations, like menu’s arriving sixty minutes before opening. I spent most of the week at the restaurant prep’ing the bar, finalizing the wording of all the menu’s and just getting everything lined up and ready to go. If you have ever watched the Food Network show called Opening Soon, then you may understand what I mean by last “minute preparations,” and if not I’ll give you an idea in this post, but check out Opening Soon if you get a chance, it’s a good program.

With the new restaurant, Mint Restobar, opening on Thursday it has been sucking up a lot of my writing time, but things should be back to normal this week. With the opening date finalized the purchase of the bar inventory needed to be done. Since we are a fine dinning establishment, I went with some better quality products, but still kept it common enough that most “calls” could be fulfilled. Mint has a clientele already built in, because of the people involved, so part of the product selection was based on their drink preferences. Other than that, this bar will grow as need be. If people want something, we will probably bring it in.