Bartending

There is an interesting post over at the Bartending Magazine blog about the new complex nature of cocktails. To summarize the post, the author laments the fact that progress is interfering with “classic cocktails”, like the Rum & Coke and Screwdrivers, because these newfangled cocktails… [Continue]

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… [Continue]

Being in the industry I get requests for many drinks, but rarely are they unique requests. Most of the time it is for a list of classic drinks that doesn't seem to change. Why is this the case? Well of course I have an opinion and you maybe surprised why a list of old and… [Continue]

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… [Continue]

Behind the bar you need a lot of bar tools and equipment, often 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 (bottle opener, wine key, shaker) there is a whole… [Continue]

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… [Continue]

There are cocktail competitions and then there is the G’Vine Gin Connoisseur Program. Most cocktail / bartending competitions are relatively simple affairs that pit one cocktail against another with the winner having the best cocktail of the moment. Sometimes it’s as much luck as it is the whims of the judging panel. The G’Vine program is very different and the final… [Continue]

In many conversations I've had with people, the perception of a bartender is rather simple. The fact is that being a bartender can be fairly hard, if you take the job seriously. It's not so much the obvious, such as pouring a pint that is hard, it is dealing with… [Continue]

This is an article from the San Francisco Chronicle that's been making the rounds in the blogosphere. As a bartender, and a customer of bars, I have an opinion on this list of drinks and more specifically the responses of these so called 'bartenders'. This article is the specific reason bartenders… [Continue]

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… [Continue]

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… [Continue]

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… [Continue]

When you write a blog, you try to keep things interesting by writing about a bunch of different subjects. Most of the time I write about cocktails and drinks I like, or what’s popular. That can get old. So I decided that I should occasionally write about things… [Continue]

When you work behind a bar, there are many things that the customers / guest don't get to see or don't understand. Sometimes we don't want you to see things, it is part of the magic, other times we would like to let you know about something. Here's one… [Continue]