Intelligent Bartender

Bitters; the salt and pepper of the drink world!

I’ve been bartending for longer than I can remember and, to be honest, it was years before I ever opened a bottle of bitters.

While working in Australia I was introduced to bitters as one of the ingredients in the hangover cure trifecta — lemon, lime and bitters. Made with lemonade (or 7Up to those of us who live in North America), lime cordial and the magic “bitters,” this elixir is used to settle the stomach.

By definition, a bitters is an alcoholic beverage similar to a spirit but principally derived from herbs and citrus dissolved in alcohol.

Bitters generally have a bitter or bittersweet flavour profile. They also commonly have an alcoholic strength of up to 45 per cent. But because they are so rich and full of flavour, bitters are normally consumed in small amounts (1/64 of an ounce to 1/32 of an ounce.)

Bitter liqueurs like Jagermeister were originally consumed for their medicinal qualities as much as their intoxicating properties, however, those mentioned here are considered digestif.

There are hundreds of brands of bitters but the worldwide bestseller and most readily available one in Canada is Angostura.

In addition to its original bitters, Angostura has an orange bitters that works well in cosmopolitans, negronis and margaritas as well as most cocktails containing Campari, Cointreau, Grand Marnier, triple sec or blue curacao. Other exceptional orange bitters include Regan’s Orange Bitters No. 6, Stirrings’ Blood Orange Bitters and Fee Brothers’ West Indian Orange Bitters, which also produces grapefruit, peach, lemon and mint-flavoured bitters. And then there’s Peychaud’s Bitters. While similar to Angostura, Peychaud’s has a big, bold red fruit flavour.

Over the years, the widespread use of bitters has dwindled due to the lack of education about this alcoholic liquor and bartender ambition. However, a couple of dashes of bitters can make an enormous difference in the depth of flavour in your drinks. They are also the best value for money investment a bar can make.

Take a traditional balanced cocktail like the Cuba Libre (rum and coke). Four elements are used to balance this drink and make it a bestseller: rum (strong); ice or water (weak), which balances the strength of the rum; cola (sweet); and lime (sour), which balances the sweetness of the cola.

When balancing a cocktail based on these two axes, (strong versus weak, sweet versus sour), you end up with a drink that hits both sweet and sour taste receptors. Because the Cuba Libre hits two of the four taste sensors on the tongue — the others being salty and bitter — it is given a rank of two.

Then there’s the whisky sour, another cocktail classic. This drink has all the makings of a great balanced cocktail. Even though its namesake is ‘sour,’ the addition of sugar or simple syrup balances this drink and makes it palatable. Most bartenders use rye or bourbon, simple syrup and fresh lime juice to make this cocktail. However, if you look at the classic and sometimes forgotten recipe, it calls for two dashes of Angostura bitters. The addition of bitters to a whisky sour hits sweet, sour and bitter notes on the tongue, giving this drink a rank of three.

Drinks like the margarita naturally hit three of the four taste receptors — sweet (orange liqueur) balanced by sour (lime juice) and salty (salted glass rim). Adding a few dashes of orange bitters can create a cocktail that hits all four taste receptors, providing the drinker with an unparalleled taste experience.

Keep the salt on the outside of the glass; nobody can indulge in a great cocktail when it tastes like they are drinking ocean water!

As a Canadian, when I think of tequila I get flashbacks of an all-inclusive vacation in Mexico with a hangover. To most of us, it’s simply a shot that gets thrown back with a lick of salt and a squeeze of citrus fruit to kill the after taste. All of that is about to change…

Tequila is one of the more versatile spirits. It’s diverse and its great depth of flavour makes it a natural ingredient for cocktails. Despite a massive worldwide tequila shortage in 2000 and the resulting increase in price as supplies diminished, tequila remains one of the premier spirits on any bar south of the border. While vodka still reigns supreme as the number one spirit sold, the cosmopolitan falls a distant second to the margarita which is the world’s most popular cocktail, and has been for years.

In London, England, tequila is such a phenomenon that there are upscale tequila bars boasting tequila lists with 300-400 brands, including Extra Añejo (Aged) sipping tequilas priced in the stratospheric range of a great single-malt scotch. As Canadians, we’re somewhat limited by the small selection of tequilas on offer in liquor stores. Most provinces (with the exception of Alberta) have only a few dozen tequilas available for sale, however, most government agencies will special order the top shelf brands on request. To simplify things, here are a few tequila facts to dispel the rumours. Tequila is usually bottled in one of five categories. Only the first two should be used to mix cocktails.

• Blanco “white” or plata “silver” – not aged white spirit.

• Oro “gold” – unaged or young, which means that caramel, fructose, glycerin and wood flavoring can be added to resemble aged tequila.

• Reposado “rested” – aged a minimum of 2 months but less than a year in oak barrels.

• Añejo “aged” or “vintage” – aged minimum one year, but less than three years in oak barrels.

• Extra añejo “extra aged”– aged minimum three year in oak barrels. This is a new category established in March 2006.

One of the greatest rumours surrounding tequila involves the presence of a worm in the bottom of the bottle. In fact, the worm phenomenon was started in the 1940s as a marketing gimmick. The worm lives on the Mezcal plant. It’s harmless to consume and is only found in select brands of Mezcal. Mezcal is a Mexican distilled spirit made from the agave plant, and covers any agave-based liquors that are not tequila. Tequila is a Mezcal made from the blue agave plant in the town of Tequila, Jalisco, much like cognac is a brandy made in the cognac region, or champagne is a sparkling wine from the champagne region.

One reason margaritas may have never enjoyed the same success in Canada as they have in the south is due to the fact that most bartenders who are not properly trained rim the glass with table salt and the three tiered rimmer “dip and dunk” method. When you’re rimming a margarita glass remember that the rimming ingredient belongs only on the outside edge of the glass, not on the inside, where it will likely become part of the cocktail. Moisten the outside of the glass with a lime and roll the moistened surface in coarse sea salt or kosher salt for your glass rimmer. It’s the easiest way to ensure that your glass is not overloaded with salt. If you must use the dip and dunk method, please do yourself and your guest a favour and wipe the excess off of the inside of the glass with a beverage napkin before you pour the cocktail in and inadvertently create a salt water margarita.

Following the infusion trends of vodka, rum and gin, several tequila distillers have jumped on the flavoured spirit bandwagon. I have tried quite a few but recently came across a new one called Kaban which produces 100 per cent agave tequila in lime citrus, tropical pineapple, and most notably tangerine-infused varieties. All are good, but the Kaban Tangerine goes brilliantly in this month’s cocktail of the month – the azure margarita. The synergy of tangerine with the larahas orange flavour of Blue Curacao is a natural match that is appealing to both the eye and the palate.

Made correctly, the tangerine-infused azure margarita will sell itself. With guests rightly demanding more from their bartenders and their dining and drinking experience, it’s important to make sure your staff has detailed bartender training. Until next time keep ‘raising the bar’ in your establishment, because if you don’t, someone else will!

The Azure Margarita
1 oz. Kaban Tangerine Tequila
1/2 oz. Blue Curacao
3 oz. Island Originals Margarita Mix
Sea salt rim and garnish with and orange and cherry

Cocktails with colour draw your guests' attention, making them more likely to try something new!

From the classic long island iced tea to start off your evening, to a warm and comforting blueberry tea after a good meal, tea flavoured cocktails have been around for forever. The recent surge in popularity of green tea, coupled with the fact that teas are included on more and more cocktail menus, is a great indication that we’re all about to get a healthy dose of antioxidants. In North America, high quality tea products are now more accessible than ever. With its highly publicized health benefits, wholesale tea sales have grown more than 600 per cent in the last 15 years. Trailblazing restauranteurs are noticing the trends from the Far East and incorporating what was once considered a very ceremonial ingredient into today’s cocktail revolution. Matcha is one of the latest types of tea to hit the Canadian marketplace. Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of it, few people, or bartenders for that matter, have. With both Starbucks and Booster Juice recently adding matcha to their menus, it won’t be long before it’s a household name. Just know that matcha is the new chai, and it’s a buzzword that may just turn the industry on its ear.

Most will agree that few things are more refined than relaxing after a meal with a digestif or specialty coffee warmer. While Spanish coffees and monte cristos have long been staples on the after dinner coffee list, the one and only after dinner tea cocktail on the vast majority of our menus is the quintessential blueberry tea. The classic recipe calls for a curious mix of the orange flavoured Grand Marnier, and almond flavoured amaretto (the jury’s still out on where the blueberry reference comes from). Sadly, that seems to be the end of our creativity when it comes to tea cocktails.

The recent rise in popularity of green tea martinis or “greenteanis” has opened a floodgate of opportunity in Asian inspired cocktails. While Central and Eastern Canada seem to be a bit behind the times, British Columbia has had a long love affair with a myriad of green tinted Japanese culinary delights. From the almost fluorescent coloured wasabi, (try a little mixed into your next caesar) to the light green textured aloe vera juice, to the deep green nori (seaweed) to the brightly coloured edamame (soybean), it seems like it’s easier than ever to be green. The latest addition to the family of popular green ingredients is matcha. Although there are some subtle differences between matcha and green tea, (types of leaves used and the method of harvest) quite simply, matcha is powdered green tea in a concentrated form.

Restauranteurs have been using this brilliant green ingredient in culinary applications for quite some time. Matcha ice cream, matcha cream cheese, matcha chocolate and energy bars, parfaits and cheesecakes… the list goes on. Chefs like Toronto’s John Lee of OMI Sushi suggests matcha’s slightly bitter flavour balances well with sweet or chocolaty desserts, which is why it works so well in sweeter cocktails. He adds that it’s not only matcha’s unique taste, but its many health benefits that are making it an increasingly popular ingredient to work with. With as many as eight times the antioxidant properties of regular green tea, a little dose of matcha can go a long way.

Powdered Matcha is available in a few different varieties. For cocktail applications look for sweetened matcha, which often comes in the form of a matcha latté mix. The unsweetened powder is fine, but I find it too bitter to be used without the addition of simple syrup. Mixology Canada Inc. offers powdered matcha in both varieties along with an extensive line of Tea Fuzions concentrates created specifically for cocktails.

This month, I’m offering up two suggestions, one for before the meal and one for after. First, the emerald matcha martini, made with premium Vodka, lychee liqueur, aloe vera juice (another unique ingredient available in most Asian grocery stores) and matcha tea. You’ll find it best to dissolve your matcha in hot water before adding it to your beverages. Try 1 tsp. of matcha powder to 1oz. of hot water. The second is the lychee matcha latté. With both soothing and digestive qualities; it’s made just like it sounds, with lychee liqueur, a shot of matcha and steamed milk, and it’s the perfect way to end a meal.

One thing is certain, Asian inspired cocktails including tea-based creations are here to stay. With a curious consumer base thirsty for a healthy excuse to have a cocktail, and extensive bartender training, these drinks could just be the way to raise your bar!

Emerald Matcha Martini
1 oz. premium vodka
3/4 oz. lychee liqueur
1 tsp. Tea Fuzions matcha latté powder (dissolved in 1 oz. hot water)
2 oz. aloe vera juice

Lychee Matcha Latté
1 oz. lychee liqueur
1 tsp. Tea Fuzions matcha latté powder (dissolved in 1 oz. hot water)
6 oz. steamed milk

Transcendent glassware and aesthetically appealing garnish will make a world of difference to your cocktails!

Who could forget Meg Ryan’s performance in “When Harry Met Sally.” Whether she’s having a Screaming Orgasm (one of this month’s featured cocktails), or your own house specialty, one thing is for sure – your cocktails need to sizzle! Cocktail presentation and felicitous bartender training can make the difference between your guests leaving after one drink, or having your clients buzz around the water cooler about the amazing cocktail creation they had the night before.

Companies like Milestones and TGIFriday’s have made cocktail presentation and proper bartender training a cornerstone of their beverage program, not only by dressing up their cocktails, but by “parading” a tray of drinks through the dining room at eye level to take advantage of a little free on-site marketing. So what can you do to dress up your beverage program?

1. Glassware: There are literally hundreds of different types of glassware that you can use to customize and personalize your drinks. Typical rocks glasses are fine but something as simple as a gin and tonic in an asymmetrical tumbler can make your guests feel distinguished while drinking something very ordinary. Libbey Glass has a wide variety of fun and funky glassware to help you set yourself apart. Check out www.libbey.com for ideas.

2. Glassware Treatment: Chilling or heating your glassware ahead of time will help the drink stay at its optimum temperature for longer. If you don’t have the fridge space, frosted glassware is a great visual(unfortunately non-functional) alternative. Rimming your cocktail glasses is a fun and easy way to add elegance and decadence to your drink program. Keep in mind that if you’re going to rim a glass properly, you only moisten and rim the outside edge of the glass. This ensures that the rimming ingredient stays on the rim and doesn’t become an ingredient of the drink.

3. Garnish: Exotic garnishes like lychee and starfruit lend sophistication, and something as simple as a caramel drizzled apple slice floating atop a martini, as prepared by Milestones, is simply decadent. Michael McGillin, president, Olive it and more…, recognized a market for specialty stuffed olives. He’s created a custom line of hand stuffed olives, 19 different types to be exact. His site www.olivelovers.com has some great tips and recipes for both culinary and cocktail applications.

4. Name and Colour: Provocative sounding cocktails often sell well just based on their name, the same way as blue, purple and red drinks sell well because of their vibrant colours. Mixology Canada Inc. (formerly Island Oasis) makes an extensive line of 17 all natural premium mixes that both look and taste great. For all of the flavours and solutions for your cocktail menu visit www.mixology.net. Assuming you’ve done your homework and you’ve got some great tasting cocktails on your menu, something as easy as substituting Blue Curacao for it’s cousin triple sec, can turn a blasé looking cocktail into eye candy.

5. Add some Flair: Each month, Raising the Bar will feature a new and exciting flair bartending move that won’t sacrifice your bottom line, but will leave a big impression on your guests. This month, I’m featuring two exotic cocktails each with a unique eye catching presentation. The first is a Screaming Orgasm with chocolate syrup drizzled around the inside of the glass. The second is a Blue Skyy Kamikaze - an eye catching twist on an old favourite, cool and refreshing for the beginning of patio season. Next month, I’ll be looking at the more exotic flavours that will be dominating the summer refreshments list… until then, keep RAISING THE BAR in your establishment because if you don’t, someone else will!

MOVE OF THE MONTH; Cocktail Napkin Toss: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y2JqkxHVkM

SCREAMING ORGASM
1/2 oz. Amaretto
1/2 oz Baileys Irish Cream
1/2 oz. Kahlua
1/2 oz. Skyy Vodka
4 oz. Island Originals Ice Cream Mix Chocolate Syrup Strawberry
Method: Measure and pour ingredients into a blender cup and add 1/2 cup of crushed ice. Blend for 5-10 seconds. Drizzle chilled chocolate syrup around the inside of your glass and pour the blended drink into the middle of the glass (not down the side) to freeze the chocolate syrup in place from the bottom up.

BLUE SKYY KAMIKAZE
1 oz. Skyy Vodka
1/2 oz. Bols Blue Curacao
4 oz. Island Originals Sweet and Sour Mix Orange Wheel and Cherry
Method: Add Skyy Vodka, Bols Blue Curacao and Island Originals Sweet and Sour Mix to a cocktail shaker half filled with ice. Shake vigorously 4-5 times to ensure the cocktail is properly chilled. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with an orange wheel and a cherry.

Displaying something exotic on the bar opens up your guests' eyes to all of the possibilities, and allows you to show off what your capable of working with!

The kitchen and the bar have always had a peaceful coexistence and freshness has always been a key ingredient to the success of any kitchen. The same is quickly becoming true as consumers are demanding the same fresh, handcrafted care from their mixologist as they do from their chefs. It’s rare to find a bar chef who can take the principles of traditional mixology, and synergize them with fresh ingredients to create cocktails that take your dining and drinking experience to a new level.

Bar chef Rob Montgomery of Toronto’s Vertical Restaurant imports fresh ingredients from all over the world to give his guests an unparalleled cocktail experience. He agrees that when creating cocktails, it was all about balance. With deep roots in the kitchen, many of the principles of Rob’s cocktails come from culinary applications, but a real passion for service and synergy is what sets him apart. “I like to use fresh and seasonal ingredients when I’m creating a cocktail for my guests, our kitchen prepares seasonal dishes, and our bar program is no different,” he says. “Often, having fresh dragon fruit, key limes, lychees, loquat, or rambutans in plain view sparks a conversation and inspires a you to try something you other wise might not have.” “Keep it simple, do it right, all it takes is a little effort on our part and the results are phenomenal,” says Montgomery. Product knowledge is fundamental to any great bar chef. Knowing the principles of cocktail synergy can help turn an average bartender into a great mixologist. Each element in the illustration below plays a part in the drink’s taste, and ultimately guest satisfaction. With this philosophy in mind you can easily start pairing cocktails with the food on the menu, much like the way we’ve traditionally matched wine and beer with food.

Pairing wine with food is not a new principle, but according to Niagara wine consultant James Gaade, the traditional rules of thumb i.e. pairing red wines with red meats and white wine with chicken or fish have been replaced with the concept that the weight of the wine is paired with the weight of the food. “Light reds like a Gamay are great with swordfish, and a full bodied Chardonnay can really complement a lighter meat dish like a beef stir fry.” The idea is that your food doesn’t overpower your wine or vice versa. Montgomery agrees and adds that using the principles of synergy you can use a sweeter white wine like a Reisling or Gewurztraminer to smooth the flavours of spicy ethnic foods, or a spicier red like a peppery Shiraz to kick the spice up a notch. It just depends whether you’re trying to complement or contrast your dish.

Kevin Healy of the Labatt Institute has some thoughts on pairing beer with food too! It’s not just about drinking Ocktoberfest beer with a fine link of German Bratwurst. Most lagers are lighter bodied beers and will complement a lighter meal such as mild flavoured seafood or game. Ales, on the other hand, are more full bodied and will complement heavier dishes like steak or ribs.

Given that cocktails often have higher margins than beer or wine, having cocktail suggestions for menu items is not such a crazy notion after all. As a mixologist, you want to use the drink to enhance the food experience, keep in mind the following rules when pairing.

Light bodied beers, like lagers, light bodied wines, and sweet and light cocktails will complement light dishes.

Heavier Ales, Spicy, full bodied wines like a Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvignon, or cocktails like a Manhattan, Caipirinha or Caesar will pair well with heavier meat or pork dishes.

Being trained on the products you are serving is paramount to the success of any bar program. Culinary schools spend years teaching their students how to create custom dishes, however, few establishments demand the same level of commitment and bartender training from their mixologists. I encourage experimentation (always in moderation) with the products on the bar. There are so many great products out there, and so many guests waiting to be inspired. Until next month, keep Raising the Bar, because if you don’t, someone else will!

The industry is experiencing a cocktail revolution, and it’s time to start demanding more from bartenders

If your drink isn't up to your standards, send it back!

Has any one else noticed the increase in bars, restaurants and clubs arriving on the scene at the same rate they are disappearing? In major urban centres every week it seems that there is a new “I have to go” spot to check out. Why can’t these concepts find the secret to lasting success? Many bars and restaurants begin with a well-defined vision, spend countless hours and dollars on all the hard details of their operations and then in one swoop, hire their front line salespeople without considering their abilities to serve a drink? With all of these new places opening, who are we putting on the front lines to represent our new concepts?

The industry is experiencing an exciting time. The cocktail revolution is in full swing, so many new flavours are on our bars, yet, we’re still selling vodka and sodas like they’re going out of style. Companies like The Keg and TGIFridays have arguably the best corporate training programs in the business, and it shows in their commitment to deliver consistent quality and innovation in their products. In today’s marketplace, our guests have more knowledge, and with that, come higher expectations. Shouldn’t we have higher expectations?

It’s no secret that there is great money to be made behind the wood and the hospitality industry, much like the fashion industry, can be very image conscious. Well, the bodies are still flowing through the doors, eager and pretty, but bartending has become a bit of a halfway house for people who are waiting for their break in another industry that they are both trained for and passionate about. Vogue magazine doesn’t recruit cover models from the legions of mediocre bartenders, so my question is, does your average out-of-work model or between jobs actor have what it takes to represent your brand?

While employees in other industries are constantly upgrading their skills, it seems that in our industry if a candidate can fill out an application, he or she is offered a job. Perhaps it’s because the hospitality industry is so transient that there is seldom any cash allotted to training. The fact remains that these people are the ones directly responsible for your sales, and the long-term cost of not training your sales force will far outweigh the short-term cost of bringing them up to speed on your expectations. Unfortunately, most new staff will only complete a couple of shadow shifts where they learn (among other things) the bad habits of the previous generation of staff… Does this sound familiar?

Some of the greatest cocktails ever are now making a comeback and its amazing how many bartenders today don’t know what a ‘press’ is, how to make a ‘burnt’ martini or even what bitters are. These classic cocktails weren’t perfect the first time they were made, but their creators kept trying until they got it right. When you’re crafting something new, knowledge is power. Have a look at the ingredients you have on your back bar. If there are products there that you’ve never tried, or don’t know much about, perhaps it’s time to start to learn. Empower your staff, make it a competition or a challenge for each bartender to learn about one bottle and share their findings with their peers. Check out www.thatsthespirit.com for tons of useful information. One of my favourite questions from a guest is ‘can you make me something different?’ If you ask your bar staff the same question and get a blank stare like a deer in headlights, it’s time for some bartender training. We are, after all, supposed to be bartenders, not order takers.

We take care of others and create a great party. We’ve all heard the acronym T.I.P.S. – To Insure Prompt Service. I think it’s time to start demanding more from the bartenders of today. Make them work for their money. If you order a steak medium rare, you expect just that, and if it’s overcooked, you send it back. Start demanding the same from your drinks. If I’m paying $12 for a martini, you better believe I’ll send it back if it’snot right. The cost of losing a guest and their group due to poor quality is greater than simply remaking that drink.

Here’s where the formula for success comes in. Don’t be afraid to try, and more importantly, don’t be afraid to fail. It has been said that failure is a far greater teacher than success. It has also been said that the definition of insanity is to continue to do things the same way and expect a different result. If your bottom line results aren’t changing, maybe it’s time to vary your method. Next time you’re in Toronto, belly up to the bar at Canyon Creek on Front St. and ask for a bartender named Chris Purdy. His commitment to excellence in knowledge and service may inspire you to examine the way your staff interact with your guests. To those who take the time and respect the wood, I salute you. For those who do the hiring and write the schedules, its time to take a good look around and start asking more questions. Make it your resolution to “Raise the Bar” in 2010, because if you don’t, someone else will!

The Mojito is many bartender's first step into creating hand-crafted cocktails.

You may have heard the old cliché that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. For many restaurants and bars, service and product quality in the venue represent that weak link. Through years of systemizing our hospitality concepts, only a few operators have successfully maintained their level of bartender training and product quality. Quite often, it’s easier to practice management by abdication than management by delegation. In other words, it’s easier to fill a position with someone who has enough bartender training to get by, than to take the time and effort to train them to be great! The trouble is your front line employees deserve nothing but the best training; they are after all, the first and last impression that your guests will have of your operation.

Back in prohibition times when moonshine tasted like gasoline, juices and sugars were added to create “cocktails” which would make spirits more palatable. Today we enjoy the benefits of technology, which afford us quality spirits and liqueurs which taste great and certainly don’t need to be covered up. I have written in the past about balancing the flavours in a cocktail, making sure that a drink is not too sweet or sour, and that the strength of the base spirit isn’t wasted with too much mix. Now that we have this abundance of quality ingredients, curious bartenders are becoming mixologists and bar chefs and the level of both service and cocktail quality is going up in more than just the major urban centres. Someone once said that a bartender was a pharmacist with a limited inventory. The difference is that there are few bartenders who pursue mixology training with the same vigor as our pharmaceutical partners, largely because of how generic the bartending profession has become over the past 10- 15 years. Many establishments simplified their systems so anyone could be a bartender, and bartending became a job where you could make great money while you were finishing school or waiting for your next audition. Unfortunately, this change towards simplicity has sacrificed guest service and product quality to the point where a quality cocktail is almost unrecognizable because it’s so far from the vast majority of drinks served today.

There are, however, signs that this may be changing, with the recent popularity of more labour intensive drinks like the Caipirinha and the Mojito. Slowly but surely, the craft of mixology is inching its way back into the mainstream. More than a handful of bartenders have begun re- creating cocktails from the ground up, replacing post-mix syrups with fresh juices, re-introducing fresh garnish ingredients which may provoke your curiosity more than a wedge of lime thoughtlessly perched on the rim of a glass. Why did my bartender just grate nutmeg on top of my drink? Maybe a garnish is there for reasons other than decoration? Recently, two of the world’s best known mixologists, Tony Abou- Ganim (The Modern Mixologist) and Dale DeGroff (The King of Cocktails) began taking their message of proper cocktail preparation on the road. Dale’s book “The Craft of the Cocktail” is an essential read for anyone who is serious about raising the level of product quality and service in their establishment. They teamed up with Finlandia Vodka to create “Finnishing School” a one-day course offered around the world – training bartenders and consumers how to create the perfect cocktail with the freshest ingredients. For more information on when you can catch the seminar, contact Kim Charney, 502-774-7291 or Kim_Charney@b-f.com.

Closer to home, Canadian-born Calgary bartender Graham Warner combines a little flair bartending showmanship with his finely tuned mixology skills, creating imaginative cocktails with culinary precision at the Raw Bar in the Hotel Arts. Warner worked and trained in England where he mentions that high-end mixology bars are plentiful and he felt like he was one in a million in terms of schooled bartenders. Europeans seem to be light years ahead of us here in North America, and back at home in Calgary, Warner has taken what he learned in England to help position himself as an industry leader, where he continues to blaze a trail for bartenders in years to come. Warner cites “The Joy of Mixology” by Gary Regan as essential reading material, and his own personal drinks bible. His Toronto counterpart, Rob Montgomery, of Toronto’s Vertical Restaurant has recently begun working on molecular mixology, another concept which has made the leap from culinary applications to the bartending front. Concepts like foams and mists utilizing the different densities of spirits and liqueurs to create solid or gelatinous cocktails may seem like a completely foreign concept, but with a little bit of training, these ideas aren’t as scary as they may seem. Check out next month’s issue for more on molecular mixology.

The bottom line is that bartenders like De Groff, Abou-Ganim, Warner and Montgomery are few and far between, but these trailblazers are driving the message that the same attention that is paid in the kitchen should also be paid to the bar. There is no substitute for proper bartender training and although not every restaurant will be a high- end cocktail bar, every restaurant or bar should be putting their best foot forward in terms of the products and service they provide. The life of your business depends on it. Until next time keep ‘raising the bar’, because if you don’t, someone else will! If you’re looking for a bartending training solution, contact BartenderOne Bartending Schools.

Alcoholic Punches

Hot on the heels of one of the most well-attended Mixology Mondays yet, the March round of MxMo could be even bigger. Hosting the March round (that’s Mixology Monday #47 if you’re counting) is Mike at Hobson’s Choice, and for this round Mike has chosen Punch as the theme.

Punches just seem like a great way to get a group of people socially lubricated on something tasty.  While everyone here in Toronto loves the concept of the hand crafted cocktail, a hand crafted punch is not only a bit of a lost art, but an effective way of articulating the finer points of mixology on a larger scale.  Thinking back to cottage weekends when we were younger, there were few summers when we didnt dump a bunch of booze in a bowl and mix it up with some fruit juice on Saturday, then wake up on Tuesday wondering what the hell went wrong.  Even drilling a hole in a watermelon and filling it with Gin is a bit of a primitive punch, although I think today’s offerings are a little more refined and tasty.

Chuck Norris doesnt throw up when he drinks too much... he throws DOWN!!!

Chuck Norris

225mL Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum
100mL Navan Natural Vanilla Liqueur
45mL Domaine de Canton
60mL Lemon juice
225mL Apple juice
100mL Pomegranate Juice
10 dashes of Fee Brothers Lemon Bitters

Combine all ingredients in a juice jug and chill for 1-2 hours before service to prevent dilution.  Pour chilled mixture into an iced decanter or punch bowl lined with apple and lemon slices.

Makes 1-12 servings depending on how much of a pussy you are.  The image of the can on the right has nothing to do with the punch recipe, I just thought it was funny… Chuck Norris doesn’t need an energy drink!

“Punch in the Grill”

500ml Sailor Jerry rum
1.5l peach juice
60ml lime juice
Whole Pineapple, orange and peaches.

Grill slices of pineapple and peach. Brulee orange segments. Allow to cool back to room temperature.
In your grandmothers crystal punch bowl, combine liquids and fruit pieces. Add 2 frozen water balloons (Chambord bottle sized/ balloon removed)
Have guests bring their own pimp cups. YEAH-AH!

“24 Hour Karate School” aka “Punch with a Kick”
24 hour Karate School

Inspired by Duggan Mcdonnell’s (Cantina / San Francisco) Tangerine Collins. I have given his recipe a few roundhouse kicks of my own, to end up with this Punch that even Chuck Norris would drink….and Mos Def would rap about.

Mos Def would be proud

300ml Shochu (preferably sweet potato based)
180ml Hendrick’s gin
300ml Freshly squeezed Clementine juice
60ml Freshly squeezed Lime juice
120ml Simple syrup
30ml Campari
4 dash MacMonster O.J bitters
2 dash MacMonster ODB bitters
Cava or Prossecco (to serve)
Flamed Orange zest (to garnish)

in a large container combine all ingredients(except sparkling wine) and chill for at least an hour. Fill a large pitcher with and fill with chilled mixture. Stir well. Strain into chilled coupe glasses(appprox 2/3 full) and top with Sparkling wine. Garnish with flamed Orange zest and serve.
This will serve a minimum of 8 drinks, depending on your glassware.
HI-YA!

Bahama Mama no. 7

I was recently lucky enough to vacation to the Bahamas, and as always I make a point of seeking great bartenders in great bars that make great cocktails.  Paradise Island, should have been no different, especially considering the price tag for food and drink while on the island, and their commitment to haute cuisine.

At Nobu in Atlantis, I had a surprisingly good mojito for $17USD, (although at that price you’d expect a good drink)  No trip to the Bahamas would be complete without trying the signature Bahamian cocktail, the Bahama Mama.  I ordered one at each bar/restaurant I went to, and sadly there were no consistent recipes or drinks that tasted remotely alike (they were however all red in colour) Atlantis is no slouch of a resort in culinary terms, however the bar service was lacklustre at best.  Generally the bartenders were order takers without much in the way of motivation to take mixology seriously.

It seems like such a shame that so much money is spent on facilities, decor, food, chefs, ambiance, etc., and yet it has become completely satisfactory to do little or nothing when it comes to training the bar staff, which inherently results in less than exciting cocktails.  In an environment where setting yourself apart from the competition is paramount to the success of any restaurant / hotel / nightclub, even a small amount of effort could produce extraordinary results.

When considering bartending as a career there are a few things that one should keep in mind.  It’s not all glitz and glamour, and although you can make gobs of cash doing it, the real money, as in most businesses goes to the ones who are truly committed to practising and perfecting the craft.

Are you a bartender?  Is bartending for you? Are you a member of the mixology camp or is flair your thing?

The reality is that there are few careers that give you the opportunity to network, make money and develop your own personal clientele with no upfront investment other than your knowledge of a well built cocktail.

Whether you chose to engage your guests with conversation, cutting edge cocktails or flair, creating a buzz is a surefire way to leverage viral marketing and have your guests coming back for more.  Here’s an example of a Melbourne bar called Der Raum, that entertains not only in cocktail theatre and molecular mixology but also by pure design ingenuity.