Intelligent Bartender

Have you wished you could jump behind a bar with hundreds of ingredients, tastes, and ideas and be able to create the cocktail of your dreams?

On April 4th, 2011 the BartenderOne Bar Chef Finals took place at Empire Lounge in Toronto in Yorkville. As students, the mixologists had completed tasting over five hundred different spirits, bitters, liqueurs, sweeteners, types of citrus, infused foams and spirits, along with homemade syrups.

As mixologists, the students were asked to create an original cocktail from each of the 5 spirit categories. The cocktails could have been made with anything that the mixologists could think of; but were required to hold dear the traditional balanced cocktail theory. While they did have guidelines for balance, there were none for flavour profiles or presentation. Mixologists could incorporate elements that were taught in class such as: infusion, fatwashing, bruleeing, molecular mixology, spherification, custom foams, misting and much more.

As the student mixologists watched tentatively, their cocktails were tasted by three of Toronto’s top mixologists; Rob Montgomery, Gavin MacMillan and Scott McMaster. The students were were delighted to see that their hard work and development had paid off. The judges were impressed by all of the thought and effort that was incorporated into the final cocktails. The mixologists showed that they weren’t scared to test some boundaries in coming up with their very own recipes, and here are the top cocktails entered:

VODKA COCKTAILS

Strawbarb Bullets by Krissy Calkins

STRAWBARB BULLETS - By Mixologist Krissy Calkins

2/3 oz Strawberry reduction (no sugar added)
1/3 oz Rhubarb reduction (no sugar added)
1 oz Vodka
Shaken on Ice
Strain into Chocolate Cups
Float - Vanilla bean infused simple syrup on top
Served on a bed of Gram Crackers

Rainbow 1943 By Elizabeth Saad

(continue reading…)

Thirsty?

SOMETHING BLUE

A study was done in the bar industry with the purpose to find out what colour is the most effective to drive sales. Without question, the overwhelming result proved that blue was the way to go. As a bartender, if I make a blue cocktail such as a Banana Popsicle martini, or a Blue cosmo, without fail someone will see it and come up to my bar and ask for “that blue drink”.

(continue reading…)

The finished product mmmm...

What makes a Negroni stand out above all other cocktails for me is the variety of flavors that hit your tastebuds as soon as the liquid enters your mouth. The sweet sensation that jolts you back to reality after that first sip is the sweet vermouth which is also present in that manly martini named the ‘Manhattan’.

(continue reading…)

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.

(continue reading…)

It's like sending someone to race a car who doesn't know how to drive.... Lacking bartender training is absolutely detrimental to a business !

Do you have unexplained losses in liquor or wine, in draught beer… in all three? If your restaurant is like most hospitality concepts, chances are your current bartender training is based on generations of bartenders who may not have been fully trained themselves. Most restaurants open with meticulous operational guidelines for how drinks are prepared, with detailed recipe lists that must be strictly adhered to along with opening and closing procedures, weekly checklists for cleanliness and follow up procedures. Does this sound familiar? Maybe it’s a distant memory…

(continue reading…)

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.

(continue reading…)

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.