Intelligent Bartender

Fresh ingredients blow powdered mix out of the water!

While the environmental movement is at the forefront of public conscience, more and more bars are making an effort to go green with their daily business practices. I’m sure you’ve heard all the popular catch phases: renewable energy, carbon neutral footprint and the uber-popular green is the new black.

What does this have to do with operating my restaurant or bar you ask?

First of all, it’s important to identify the difference between a green cocktail and the absurdity of the healthy cocktail. Ordering up a martini made with pomegranate liqueur is not going to earn you any points in the antioxidant cup. Cocktails are supposed to be a little bit naughty anyways…
It starts with the understanding that operating a sustainable bar or restaurant is easier than you think, not to mention the opportunities to save money and increase margins. Making each business decision with the environment in mind is rewarding in many ways: socially, economically and environmentally.

When you look at your business’ carbon footprint, it gets broken down into two parts: a primary and secondary footprint. The primary footprint is the sum of the direct carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, like energy consumption by furnaces, waters heaters and transportation, like auto- mobiles to get to work. The secondary foot- print is the sum of indirect emissions associated with the manufacture, shipping and breakdown of all products, services and food that your business consumes.

Fresh, seasonal, local and sustainable are really just a part of a much larger picture that involves every business decision you make, from the light bulbs you choose – there are now dimmable Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs which use up to 75 per cent less energy and can create ambiance – to the cleaning products you use and how you separate your waste. Here are some things you might con- sider when developing your next menu or are considering a new supplier.

Fresh is pretty self explanatory, and if you haven’t tasted the difference between a fresh cocktail and the one that comes off your post mix line, enter the menu make- over contest, so we can come to your bar and open your eyes with proper bartender training.

Local means supporting business within 100kms, and making the decision against importing bottled water from the other side of the world when the largest supply of clean fresh water on the planet is at your doorstep. Developing relationships with the folks at your local farmers market can inspire on both culinary and beverage fronts.

Seasonal is about using peaches on your menu when peaches are in season locally, not when peaches are in season in Argentina. When your chef is making Peach Cobbler, your bartenders, who should be thinking about themselves as Bar Chefs, should be making Peach Daiquiris, or peach Mojitos.

Going the sustainable route is not the easiest, but it is becoming increasingly accessible. You just have to ask, and you can believe that the more people who ask, the more accessible it becomes. Businesses that make the commitment can expect to be rewarded with a loyal clientele and the few pioneers of the Green Bar philosophy will attest.

San Francisco’s “Elixir” was one of the first Green bars to open. H. Joseph Ehrmann (known simply as “H”) walks the talk of fresh fruit cocktails made with organic and/or environmentally responsible products. Green and Tonic (www.greenandtonic.org) is doing the same and taking it to the next level. It is a volunteer group that consults with bar owners to help them find solutions to reducing their waste, energy, and water consumption.

The feel good “X” factor of supporting a green business is something that will have your clients talking to their friends, and your commitment to excellence will bring them back again and again in larger numbers. Fresh, local, seasonal, sustainable can no longer be looked at as options, but rather as the business decisions that make our restaurants and bars sustainable businesses as we move into a new economic environment.

As operators, managers, and staff, we have the ultimate power to choose what is offered for sale, how it is offered for sale, and how we’re going to clean it up. While many of us diligently separate food waste from recyclables and garbage at home, few of us pursue these socially responsible actions with the same vigour when we’re working in the hospitality industry. I’ve been guilty of it myself and I’m sure you can relate to the feeling that you should recycle an empty water bottle but when no recycling bin is present, it ends up in the trash. While many of us want to recycle, few of us have taken proactive steps towards putting a recycling / food waste program in place.

The truth is that respecting the planet and making money do not have to be mutually exclusive. After all, we don’t really need to “Save the Environment,” it was fine before we were here, and it’ll heal itself after we’re gone. We really need to save ourselves.

Until next time, Keep Raising the Bar in your establishment.

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…

What usually follows can be likened to a game of broken telephone, where each generation of bartenders passes on an adapted interpretation of your original training message. In the hospitality industry where employee turnover rates are commonly 50%-66% per year, it doesn’t take long before your original training standards are barely recognizable.

Perhaps your restaurant is okay and you have a good idea of how you can control the margins in the kitchen. Most managers have a good handle on food cost in the kitchen because many kitchens have portion-controlled menus. Use of a scale to measure consistency in portion size is common especially in prep areas, but there is no parallel on the bar side of the spectrum. Most bartenders freepour, although few have been properly trained to freepour accurately. You ask them to use a shot glass, which is slow and really offers no guarantee of accuracy during busy periods.

In the hospitality industry, there is a fine line between profit and loss. So fine in fact that after tax, profit margins in F&B often average less than 3% according to recent figures.

With margins like that, it’s hard to justify spending money on the business; however, it’s been said that you have to spend it to make it. There are a smorgasbord of liquor control systems available… at a price, and keep in mind you get what you pay for. Some bars that choose the ball bearing style pour spouts, which apparently stop automatically, may save money up front but you’ll pay in the long term. Most of these spouts will only pour accurately about 65% of the time. At the opposite end of the spectrum you could spend $100,000 or more on a high-tech liquor control system, however it may take years to see the return on your investment. Both of these systems, no matter how elaborate the programming, will limit your bartenders’ ability to create drinks that will truly satisfy your guests’ unique tastes and preferences.

At the very least you should make sure that all of your pour spouts are the same, and that you don’t have a mishmash of different colours, styles and pour rates. Not only does it look better, but if you find your liquor costs are out of line at least there is one less variable, and you can let your bartenders know that they’re pouring heavy.

The cost of not training your bartenders properly is astronomical. All licensed establishments have bartenders but few have truly mastered the craft. But when was the last time your bartenders had any real training? Are they accurate and efficient or are they pouring away your profits?

The bottom line is that your ability to manage your costs is directly linked to the degree to which you empower your staff to help you manage those costs. We’ve all heard that the best defense is a good offense… consider this. Keep things simple: Based on $10,000 in sales: Your current liquor cost is 25% = $2500 Your budget liquor cost is 23% = $2300 Simple math says that you’re running 2% above cost or at a 2% surplus. Your target liquor cost is 22% = $2200

This could be as a result of carelessness, spillage, spoilage, etc. As an incentive to keep costs in line, share these numbers with your staff regularly, and offer your bar team a quarterly party, or pay out a cash bonus to your bartenders if they hit a target 1% below your targeted liquor cost, in this case 22%. (Goals have to be within reason, and shouldn’t promote short changing the guest.)

Each year, based on these numbers, you are rewarded with $1200 in teambuilding and staff incentives. Your staff retention and job satisfaction goes up, turnover goes down and you empower a team of people to work toward meeting your budget goals. Win, Win.

Until next time, keep “Raising the Bar” in your establishment because if you don’t someone else will. Cheers!

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

Once you have a fresh sour, you will never go back to barmix!

With the diversity of liqueurs on the market today it is possible to make a drink taste like virtually anything. Distillers have made it easy for mixologists to shape the profile of a drink. With base flavours like vanilla, cacao and hazelnut, it’s no wonder drinks like the Crispy Crunch shooter are consistently popular. I often wonder how long it will take before we see a chocolate martini dessert, where the kitchen begins to mimic the flavours being produced on the bar instead of the other way around. Perhaps the service of fusion dishes in traditional bar glassware like wraps in oversized shooter glasses and dessert mousses in martini glasses is an indication that it’s already
happening.

There is definitely an attraction to sweets that makes drinks like the chocolate martini popular. Everyone has a sweet tooth, but most people can’t have more than a few sweet cocktails before they need a change of pace and flavour profile. With a myriad of sour liqueurs on the market, it’s hard to know which flavours will complement each other. Sour peach or blueberry have vibrant eye catching colours, but too often, these ingredients find their place on the back bar and never move possible because of improper bartender training or no one has taken the time to experiment. Current bar books and recipe manuals will give you an overview with some recommendations. Some manufacturers will also include token recipes on the bottle itself, but there is no better way to find out what fits with your concept or client base than being properly trained and spending some time experimenting for yourself.

Regardless of whether you’re a bartender, bar manager or concept director, (or perhaps you’re all three) a little bartender training and the willingness to experiment can go a long way towards creating some great custom cocktails. Before you spend any more money on additional ingredients like sour watermelon liqueur, look at what you can make with what you’ve currently got on your bar. There are lots of drink engines on the Web, including a good online cocktail cabinet for free at www.bartenderone.com where you can check-off the ingredients (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) from a huge list and it’ll generate a list of all the cocktails you can make with your current ingredients.

I find that quite often the bottled sours have a bit of a laboratory look and taste to them, and if using sour liqueurs is not your speed, I encourage you to experiment with traditional sour cocktails made with raw ingredients. I guarantee that it will render better results than the bottled concoctions available, and you may just find a new favourite cocktail in the process. Whisky and Amaretto Sours are definitely the most common in Canada. South of the border, Bourbon, Midori (melon liqueur), Pisco (brandy) and Tuaca (vanilla) sours are all very popular. If your bar makes an amaretto sour with a shot of Amaretto and barmix, try taking a few extra seconds to craft one from scratch using the sour recipe that follows and then do a taste test. The results are like night and day. The sour recipe below can be modified into many different variations simply by
changing the alcohol.

This month, the Frangelico Sour is the cocktail of the month courtesy of bar chef Rob Montgomery of Toronto’s Vertical Restaurant. “The amaretto sour is so last year!” he says with a sarcastic laugh. When I first heard the name, I couldn’t help but say ‘why didn’t I think of that?’ and after trying it, I’m certain that this is one of my new favourites. It’s a well balanced drink that is light, refreshing and easy on the palate. Give it a try and you’ll never go back! A willingness to experiment and a little bit of time are two keys to some of the most fun and rewarding research and development you’ll ever do. You’ll find that you can easily broaden your knowledge base about the products you serve and great ways to serve them.

This month’s Move of the Month is a show stopper that must be practiced. It works on the same premise as throwing a candy in the air and catching it in your mouth. It’s important to start with a few cherries in your hand in case you miss the first one… you don’t want to be searching for garnish with an audience. World Champion Christian Delpech says it best… “You throw the cherry and then you pray!” Under the right circumstances you may choose to lean across the bar and feed the cherry to the guest who ordered the drink. Use discretion before garnishing a drink with something that has been in your mouth, no matter how often you brush your teeth! Until next time keep Raising the Bar!

MOVE OF THE MONTH : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-kwK9iwaZc

FRANGELICO SOUR
1 1/2 oz. Frangelico
2 teaspoons of Turbinado Sugar
2 Key limes cut in half and squeezed or muddled
1/2 oz. of pasteurized egg white Shake vigorously and strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass

Yes, you can have a cocktail and indulge in healthy antioxidants at the same time!

There’s no doubt that the Far East has heavily influenced our health conscious way of thinking in North America. There’s something exotic about thousands of years of tradition and total body health that the Asian philosophy offers. From Tai Chi and Chai Teas (say that 5 times fast) to fresh ginger root, echinacea and other holistic and alternative remedies, we’re embracing eastern culture in both Canada and the United States like never before. Dr. Andrew Romanelli of the Sports Performance Centres says 75 per cent of his patients are looking to acupuncture as an alternative and less invasive form of treatment. What does this have to do with cocktail culture you ask? How about this for alternative medicine…

In recent months, many spirit and liqueur manufacturers have taken notice of the trend and the cocktail marketplace is now starting to see new and exciting Asian inspired creations. Although some may consider it a stretch to believe that drinking a martini could be a health conscious decision, having yourself a Green-teani will certainly offer you more healthy benefits than your average rye and coke. Consider that green tea offers tremendous amounts of antioxidants, which have both anti-aging properties and aid in the prevention of disease.

Canadian spirit manufacturer Corby’s recently raised the bar with the introduction of their new brightly coloured and exotic tasting Euphoria line of liqueurs. Asian pear, gink guava and pomegranate have become popular martini flavours. According to Daniel Lundberg, Corby’s senior brand manager, these products are opening new markets for them.

Corby’s isn’t alone. Trailblazers like Miles Karakesevic, of the Californian Micro- distillery Charbay, recently launched green tea infused vodka to add to the growing list of vodka infusions now available. Karakesevic’s Green Tea Vodka is flavoured with the extractions of four Chinese green tea varieties; all blended in a style similar to the way perfume is created.

Suntory International and Allied Domecq Spirits introduced ZEN Green Tea Liqueur to the U.S. market in 2005. It is a blend of the finest Japanese green tea leaves, premium herbs and natural flavours. Meldea Green Tea Liqueur was released by PMA, and is a good cocktail mixer which doubles as an alternative aperitif. It seems like there are no shortage of followers as spirit manufacturers align themselves to keep on top of the latest trends.

Barristas have long known the popularity of teas. After water, tea is the second most widely consumed beverage on the planet. Despite the popularity of teas elsewhere, the North American obsession with coffee has left little room in the marketplace for exclusive tea houses, however, most upscale coffee houses will offer a wide range of teas. Starbucks has found great success with their Chai Teas and Tazo® Green Iced Tea – a blend of Chinese green tea lightly sweetened and shaken with ice.

With all of these options available it’s hard to know how to create a great drink that will balance the dry taste of tea with spirit or liqueur while exciting your guests and satisfying their discerning palates. Although the basics of cocktail synergy suggest that a well-trained bartender balances sweet and sour when creating a custom cocktail, in this case, we’re balancing sweet and dry. Teas will produce a similar dry feel on your tongue to that of a red wine that’s high in tannins. While you may find it difficult to get your hands on some of these spirits and liqueurs north of the border, Mixology Canada Inc. has come up with a non-alcoholic bar friendly solution in the form of Tea Fuzions - a line of unsweetened tea concentrates including green tea, earl grey, orange pekoe, chai and matcha.

Scott Megit, president, Mixology Canada Inc., says the line of tea concentrates were custom blended to allow the tea to be mixed with alcohol. They were created in recognition of a huge resurgence in teas as a cocktail or smoothie base in restaurants, cafés and martini bars.

While I don’t recommend you rely on the anti-aging properties of the Green-teani as your personal fountain of youth, it does make for a tasty beverage, which will appeal to an increasingly curious consumer base. Keep your eyes open for new trends from the Far East… next month I’ll be writing about matcha, a new trend that the food and beverage industry will undoubtedly be eating (and drinking) up in no time!

Until the next blog, keep training your bartenders and “Raising the Bar” in your place of business because if you don’t, someone else will!

Ingredients:
Ice
1 ounce Tea Fuzions Green Tea concentrate
2 ounces Absolut Mandrin Vodka 1/2 ounce Grand Marnier
1/2 ounce 1883 Cane Sugar simple syrup
Orange twist
Method: Add Absolut Mandarin Vodka, Grand Marnier, Tea Fuzions Green Tea Concentrate and simple syrup to a cocktail shaker. (If you like a dryer martini, reduce the amount of simple syrup. Try starting with 1/4oz of simple syrup and sweeten to taste.) Shake vigorously 4-5 times to insure that the cocktail is properly mixed and chilled. Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with an orange twist.

Want to take an imaginary trip to the Caribbean with class? The Caribbean Cosmo is the way to do it!

“I’ll have a Sex and the City martini please,” she tells the bartender. There’s no denying that the cocktail revolution is in full swing; and no beverage has single handedly changed the way we view cocktail culture like the Cosmopolitan. While Carrie Bradshaw sipped reddish pink Cosmos in chic New York watering holes on television’s popular “Sex and the City,” the rest of us wanted to taste that lifestyle, and the Cosmopolitan takes you there…

Martini purists will insist that nothing other than vodka or gin and a dash of vermouth belong in a martini, but the quintessential symbol of the martini glass has transcended generations of drinkers and represents a kind of stylish elegance that so many of us yearn for. Today’s cocktail martinis have come a long way from the time James Bond coined “Shaken… not stirred!” Following the trends of Smirnoff Ice and the RTD (Ready to Drink) caesar, Martini Brand recently launched “Bellissima,” its version of the pre- packaged RTD cosmopolitan - no bartender training required. However, whether you’re making it yourself or having one made for you, there’s no substitute for a handcrafted classic cosmopolitan. From it’s original classic formula made with premium vodka, cointreau, freshly squeezed lime and cranberry juice, to this month’s featured cocktail, the rum based specialty Caribbean Cosmo, the options for creating a great tasting cocktail of your own are only limited by your imagination.

From cocktails traditionally served in tumblers, to frozen classics like the Strawberry Daiquiri, restaurateurs are jumping on the martini bandwagon, with “martini lists” rather than “cocktail menus.” These days, it seems like nothing is sacred. Anything that can be served in a martini glass will be served in a martini glass. If you’re one of the privileged few who gets the honour of designing your martini list, or if even if you’re playing home bartender at your next party, for the love of all things boozy, have some fun with it! Try and stay away from the Hurricanetini. In other words, try to be more creative than simply taking an existing cocktail and adding the letters T-I-N-I on the end of its name.

If you consider the basic elements of cocktail synergy, creating your own custom cocktail from simple ingredients is really quite easy. Like any good chef will tell you, the key to fine cuisine is balance. The same holds true for cocktails - balance is essential. If your cocktail contains an abundance of sweet liqueurs, add a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice, to cut the sweetness. If your cocktail is high in alcohol content, add a weaker element, such as juice, a mixer or maybe something as simple as ice to dilute your liquor and keep your drink both cold and palatable. In the case of savory cocktails like a caesar, the reason it’s garnished with a celery stalk (bitter) is to balance the salty taste of the rim. Here are the simple rules of thumb.
Balance sweet (sugar) with sour (citrus)
Balance strong (liquor) and weak (juice or mix)
Balance salty and bitter (savory cocktails)

The man’s man has often avoided the martini because of the long stemmed glass and feminine appeal. Libbey’s Glassware has made martinis more attractive to men by creating a hybrid rocks/martini glass with no stem and a heavy stable glass base (pictured in this months cocktail of
the month).

While braving the Canadian winter doesn’t often inspire chilled cocktails, this year’s record setting temperatures might have you thinking twice about heading south for warmer climates.

So if the Caribbean is calling your name for March break but your wallet is telling you to stay home, take a budget friendly vacation with this rum based twist on the classic cosmo.

In case you were wondering, Island Originals is the new brand name for the popular Island Oasis. The name was changed in September 2005, to create a buzz around their brand and to further dissociate themselves from their competitors. The brand remains Island Oasis south of the border and internationally, but in Canada they have a new name and new packaging and should be complete by fall.

Caribbean Cosmopolitan
2oz Malibu Pineapple Rum
1oz Island Originals Passion fruit
1oz Island Originals Mango
Splash of Cranberry Juice
Top with Club Soda.
Method: Pour the Malibu Pineapple Rum, Island Originals Passion Fruit Mix, Island Originals Mango Puree and Cranberry juice into a cocktail shaker, half-filled with ice (never add a carbonated beverage to a cocktail shaker, you’ll end up wearing the cocktail!). Shake vigorously 4-5 times to insure that the cocktail is properly mixed. Pour into a chilled martini glass, top with soda and garnish with a kiwi slice.

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.

More than 100 ingredients lined the bar for the IBC Final Exam

The BartenderOne IBC (International Bartending Certification) wrapped up last week at Empire Lounge in Toronto’s Yorkville district. After tasting more than 100 spirits, liqueurs, bitters, along with dozens of varieties of sweeteners, citrus, custom infused spirits and syrups, student mixologists were tasked with creating an original cocktail in each of 5 spirit categories. Cocktails were to incorporate elements of both traditional balanced cocktail theory along with optional elements of infusion, fatwashing, bruleeing, and molecular mixology techniques like spherification, foams, misting and more…

The results were impressive, drinks were well thought out for the most part and the mixologists showed that they weren’t afraid to experiment with non traditional mixology techniques, and drinks that would appeal to a guest who had a particular affinity for a cocktail that didnt follow the methodology used for a balanced beverage.

Here are the standouts in each category.

VODKA COCKTAILS

Chocolate Chai Chiller - by Mixologist Heidi Boyle

Chocolate Chai Chiller

2oz Chai Infused Russian Standard Vodka
1 tsp choc syrup
4oz Lactose Free Milk
Shake & strain
Garnish with a Belgian Choc Disk & Chai Foam
(Chai foam made from egg whites and Chai Vodka)

Lemon Basil Martini - by Mixologist Chris Flink

Lemon Basil Martini
4 leaves basil
2oz Lemoncello
2oz Grey Goose Vodka
1 oz lemon simple syrup
1 tsp cane sugar
1 oz soda water

Muddle sugar and basil in boston glass. Add all ingredients (except soda) to boston glass. Shake with ice. Add soda. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon twist

Super Melon

Super Melon

2oz Grey Goose Vodka

Juice of one navel orange
4-5 Honeydew melon balls
4-5 Clementine wedges
3 dashes orange bitters
Muddle clementine wedges and melon balls in mixing glass until nice and juicy. Add freshly pressed orange juice, vodka and ice. Shake well. Strain over fresh ice in highball glass and top with bitters. Garnish with skewer of two clemintine wedges and one flambeed melon ball. Enjoy.

GIN COCKTAILS

Garden Fresh - by Mixologist Alex Firanski

Garden Fresh

2oz Tanqueray Gin
One medium size Grapefruit
Small hand full of Cilantro
1 bar spoon of sugar
1oz Egg whites
3 dashes Grapefruit bitters

Dry shake egg whites and sugar. Place cilantro in mixing glace and cover with one slice of grapefruit. Muddle. Add freshly pressed grapefruit juice(about 3oz), gin, and ice. Shake vigorously. Strain over fresh ice in highball glass and top with bitters. Garnish with grapefruit slice and cilantro sprig. Enjoy.

The Gin Based Pom Collins served with Pom Gin Caviar - by Mixologist Heidi Boyle

All three judges scored the Pom Collins runner up cocktail of the evening.  Amazing!

Pom Collins

3oz Victoria Gin
4oz Hand squeezed lemonade
2oz Rubicon Pomegranate juice
splash of soda
on a spoon…
Pom Gin caviar

RUM COCKTAILS

Pear-adise with Goldschlager Cinnamon Foam and Carmelized Pear Garnish - by Mixologist Alex Firanski

Pear-adise

1.5oz Bacardi Rum

0.5oz Navan Vanilla Liqueur
2oz pear nectar
Goldshlager foam*
Brown butter and cinnamon roasted pears
3 dashes chocolate bitters

Place pear nectar, rum, Navan, bitters, and ice in a mixing glace. Shake well and strain into chilled cocktail glace. Fill the remainder of the glass with Goldshlager foam. Pass a knife along the top of the glace to remove any excess foam so that it is flush with the top of the glass. Skewer 3 roasted pears, dust them with brown sugar, then caramalize with torch. Garnish with pear skewer and edible gold flakes. Yum…

*Goldshlager foam - 1.5oz Goldshlager, 1.5oz egg whites, 2oz pear nectar, 3oz water. Charge with N02. (Makes 8oz batch, yeilds enough for a dozen drinks)

WHISK(E)Y COCKTAILS

Tennessee Twist - by Mixologist Ceri Sadler

Tennessee Twist
1oz Jack Daniel’s
3/4 Vanilla Vodka
1/2 Blue Curacao
2 Fresh Oranges
Garnish with orange zest
Served in high ball on ice

Real Canadian Sushi - By Mixologist Alex Firanski

All three judges scored the Real Canadian Sushi the highest of the evening.  Truly Amazing!

Real Canadian Sushi

1.5oz Canadian Club Whisky
3 lemon slices
0.5oz ginger sirup
Maple sirup
Roasted sesame seeds
Wasabi flavoured faux caviar

Role edge of cocktail glace in maple sirup and rim with sesame seeds. Leave glace to rest upside down to avoid any running of excess sirup. Muddle lemon and sirup in mixing glass. Add wiskey and ice. Shake well. Double stain into rimmed cocktail glass. Place a barspoon of wasabi caviar into the bottom of the glass. Serve with caviar on a wonton spoon. Seriously.

TEQUILA COCKTAILS

Pink Sombrero - By Mixologist Ceri Sadler

Pink Sombrero
1oz Cazadores Tequila
1/2 Cassis
1/2 A Fresh Lemon
1/2 Fresh Lime
Bar spoon of Sugar
Garnish with a lime
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass

Training Wheel with Tequila Caviar - by Mixologist Chris Flink

Chris took a molecular approach to the North American Tradition of the Tequila, salt, lime trifecta.

The Training Wheel
Cazadores Tequila Caviar
Salted Lime Wheel (rind removed from half)
Serve on upside down shotglass.
Prepare lime wheel (cut, remove half rind, salt lightly). add caviar.

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.