Intelligent Bartender

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 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.

Saint John Ale House

Blue Blazer at the St John Alehouse

The Saint John Ale House is known locally for its wide variety of tapped beers, regional Canadian cuisine, and as Eastern Canada’s premier cocktail destination.

Their cocktail list changes seasonally and always incorporates a healthy mix of both classic and contemporary cocktails using house-made ingredients.

For example, behind the bar are 15 different types of bitters (5 house made), and they create their own liqueurs and syrups, many from How to Mix Drinks; A Bon Vivant’s Companion by Jerry Thomas.

They use only fresh-squeezed juices in our cocktails, having done away with all post-mix products, ensuring a high standard for freshness and quality. Additionally they offer an exciting selection of world-class spirits and our first-rate selection of rums will rival some of the best lists in the country.

The St John Alehouse is centrally located with harbor views and in summer has al-fresco dining available with free live entertainment everyday of the week. They are internally connected to 2 major hotels and the famous Saint John City Market, the heartbeat of the city and source of many of their epicurian cocktail ingredients. The front entrance is connected to a city wide boardwalk, waiting upon your arrival with warm smiles and cold liquid remedies.  Definitely worth checking out the next time you’re on the east coast!

Fresh Ingredients in Cocktails make all the Difference

MxMo (short for Mixology Mondays) is a global online meeting among bartenders who work towards making great cocktails around a specific theme (Hard Drinks, Punches, Vermouth Based Cocktails etc.)

Rob Montgomery and I have been keeping an eye on MxMo for the past 18 months, and have had many conversations about starting up one of our own to boost cocktail culture in Toronto.  We finally thought that it was time we stopped paying lipservice to making better cocktails and actually did something about it.

On Movember 30th, (yes Movember, check it here www.movember.com) a small group of bartenders from around our city gathered to work on some interpretations of “Holiday Cocktails.”  The timing seems relevant as we move into the busy holiday event season, who wouldnt want an excuse to have a great holiday cocktail?

First up was a welcome cocktail called the Honey Julep, a recipe of mine featured in the recent Drambuie re-launch recipe book.  The sweet and sour pink grapefruit juice complements the Drambuie really well and allows the freshness of the elderflower and mint to shine through.  This drink is perfect for summer, or a winter holiday getaway to a place that reminds you of summer.

Honey Julep

50ml Drambuie

15ml St Germaine Elderflower Liqueur

15ml Lemon Juice

30ml Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice

2 dashes of Angostura Orange Bitters

8-10 Mint leaves

Directions: Muddle mint leaves and bitters in a Boston Glass, add remaining ingredients and shake over cold fresh ice.  Double strain over crushed ice in a highball glass, and garnish with a mint sprig.

Next up was Ryan Powell with another Scotch based drink, his Maple Movember Manhattan.

Cocktail #2: Maple Movember Manhattan
2 oz Chivas Regal 12 Year Old
¼ oz ice wine maple syrup
¼ oz egg white
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Dry shake ingredients vigorously to properly froth the egg white then add ice and shake again.  Double strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice and sprinkle nutmeg on top to garnish.
Optional: Brule a misted Aberlour 12 Year Old on top.

This cocktail was inspired from a Manhattan.  For me, winter holidays and scotch go hand in hand.  I replaced the sweet vermouth with the ice wine maple syrup because that’s I wanted something a little sweeter and the maple syrup pairs well with the apple notes in the Chivas.  The egg white was added to bring a creamy texture to the cocktail, which again is popular amongst holiday cocktails.  The Angostura bitters adds a fantastic holiday spice to the cocktail as well as the nutmeg sprinkle on top.  For a little more showmanship and to add a little more strength to the cocktail, you can mist Aberlour over the cocktail and gently brule it.  The sherry notes from the Aberlour adds a nice touch to the nutmeg, maple, apple and spice.

Next up was Alejandro Giraldo with a Spanish inspired Cazadores Saludable.

50ml Cazadores Tequila
20ml Pama Pomegranate liquor
60ml Pink grapefruit juice
20ml Lemon juice
15ml Agave nectar

Shake ingredients vigorously with ice then double strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a fresh mint leaf.

Rob Montgomery stepped up with his “Ho Ho Ho…. It’s Brown Butta YO!”

30ml fresh lemon fresh lemon juice
15ml Gomme Syrup
50ml Brown Butter “washed” Jack Daniels
Lemon twist(to garnish)
Combine liquid ingredients in Boston glass and fill with ice.
Stir well for 60 seconds.
Strain into chilled coupe glass. Spritz twist over the top, wipe around the rim and float skin side up.

Scott McMaster (aka Dr. Evil) took to the bar with Cocktail #4 An Evil Christmas

30ml Skinos
15ml jager
5ml lime juice
30ml White cran

Combine in boston over ice and shake
Garnish with frozen cranberry

The boys from Skinos were kind enough to drop off a couple of bottles of their product back in the summer, and Evil thought it would be a good opportunity to try using the pine flavour of the Mastica in a holiday cocktail.  It is the best cocktail we’ve had with Skinos which has an admittedly unusual flavour profile.  If anyone else has had success with Skinos, we’d sure like to hear about it, as I’m sure the boys from Skinos would as they make their foray into the cocktail world.

Finally. in the spirit of getting away for the holidays, we thought it would be nice to end with an Aviation Cocktail.  I really like the flavour of Creme de Violette, and Maraschino Liqueur is hard to hate at the best of times.  Although they can sometimes be hard to find, I’m sure if enough people ask for it, they’ll become more readily available… they’re certainly worth the effort.

Present at the innaugural Toronto MxMo were: Alejandro Giraldo, Ryan Powell, Rob Montgomery, Caitlin Mason, Gavin MacMillan, Jessica Klug, Scott McMaster.

Absent: Elan Marks, Nick Nemeth, Renata Clingen, Nishan Chandra

For more tips on setting up a great holiday bar Click here

and if you’re really serious about getting into bartending and want to train with some of the best bartenders in the business, click here to see the next training dates with BartenderOne

The next global Mixology Monday will be taking place on December 14th… same bat time, same bat channel.

Click here to see the next event on Facebook

Creating unusual cocktail combinations from scratch is the hot new trend for 2009!

The National Restaurant Association has identified the culinary cocktail as the number 1 trend for 2009. BartenderOne partnered with Bacardi Canada to show a short list of invitation only media VIP’s exactly how powerful the culinary cocktail could be at a recent event held at the Local on the Danforth Avenue in Toronto. The room was filled with the who’s who of Canadian Hospitality and journalists from almost every major lifestyle magazine in Canada. We even had television crews from CBC’s Living in Toronto and Global News.

The communal mis en place

Among the hit cocktails of the day were the Oscar themed was the Mumbai Millionaire, made with Bacardi Superior, saffron infused Lemonade, and topped with Ginger Beer, The Pineapple Express, a pineapple and Black Pepper Mojito, and the Benjamin Button Backwards Mojito a molecular mojito that reverts back to it’s original form over time. All Oscar themed cocktails were created exclusively for Bacardi by the bar chefs at BartenderOne.

Mumbai Millionaire

1 1/4 oz Bacardi Superior
2oz Saffron infused Lemonade
1oz Ginger Beer

Shake Bacardi Superior and Saffron infused lemonade over ice.
Serve over crushed ice in a lowball glass and top with Ginger Beer.

To make Saffron Lemonade, add 1/2tsp of saffron to 1 litre of Lemonade.

Benjamin Button Backwards Mojito

1 1/4 oz Bacardi Superior
4 Mojito Ice Cubes
Serve in a chilled Martini glass.
Garnish with a disciplined mint sprig.

To make Mojito ice cubes, add the juice from 12 room temperature limes, 4oz of spring water, to a saucepan on low.
Add 12 tbsp granulated sugar, and 30 mint leaves, stir for 5-6 minutes or until sugar is completely dissolved.
Remove from heat and strain liquid into ice cube trays and set in freezer.

Makes 2 ice cube trays, enough for 8 Benjamin Button Backwards Mojitos.

Pineapple Express

1 1/4 oz Bacardi Superior
6 small pineapple chunks
12 whole black peppercorns
8-10 mint leaves
Juice of half a lime
1 tsp of granulated sugar
1oz soda

Muddle 6 small chunks of pineapple and 12 whole black peppercorns in the bottom of a highball glass.
Add mint, lime juice, sugar and Bacardi Superior.
Muddle lightly a second time.
Add ice to fill, top with soda and churn with a spoon to distribute muddled ingredients.
Garnish with Pineapple fonds and a mint sprig.

Passion and Spice

It’s not such a huge leap when you are thinking about creating culinary cocktails especially with a spirit as versatile as Bacardi. Dont be afraid to try unusual combinations… you may be surprised with the results!

Next we’re off to Montreal on April 23rd to Suite 701 to treat the french media to a little Bespoke Experience of their own.

Until next time!

Cheers!

Bartenders are no longer bartenders, they are mixologists; and yesterday’s mixologists, the people who really took the craft seriously, need a way to differentiate themselves from the mainstream. Many of these mixologists followed in the footsteps of our culinary brethren, we have finally arrived at the latest buzzword and title for those who are truly committed to beverage excellence…Bar Chef.

In Toronto, Frankie Solarik believes in the concept so much, that he has opened a bar to pay tribute to the philosophy, and aptly named it “Bar Chef.” http://www.barcheftoronto.com Each cocktail is hand crafted from a massive variety of ingredients presented fashionably on the bar, bringing the guest into the experience as their cocktail is being created.
I dropped by on his second day of operation and had a cocktail made with style and passion that I haven’t seen in this city. While it takes a little longer to get a beverage like the Cold Smoked Manhattan that I ordered, the presentation is impeccable and the final cocktail is well worth the wait.

Cold Smoked Manhattan

It seems that a lot of people are getting their noses out of joint about the term molecular mixology, the press certainly seem to love it. Whatever you choose to call it, molecular mixology doesn’t have to be difficult, and really has to do with changing states. From a liquid to a solid, or liquid to a gas most commonly, but something as easy as a flamed orange zest, or an infused foam, by definition is molecular mixology. Whether you consider yourself a molecular mixologist, a bar chef, bartender, or simply someone who enjoys mixing at home, the recipes that you enjoy were at one point simply an experiment.The hallmarks of a good Bar Chef are their commitment to fresh, hand crafted ingredients and infusions, and consistent experimentation. Fresh ingredients make great cocktails. While pop guns and towers are certainly convenient, their cost effectiveness days are numbered. Post mix syrup, is made up of 80%-90% corn syrup, and with global demand for ethanol (a corn based alternative fuel) continues to rise at an unprecedented rate, the days of fountain soda are numbered. With cost effectiveness in question and real quality benefits to using fresh squeezed juices, the choice is really simple. If you need more convincing, find a local bar chef and compare your fluorescent green amaretto sour to their version made with fresh lime, simple syrup, bitters and egg white. There is no comparison.

The eternal question… what came first, the chicken or the egg… in cocktail terms, I’m reasonably certain that eggs were used in beverage applications long before chicken was ever thought of in a beverage sense. Molecular Gastronomy is certainly bleeding directly into the bar as establishments like Singapore’s Tippling Club continue to raise the bar on many levels. In cocktail terms the process of converting the physical state of a liquid drink into a solid, or a mist is often called molecular mixology. Whatever you choose to call it, cocktails served in an altered state can certainly have an element of cool to them, but before you go converting an entire menu to molecuar recipes, make sure that they’re executable at your level of business.
This is the first bar that I have seen that rivals Der Raum in Melbourne in both style and pure commitment to stretching the way we think about cocktails.

The Kitchen Truly meets the Bar

You be the judge. What came first, the chicken or the egg?

No need for a speedrail or back bar. You also dont have to worry about another bartender putting the bottle back in the wrong place!

Bars like Der Raum and Tippling Club get that people will pay for and tell their friends about experience, and this blog post proves it. When was the last time you read a story about Burger King or Dairy Queen that didn’t have something to do with salmonella… and here we are back again at the chicken…

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.