Intelligent Bartender

The Aviation -- A mouth watering classic cocktail!

I’ve been told that the face a bartender makes when he/she is shaking a drink is the same face they make when they are having sex.  You might want to practice making these three cool cocktails in front of a mirror…

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The Sazerac

In the 1500s, lead cups were commonly used to drink ale.The combination of alcoholic beverage and lead vessel would sometimes knock drinkers out for a couple of days, and these unfortunate souls would be taken for dead and prepared for burial!  A body  would be laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days, and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if the body would wake up – hence the custom of holding a wake.

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Cocktail caviar is a fairly simple, yet effective way of impressing your guests while hitting taste/texture sensations they've never heard of!

Spring is just around the corner, and it’s time to shake things up – or stir things up, depending on the drink!  Here are some completely random recipes that have crossed my lips this month.  If you or your staff have recipes you think might be of interest to Behind Bars readers, please drop me a line!
 
The Montgomery
Named by Ernest Hemingway in honour of the British general who, he claimed, would fight the enemy only if he had 15 soldiers to their one – that was also the proportion of gin to dry vermouth in the martinis Hemingway ordered.
(Source: The Harry’s Bar Cookbook, Arrigo Cipriani)
Adapted recipe for a 60ml “Montgomery” martini

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Cocktails that are created with care for the earth will show your guests' you care for their well being!

With public health awareness at an all time high, and a recovering economy that is shifting focus back on the environmental movement, more and more bars are making an effort to go green with their daily business practices for a handful of reasons. Organic ingredients are popping up at every turn, in fact more than 75 different types of Organic Spirits, Liqueurs, Wines and Beers are available in most provinces.

First of all, it’s important to identify the difference between a green cocktail and the absurdity of the healthy cocktail. Ordering up a beverage made with green tea liqueur is not going to earn you any points in the antioxidant cup. Organic Spirits, Wines and Beers are becoming more and more popular, new companies are jumping on the organic bandwagon, others have been quietly producing organic and sustainable products for decades. Do organic ingredients in a cocktail really make a difference? Are they any healthier for you? Aren’t cocktails are supposed to be a little bit naughty anyways?

To answer this question, we made three cocktails, one completely organic, one made with non-organic spirits, citrus and sweeteners, and one in the fashion commonly employed by most bars in operation in Canada today.

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It’s a new year, and with that comes new challenges and an ever changing business environment.   Cost of living will increase this year affecting the amount of discretionary income your guests have, inflation and a recovering economy will drive up the cost of goods, lease rates will escalate, food and liquor cost will increase… what do you do to combat such a daunting business environment?

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Social networking is full of endless opportunities for your establishment

Social Networking has a lot in common with the operation of restaurants and bars every day. In fact, before Facebook and Twitter came along, most social networking happened in bars… but it was done verbally instead of through text comments and posts. Everywhere you look, you see Facebook and Twitter. Have you dismissed it as “something that the young people do?” Running a successful social networking campaign is tricky, there are lots of ways to waste your time and money, but if you work it properly it can add value to your business and bring people through your doors. I hope this piece will provide some clarity and direction for what you and your staff should and shouldn’t be doing with social networks like Facebook, Twitter and youTube.

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The noted and extremely simple Sazerac.

It is a very exciting time to be in the bar business. There have been few times since the repeal of Prohibition that cocktails have been at the forefront of the media and the public conscience, backed by bartenders who are now considering themselves Mixologists and Bar Chefs.

Classic cocktails are back in a big way across the country. Led by great cocktail bars from the St. John Alehouse in the east to Clives Classic Lounge in Victoria on the left coast, passionate mixologists are taking a fresh approach to cocktails. It’s not just in the privately owned cocktail bars either. Major chains across the country are adopting new (and old) cocktails, techniques like muddling fresh fruits and herbs, and looking at their beverage programs differently than we did when big juicy martinis were all the rage.

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The Gimlet aka Gene Snyder on the rocks.

Once as popular as the Martini or Manhattan the mighty Gimlet is often overlooked by modern cocktailians. On several occasions I have even received a Martini with cocktail onions(Gibson) upon ordering a Gimlet. Two simple ingredients combine to make something much more. A juniper-citrus aroma, through the sweet and sour mid palate, and a long lingering finish. Hard to beat for a serious slake. If you have the means please make your own lime cordial, it really makes a difference. Recipes follow. Gimlet 1 / Scurvy 0

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Stay away from the Winter Blues with summer cocktails!

So I’m pretty sure that by now that we’ve all had the chance to try either a pomegranate martini one of the many other power fruit cocktails taking the country by storm. They’re good, aren’t they? Can I interest you in something even a little more luscious? If so, come with me down mango lane. For good reason, the mango is the second most popular fruit on the planet. With its versatility and availability, it has quickly climbed to the top of every mixologists daily shopping list.

Mangos are a sub-tropical fruit, requiring a long, hot period to properly ripen. More mangos are eaten fresh than any other fruit in the world. And there are over a thousand varieties of mango. The enzymes in mangos are tenderizing, similar to those found in papayas. Mangos help to lower cholesterol, aid digestion, and are rich in both vitamins A and C.

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Yes, being innovative in the cocktail world is great, but you must know how to make a quality classic!

The last couple of years have seen countless changes behind the bar. In fact, if you can dream it, you’ll probably see it at a bar near you, where bar chefs continually redefine “thinking outside the box.” Flavoured spirits, infusions, dry ice, flamed garnishes, muddled drinks and the inclusion of herbs and fresh fruit are all testament to this. With the world now at our fingertips, it isn’t hard for your establishment be on the forefront of the next big thing, the next beverage revolution.

Here’s the kicker. Refined versions (or re-defined versions) of old school cocktails are in. Signature drinks such as Cosmopolitans and Sidecars are back with a vengeance, revamped for a taste that is familiar, yet new. Ingredients like pomegranate and green tea, for example, are adding a whole new level of flavour and sophistication to the traditional martini.

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