TALK DRINKS

Apothecary or Bar??? – Hotlanta Times

As a bartender, I love all the extra things such as bitters, syrups and nectars at our disposal to add to cocktails. Why not get creative and put all of those special liquids in the various empty bottles that you have around the bar. By removing the labels and properly cleaning these bottles you can give your ingredients the home they deserve. Our bar will look like an Apothecary, with all of the different colored and shaped bottles that we have displayed, labeled and ready for use. We can also purchase other containers, bottles and even medicine droppers to store specialty items. It becomes an interesting talking point with your customers when they see you dash a special ingredient from a strange looking bottle. Have fun! - Navarro Carr, Bartender at Trois (Atlanta)

St. Germain Cocktail Competition - NYC

I flew into New York last weekend as a guest of Cooper Spirits. Their acclaimed St. Germain Elderflower liqueur cocktail competition had finally finished and being very fortunate to have had my submitted cocktail win a round of the contest I was there for a shake off.

The competition was hosted at acclaimed cocktail bar Employees Only, and only 12 were allowed to compete for the cash prize. The competition was stiff.

Taking a dip with your favorite spirit - What happens in Vegas...

(And I don’t mean swimming with a bottle of vodka)
Welcome back. Hope everyone had a great 4th of July Holiday!!! I surely did.
OK, this is a little off the beaten path but something that can be useful behind the bar as well as at home. Here’s the deal, I’ve always included some form of alcohol in my cooking whether its drunken pasta boiled in wine, a beer sorbet or bourbon burgers but lately I’ve been so busy I don’t have the luxury of cooking for myself. Now it’s a strange request when you ask the waiter if the chef can sauté the shrimp in mango rum so spare yourself the cross-eyed looks. Instead, you can try these very simple and tasty dessert ideas. 

Best Drunk Guy Story

Hi, Ryan from Orlando here. I have the best drunk guy story to share with you. I was working at a lounge in a new condo building last year. It’s around midnight on a very slow Monday, last call is at 2. A guy comes in and pin balls his way to the bar. After a ordering a glass of water he asks for a Grand Marnier. After I made sure he wasn’t driving I gave it to him.

Me: “That will be eleven dollars.” and the dude gets mad.
Dude: “What!? You’ve gotta be f@#king kidding me!”
Me: “Nope, it's eleven bucks”
Dude: “I’m not paying that”
Me: “OK, then give it back, I’ll drink it”

The good part: The guy pauses for a second, looks at the drink, looks back at me and pours it on the floor and smashes the snifter on the ground. Didn’t say anything or look back, he just walked out. After what I just witnessed sunk in a laughed about it for about a week.

That’s a pretty awesome drunk guy if you ask me, but it's all part of the job. Cheers and always pay your bartender. - Ryan

Bartending from An Old School Bartender

I am not sure if this is happening in other cities, but it’s certainly happening in Austin and other cities in TX. I can't tell you how many times my friends and I have asked ourselves,"Where are all the good bartenders?" Many of us think the good bartender is a dying breed. This is what I think a good bartender should be:

1. When you are behind the bar, it’s not all about you. You are in the hospitality business and you must provide good service with a smile!

2. When you are busy, take multiple orders at once, not just the order of the person in front of you. More than half the time, people are ordering the same drink(s) and you can mix several at once. It will make you a faster bartender and make your life easier. 

3. Be personable and friendly. Introduce yourself and ask for your customers' names. Take pride in your work (back to Rule 1!). 

4. Your shift doesn't end when you serve your last drink. Make sure your bar is clean, well-stocked and ready to go for the next bartender. A clean, organized and well- stocked bar is a happy bar.   

5. Give your customers an extra level of attention by introducing them to premium spirits or your favorite drinks. Customers will appreciate the fact that you are going out of your way to make their experience a little better. Remember, going to the bar can be both a fun and educational.    

Bartending is not just about serving a drink; it's about making the most out of every customer interaction. Salud from an old school bartender. - David

Your Muddler, an essential tool for any bar

Muddlers are becoming more visible even at Beer and Shot Bars. Sadly, some bartenders don’t know how to purchase the correct muddler or take care of the ones they have. 

First, the right tool for the right job:

I carry two kinds of muddlers one with teeth and one with a nice flat bottom.

Teeth – This is used for fruit that you want to tear apart. Lemons, limes or something that’s harder to break, you don’t want your muddler slipping off the fruit and just splashing around… you want to destroy it!

Flat bottom – This is used for herbs, leaves or anything else that you don’t want to bruise just gently press and turn to release the oils and keep the leave intact, there is few things as aesthetic pleasing as big beautiful mint leaves in a Mojito.

But Anthony, what if your muddling Basil and Lemon?

Welcome Scott from Denver

We would like to welcome a very talented mixologist from Denver, CO to our blog, Scott Agnew. You can find Scott behind the stick at Cigar Bar. By the way, it's one of the only bars left in Denver where you can still smoke.
Cigar Bar
8529 W. Colfax
Denver, CO
T: 303-223-3304

Thank you, it's a pleasure to be a part of TALKDRINKS. I stumbled into this industry almost by accident. There was a bar just off campus at the U. of Kansas that I frequented between classes. I spent so much time there, they eventually started asking me to watch the back door on busy days. Within a year I was the night manager, and bartending has defined my life ever since.

The hospitality industry has offered me a home, a livelihood, exceptional friends, and a lifetime of amusing stories. It brought me out of my shell and has given me an outlet for my creativity and my love of people.  My strive to excellence in customer service has been the key to my success throughout the evolution of my career. This is one of my favorite quotes and I think speaks to mixology and life. "The greatest reward for a man's toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it." - John Ruskin

Spice Up Your Simple Syrup

Take a little extra time and spice up your simple syrup game at the bar. Simple Syrup is called simple syrup because it is very simple to make. It is also a major component in the balance of a properly made cocktail  using fresh ingredients. Measure equal parts of superfine sugar and warm water and either stir or shake until the sugar is fully diluted. Now to spice it up a bit, let's make a flavored simple syrup that you can use behind your bar and will open up other avenues of cocktail making.

Averna Cocktail Competition Winners!!!

Back in December, we blogged about a great Cocktail Competition organized by Averna to come up with the best new Averna Drink. Bartenders from around the country submitted recipes from January 1, 2008 to March 31, 2008. From there, expert judges Tad Carducci and Duggan McDonnell picked their favorite recipes. In April, three contests were held in San Francisco, New York and Miami, producing five winners. Judges included DSWE founder & CEO Paolo Domeneghetti, Jennifer Suskin publisher of DiningOut Miami, mixologist Angelo Vieria, Bob Drinon President of Premier Beverage, founder of Tales of the Cocktail Anne Tuennerman, Lowell Supran of Empire Merchants NY, Tad Carducci Co-founder of Tippling Bros., editor of Imbibe Magazine Karen Foley, and Young’s Market executive Joe Petraglia. The winners were chosen based on creativity and style, along with technique. The finalists included Debbi Peek of the Drawing Room at Le Passage in Chicago, Damon Dyer of Death & Company and Don Lee of PDT in New York, Jeffrey Hollinger of Absinthe Brasserie & Bar and Thomas R. Waugh of Alembic Bar in San Francisco. They will be sent to the Averna distilleries in Sicily for the ultimate competition, where the winner will receive a $1,500 American Express gift card. Not bad at all. Cheers!!!

B.A.R. School - The Big Apple

Aisha and I just finished an intense week of B.A.R. school at the Astor Center in NYC. BAR (Beverage Alcohol Resource) is run by Dale DeGroff, David Wondrich, Paul Pacult, Doug Frost, Steve Olsen and Andy Seymore. Aisha and I take care of the production of this 5 day Master Sommelier class for Spirits and mixology. The students taste 50 spirits a day and learn how to understand and break them down. They also learn about the history of distillation in the world and how all spirits are distilled and how to decipher a good distillate. Dale and Dave go deep into the history of bartending, recipes and the history of the American Cocktail which is as American as baseball. We work with the students on proper styles, techniques and recipes from pre-prohibition to the modern day to understand where it comes from. When you finish this intense week of spirits and cocktails from the best in world you yourself come out a Jedi. Cheers - Willy Shine, Contemporary Cocktail Inc.