I'm about to begin a training/trial period in a high volume service bar. I've bartended before, but mostly lunch shifts and private parties with fixed cocktail menus.
I am wondering if any bartenders/ ex-bartenders can lend me some advice as far as working in a high volume, run-and-gun type service bar. I can already tell using my jigger is gonna be frowned on, though I am optimistic about the opportunity and finally being able to apply my experience in tropical drink expertise to the "real world." Any suggestions on multi tasking, blender drinks, and making shooters. We have a pool and in the summer it's gonna be a lot of blender drinks. We only have two blenders.

Load me up with know how.
Astro

Go buy a Margaritaville (sorry for the name) blender or the 600 watt cuisinarts at Costco for $79.00(or both). 2 isn't gonna cut it the way it sounds. :)

Good luck, it sounds like fun. A really perverse kind of fun, but fun none the less.

I can only offer you a tip by way of a story from Trader Vics in Atlanta:

It was a Tiki Torch Nights and the bar was about ten people deep all night long. Joel, Atlanta's Best Bartender, never once put his jigger down. He was pouring Mai-Tais ten and twelve at at time and every single one of them was measured (maybe not as accurately as he would like, but measured none the less). And the tip jar was stuffed to overflowing.

The moral of the story.... know your drinks, know your tools, and know your bottles. And be consistent with all of them. Speed comes from proper preparation, not from cutting corners. 98% of your customers won't mind waiting that extra little bit for a good cocktail. It is the sloppy drinks that cut into the tips, not the speed of the service.

Let us know how it goes! I'm really excited for you!

Know your station well, know when you reach for something it will be there without you having to even look properly.
Although measuring is best speed pouring works, Practice it over and over. We tested some guys a short while ago who had just learnt to do it and they were consistantly within 1-2ml on all their measures if not spot on, it does work.
Have fun!

http://www.cheekytiki.com
http://cheekytikiuk.blogspot.com/
http://www.thelondonluau.co.uk

"Don't drink water, fish f*~k in it" W.C. Feilds

[ Edited by: cheekytiki 2008-03-24 00:28 ]

Take a few moments and pretend to listen to people.

If you do it correctly you'll be able to repeat back to them a sample of what they said in the form of a question without ever comprehending what it is they're saying.

You can keep right on working and still give them the sense that you care about their drunken ramblings.

Ask Joel - he has listened to mine on more than one occasion.
I mean "pretended to listen."

One other thing. Don't be afraid to cry. When you realize just how many people drink swill it could be overwhelmingly sad. You can always take refuge in here where people know what falernum is and how to use it.

Astro, the world is bartending IS SO COOL! My 2c? Decide right now to be a professional bartender... A WORLD-CLASS BARTENDER! The number one thing is to get into all aspects of it with a passion and you will excell and have the most fun of your life!

I am an owner in company that has 12 bars and restaurants. All are high-volume operations, we've been in business since 1978 and we've increase sales every year. We employ 1200 people, about 60 of whom tend bar.

Some of these wonderful people are real pro's and we support them in every way possible. Some, just fill shifts, their heads are into other things, and for them it's just a job. We have to accept some of this.

Understanding the new company you are working for, the expectations of your managers and all that is very important, as it is in any job. Once you know you are providing what they need from you, you have the basis to excell beyond that.

If the high volume at your bar comes from something other than expensive mixed drinks, you'll have accept that and maybe your expertise in this area will not be initially the most important part of your job. But, evey bar wants more high profit sales so you may be able to build clientel with the drinks you are uniquely qualified to promote. And that's all up to you to have the passion be become such an expert!

Anyway, best of luck to you!

Oh, my favorite reference book right now is "Ultimate Bar Book, the Comprehensive Guide To Over 1,000 Cocktails", by Mittie Hellmich. Great information and recipes. Of course, Sippin' Safari, by Beachbum Berry is a must-read, and many of the others.

From watching the master bartenders at FI on the weekends, I have learned this:

(Just like cheeky said) know your station. Be able to grab the right bottles without looking for them.

(Just like C & A said) know your menu. Be able to measure out at least two (or more, if possible)different drinks at once, combining pours for common ingredients.

Get a Quick-Blend. When you're seriously pinched for time, it'll do instead to shaking (for most drinks).

Have a fabulous barback. S/He should be able to keep you in spirits, juices, ice,glasses, etc. without you having to ask.

By using these principles, the bartenders at FI could make a(n accurate) Coronado Luau Special in under a minute.

Always know that it's a show. (note: I don't mean flairtend - I'm not talking about taking time away from the drinks!!) If you give a little star quality and be jovial, looking like you're having a good time, people will be willing to give a little more (more time for you to make their drinks and more cash in the form of tips - that is, if you're serving quality cocktails).

So have fun, do good work, and try to find joy in it. :)

"Get a Quick-Blend."
"Go buy a Margaritaville (sorry for the name) blender or the 600 watt cuisinarts at Costco for $79.00(or both)."

Generally, when you go to work for someone else, you don't get to tell them what equipment to buy, nor should you bring your own blender. You use what they have provided, make it work, and then, over time when you've proved yourself, they may listen to your preferences.

Hey, it never hurts to ask.

I use the Oxo angled measuring cup. I have six so I can make multiple drinks at a time. It measures down to the ml and its easy for my old eyes to read the amount.

Best of luck to you!

Here is a great article about the 13 types of bartenders, from Modern Drunkard Magazine. Decided which one you want to be most like:

http://www.moderndrunkardmagazine.com/issues/11-03/11-03-bartender.htm

Thanks everyone for being so forthcoming with the advice. Thankfully in a service bar I won't have to interact with bar patrons (which I personally prefer, I hate boring stories) but the drawback is I won't have a barback. It looks like they'll be a lot of glassware washing/loading in between drinks.

About the well, is there ever a universal order for the bottles, for instance, at my old bar, it went vodka on the far left (most popular) moving inward to the right the next bottle was white rum, then bourbon, then gin, then tequila. Does it matter?

All excellent advice.
Consolidate your steps and always return the bottle/items back where they belong, so you can always find them for the next drink.
It can be a fun job.

And Oh Ya!
Cocktail waitresses can be fun to date (low profile).

On 2008-03-25 11:00, Registered Astronaut wrote:
...About the well, is there ever a universal order for the bottles....Does it matter?

Yes, it matters!

Find out how they are set up now and learn that.

If it is your station to set up, set it up your way and ALWAYS set it up that way.

What about counts? How many counts equals one ounce. Four right? 6 counts is 1 1/2? etc...?
They have special recipes in counts, not ounces.

Just an update if anybody cares, my training began two days ago and it's been the best training I've ever had for any job. The bar manager is awesome, thorough, and patient. I heard he's gonna get tough on me later, but I'm ready to step it up. That said, I'm very blessed to have taught myself tropical drink mixology, and the study of mixology in general. To be clear, while I have worked in bars before, this was mostly a hobby for me up until now. But boy am I glad I have the knowledge I have. I can see how most bartenders are trained to see drinks as equations, to be solved in the fastest, most efficient way possible, with no regards to balance, or tradition. In my particular service bar we are CRUNCHED and i've only trained when it's slow, so I have empathy for bartenders who just learn to churn and burn and not give a second thought to the actual art itself. That said, some idiot bartender who thinks his way is the best and only way because he makes a thousand drinks per night has a feeble argument. Yes, he's skilled, but, are the thousand drinks he's making any good? To average joe, maybe- but he doesn't know the difference between triple sec and orange curacao, he just knows when they're called for and when they aren't. I'm making drinks I would never serve to my friends- not because they're bad- but because they're not what I believe in. But I don't care, because you don't put your feet on the hosts' couch. You let them tell you to take your shoes off at the door and use coasters on the coffee table. Because its their place, not yours.
P.S. I didn't know that the modern martini has no vermouth- vermouth is now a call. Atleast in L.A., a Martini is shaken vodka.

On 2008-03-30 18:28, Registered Astronaut wrote:
...I didn't know that the modern martini has no vermouth- vermouth is now a call. Atleast in L.A., a Martini is shaken vodka.

Just don't forget how it is really supposed to be done. Making what they want is what it is all about in a commercial bar. The art comes in when you get the opportunity to do it the 'right way' and doing it the 'right way' well.

Arrgh! A Martini is gin and vermouth, and it's stirred, not shaken. How the hell did that morph into shaken vodka? You're telling me one has to actually ask for a gin and vermouth martini?

Please don't tell me how you're told to make an Old Fashioned.

[ Edited by: Koolau 2008-03-30 23:46 ]

On 2008-03-30 23:45, Koolau wrote:
Arrgh! A Martini is gin and vermouth, and it's stirred, not shaken. How the hell did that morph into shaken vodka? You're telling me one has to actually ask for a gin and vermouth martini?

Please don't tell me how you're told to make an Old Fashioned.

[ Edited by: Koolau 2008-03-30 23:46 ]

It's Jack Daniels shaken with a couple orange wedges and a dash of Soda water, isn't it? :wink:

On 2008-03-31 02:26, cheekytiki wrote:

On 2008-03-30 23:45, Koolau wrote:
Arrgh! A Martini is gin and vermouth, and it's stirred, not shaken. How the hell did that morph into shaken vodka? You're telling me one has to actually ask for a gin and vermouth martini?

Please don't tell me how you're told to make an Old Fashioned.

[ Edited by: Koolau 2008-03-30 23:46 ]

It's Jack Daniels shaken with a couple orange wedges and a dash of Soda water, isn't it? :wink:

No, the Modern Old Fashioned has the orange as garnish. :wink:

My girlfriend and I made Mojitos the other day. Blueberry Mojitos, with Blueberry vodka! They technically aren't even Mojitos I guess. No I haven't turned into a robot bartender, and I haven't lost my integrity- but, I have opened my eyes a little bit to the possibilities beyond your standard fare in grog log. I don't mean to trivialize our passion for tropical cocktail mixology; that's what brought me here. That's why I have a job bartending. And I do plan to change my bar's mai tai recipe to the trader vic original. But sitting here staring at my blueberry Smirnoff (stoli it was ten bucks more)I realized just three weeks into my job and I have loosened up my collar if you will. I would have never bought blueberry vodka before this job. I hate vodka, I hate that people will spend twenty bucks for an odorless, tasteless substance because it supposedly "tastes better." But there's so many possibilities with some of the new alcohols, and in the past I was a bit of a snob, for ignorant reasons. First, I thought flavored alcohols were around 40 proof, sweetened, in other words, similar to liquers.I was surprised to find that most of them are 70 proof, relatively light, and not always sweet. Second, I hated that everything had to have a "flavor," even some cherished rums we enjoy had "flavored" lines (Cruzan, for instance). I likened it to a symbol for the nations deterioration of good taste, amongst many other huge red flags.
Anyways... from what I understand, Mr. Don Beach was using rum, which at the time was in bad taste and out of favor with the social elite, a spirit relegated to whinos and sailors. And he was flavoring that awful spirit with juices and sugar. I'm not here to promote flavored vodka, I'm just trying to say there's lots of new drinks we can come up with beyond the standard citrus+sweetener+rum. You've got to wonder, when Trader Vic first used pimento dram in the Navy grog, that Liquer coulda been the equivalent of Watermelon Pucker. Probably not, but just saying. If anything I promote balance and quality in my new position. If someone orders a Jameson sour, I'll use fresh lemon juice and sugar syrup, because a 15 dollar drink (welcome to LA) should taste fresh, balanced and quality. I will use sour mix out of the gun on a well whiskey sour because that's what the customer is probably used to, and I don't have time to do everything the long way!

[ Edited by: Registered Astronaut 2008-04-24 15:58 ]

So it sounds like you are having fun then..... tell us more.

And I like your idea about what was being used 'then' and why. Will have to put some think into that, it sounds like it is worth looking into.

RA, please give us the recipe for this new Mojito. Some of us do like to look outside of the box once in a while. And which area of LA are you bar tending?.

Positive response? I'm astounded. Usually it's a pretty cold reception around these parts. The blueberry Mojito is pretty damn delicious- at the bar we use Stoli Blueberi vodka..you just do a normal Mojito base (lime, sugar syrup and mint) plus fresh blueberries, muddle about seven blueberries with the mint, add stoli blueberi and club soda. My bar manager likes us to add a dash of Blue Curacao, I guess to drive the point home, but personally I would skip this measure. The blueberries muddled make a beautiful, natural purple shade in the drink. We have a hibiscus trees outside the house we can use the flowers for garnish it looks really nice.

I am kinda limited at the bar- I have fresh lime and lemon juice, Perricone's brand. But I don't have passion fruit syrup. We use Island Oasis purees (you've seen 'em at any bar in Hawaii, they make a blue hawaii puree, a mango puree, a banana, rasberry, etc...) and apparently they make a passion fruit syrup but we don't order it. If we did, a whole new option of drinks would be opened up: zombies, TV grog, Rum Keg, and the like. We deal with the Bacardi reps (which you'll be unhappy to hear are super nice, so are the rums of Puerto Rico guys) so we only have Bacardi brands and meyers, but if you know Astronaut's post history you'll know he can use Bacardi select as a demerera replacement...so navy grogs are a possibility. But in all honestly, I'd steer you towards tiki-ti above all.

[ Edited by: Registered Astronaut 2008-05-01 20:59 ]

My favorite Mojito is Pomegranate. You might give it a try sometime. Best of luck on your training, I enjoy reading about your progress and admire your dedication.

Maria Grant , Ottawa Citizen; CanWest News Service
Published: Wednesday, May 18, 2005

OTTAWA - This Pomegranate Mojito is a lovely light drink, perfect for a hot summer's night. A subtle fruitiness complements the mixture of white rum, sugar and mint leaves found in the classic Mojito, which is native to Cuba. This recipe makes one drink and takes five minutes to prepare.

I recommend you use superfine sugar because regular sugar may not fully dissolve. Pomegranate juice is available in the fruit section of the supermarket. This recipe is from the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills and was recently published in Bon Appetit magazine.

POMEGRANATE MOJITO

Serves 1

• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) superfine sugar

• 1 tablespoon (15 mL) fresh lime juice

• 12 fresh mint leaves

• 6 tablespoons (90 mL) white rum

• 1/4 cup (50 mL) pomegranate juice

• Chilled soda water

In a tall glass combine sugar, lime juice and mint leaves. Mash together with the back of a spoon. Mix in white rum and pomegranate juice. Fill glass with ice, then top with a splash of soda water.

Try a Gin Mojito, I personally would say it is better than the original.