Tuesday 24 February 2015

New Challenge - Flair Bartending

Oh, hey there. Welcome back, friend. It's been too long. Almost a whole year, actually, but who's counting, right? What I'd like to say is (mostly to myself, but also to you, dear reader, whom I can only discern as being deeply dismayed at my disturbing disappearance), well... I'm no good at this stuff, but I am great at being excessively dramatic.

Now, you probably aren't here to pat me on the back and hand me a hanky, and we're all about effective use of time, so let us get to it. 'It', being one of the things most likely to get the person in front of you gooned, just somewhere between 'being exceptionally attractive', and 'shouting "JAGERBOMBS, BRAH!"'- it's Bartending; and because nobody comes to the internet to see you talk about perfecting your Old Fashioned for a month, we'll focus specifically on the exciting world of flair bartending. I hear you uncultured swine out there. What is this Flar Beartending thing? Well, I'll tell you! Bartending, as I'm sure you already know, is the job bestowed upon a bartender to serve their customers that sweet sweet nectar we as a society have grown to love: Alcohol. The flair is the style, the flash, the razzle-dazzle that you all would love to see me attempt and fail miserably. Taking on the month's challenge means knowing and appreciating both parts of that delicious recipe.

Full disclosure: I am a bartender. I've only been doing it part time for about 5 months, but much like the Hoff, I know my way around a bar. That said, the flair side is all new to me, and I'd really like to take my bartending from being halfway decent to, at the very least, good over the next 4 weeks. I have some great resources available to me at work, via access to tools I wouldn't ordinarily have, and extremely knowledgeable staff with a wealth of information. This, along with the fact that I've been itching to try out something more skill and dexterity based, made deciding on this challenge pretty much a no-brainer. There will be thrills, there will be spills, there will be many-a-full dustpan; and no challenge would be complete without some lofty objectives to overcome. First off, I'll be coming up with a signature drink which is both legitimately tasty and marginally more exciting than a Cuba Libre. Since you probably don't have access to cybertaste yet, we'll be relying more on visuals for the other goals. At the end of the experiment, I'd like to be able to juggle three bottles together with about 90% success rate, AND attempt to re-enact the Hippy Shake scene from Cocktail as performed by the one and only Tom Cruise.

Ideally I'd like to lay things out on a weekly basis, as I've done in past challenges. For the first week I'll be working on refining and perfecting the basics of bartending. Week two, I'll be upping the ante with a few basic tricks to improve efficiency, speed, and showmanship in the bar. By week three I'm hoping to pick up some flashy, yet practical tricks for working behind the wood, and in week four I'll really be trying to nail down my final goals and work on some pure exhibition tricks for show off purposes only.

So get ready to have your whistles moistened and two or even three of your sheets loosed by the gusting gale of gins, juices, and other such boozes, while I take you on a journey that's sure to be a hit with all my alcoholics out there. As always, if you have any questions, ideas, suggestions, etc. - let me know, and stay tuned for next weeks update.

No comments:

Post a Comment