When I talk about romancing cocktails, keep in mind I’m not referring to the names of the ‘Between the Sheets’, and ‘Flirtini’s of the drink world. Instead, romancing is an often overlooked art of creating cocktail menus for bars and restaurants. Back to the business aspect of running a bar, “knowing your customer” recognizes that, unless you work in the super-speakeasies and cocktail lounges of the world, the majority of your guests don’t understand a lot of flavour combinations hiding behind your bar.

Because of this, a simple listing of cocktail ingredients will no longer suffice in selling your creations.

For food, a simple listing of ingredients still has a place, as the average customer has a fairly complex understanding of the flavours of many culinary ingredients. How many of your guests have tasted Green Chartreuse and Galliano together before? Have they even heard of both liqueurs? The name of ingredients becomes less important in describing cocktails as guests will more easily recognize the flavours of herbs, spices, anise, and vanilla.

Quality cocktail lounges are rare in the world, and so too are the guests who will have a deep understanding of the quality ingredients us bartenders are working with on a regular basis. Sure, the cocktails on my menu contain Rhubarb, Celery, and Boker’s bitters (and of course, Angostura), but they have no place on a cocktail menu where their appearance would simply confuse my guests.

If the guest is curious to learn more, the bartender would be more than happy to go further into depth about our ingredients and our approach to creating quality cocktails, but for the ones who stick strictly to reading the cocktail menu, here are a few tips to put the romance back into your cocktails.

Emphasize flavours, rather than names of products. As I stated before, your guests are more familiar with flavours then they are with specific spirits and liqueurs. It may be very easy for them to recognize vanilla flavours, but they might not have ever heard of Navan before.

Offering something unique? Tell me About it. Maybe your bar has begun to explore the caviars and foams of the molecular mixology world. Great. Does your guest know what you’re talking about when you say “topped with raspberry caviar” ? If I think you’re talking about fish eggs, that sounds pretty repulsive to me in a cocktail.

There’s a specific opportunity in cutting edge techniques that requires you to go further in depth in explanations, and even embellish. Try,

“To finish your cocktail, our bar scientists have worked tirelessly to trap fresh berries in spheres that burst with flavour in your mouth”

I think that sounds a lot more enticing in the description of that cocktail.

Does calling by name and listing ingredients serve your best interest? While flavours are the most important in romancing your cocktail, if you’re offering a unique or rare spirit or ingredient in your cocktail, it’s presence in the description makes it just as important. By remaining vague on other ingredients, it leaves you open to tinker and perfect your cocktails as time passes, without the need to reprint.

If the cocktail’s good enough to make it on a list, be proud of it. Gloat. Your guest has chosen your bar for a specific reason, and it could very well be that your “Cara Mia Strawberry Sour” is the best cocktail they’ve ever had. If you are confident enough to put a particular cocktail on your menu, your description of that cocktail should mirror that confidence. It gives your guests piece of mind when choosing their drink, and your bartender’s a level of excellence to aspire to.

For an example of cocktail romancing in action, I’m very proud to present Johnny Rocco’s New Cocktail Menu.

Popularity: 46% [?]

Yesterday, I posted an article dealing with some facts and figures on launching a fresh cocktail program, compared to using pre-mixed, sugary substitutes. You can read the article here.

While at Tales of the Cocktail this year, I was very fortunate to sit in on a seminar led by Philip Duff (door 74, Amsterdam) and Dushan Zaric (Employees Only, New York City) titled “The Fine Art of Banging Out Drinks Like a Maniac” which illustrated how two of the top bars in the world deal with making quality cocktails quickly.

Launching a fresh cocktail program? In case you missed it, here’s an awesome video of the daily prep Employees Only goes through to sell more than 237,000 quality drinks per year.

Popularity: 25% [?]

While quality cocktail bars around the world have embraced the idea of fresh, quality juices paired with premium spirits, much of the rest of the world has been slow to follow. While it may seem like a no brainer to most of you reading this, the idea of using quality ingredients for a superior cocktail has often been trumped by the idea of “cheaper”, ready made substitutes to make the bartender’s job faster, and more cost effective.

The truth is, the cost of a fresh cocktail program can often be on par with, if not cheaper than, post-mix “bar lime” or margarita mixes that are now all too common in bars across the world.

The next time you get in the “fresh cocktail” debate, here are some facts and figures that just might help you provide your guests with that quality cocktail.

Assumptions / Omissions
*This is the price I currently pay in my bar. In a seminar at Tales in July, Dale Degroff quoted a cost of $15 / 220 limes from his supplier, which brings the cost down to $0.06 per ounce of juice
**This assumes that each lime yields approx. 1 ounce of juice
***Omits the cost of simple syrup (sugar & water) to balance sour (approx. $0.01 per ounce)

Comparing Costs: Then and Now
When I took over the bar at Johnny Rocco’s here in Niagara Falls, the margarita was blended, using the Island Originals Margarita Mix and a ready-made, low quality tequila and triple sec combination. When we launch our new restaurant and cocktail menu, we’re going all fresh, and here’s the difference it’s going to make.

*Note: To get a full picture of the cost of a cocktail, factors such as labor cost, ice, cost of cleaning glassware, and more must all be considered as well

Which cocktail do you think will sell better? Providing a better quality drink and experience for your guest doesn’t have to be more expensive or inconvenient to you and your bar staff. With the proper preparation, and education of bartenders, we can all expect a little bit more value from our next drink.

Popularity: 91% [?]

There are very few occasions when any form of contest makes it’s way to Canada. While I receive information on cocktail competitions nearly every week, very few end up being eligible for those outside of the United States. So when I received an invite to G’Vine Gin’s latest offering, I was more than a little eager to participate.

G’Vine Gin, in case you’re unfamiliar, is one of a handful of recently-introduced spirits which tone down the classically-prevalent juniper flavouring present in most gins, to make way for other, softer, and arguably more palatable botanicals to shine. What sets G’Vine apart from the rest of the category is it’s base; rather than grain, G’Vine uses the Ugni Blanc / Trebianno grape, and distills it to neutral level. In addition to 9 other “classic” botanical flavours, such as ginger, cardamom, cassia, and more, G’Vine’s 10th botanical is synonymous with it’s base; the grape vine flower, which, according to G’vine, lends a “complex aroma of yellow and exotic fruits, banana, white flowers, and a hint of greenness and spiciness”.

But G’Vine’s Connoisseur Progam doesn’t just focus on their own brand. Through modules covering The History of Gin, The Making of Gin, How to Taste Spirits and Cocktails, and Gin Marketing, participants receive a rather thorough look at the whole gin category. With multiple choice testing after each module, and a particularly intense essay question at it’s conclusion, the G’Vine Gin Connoisseur’s program has put together something of incredible value to anyone looking to brush up on their gin knowledge. If you complete the course, here’s what you have a chance at winning:

Grand Prize
$3,000, a year’s supply of gin for your bar, a platinum vine-flower pin and an all-expenses-paid luxury tour for two, with flights, hotels, tailor-made clothes and Michelin 3-star tasting menus, around the three past, present and future cities of gin.

The Top 12 Finalists
But before the champion is crowned, the top twelve finalists from around the world are flown to France for a week of unique challenges and Connoisseur experiences: tastings, exams and seminars from master distillers, bar gurus, and leading aroma experts, culminating in you running your own one-man bar at the G’Vine Spring Ball in Paris. The twelve finalists include one from each of G’Vine’s largest international markets, plus at least one extra wild card from each of those markets, plus two global wild cards.

Top 20 in Each Country
And before then, the top 20 competitors in each country receive custom-made tools such as Gin Aroma Kits, and ice-ball moulds.

Even if you don’t see the program through to it’s completion, G’Vine has provided a training tool of tremendous value for bartenders across the world. The course, written by Philip Duff, is available free of charge, and if you’re interested, get started at the links below.

G’Vine Website: http://g-vine.com/home.php?page=connoisseurspres
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=143148150947&ref=ts

Popularity: 28% [?]