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Every bartender to be or already needs to know that you need to have your bar gear and all the other liquids and solids you will ever need to mix together. To make the perfect drinks you will need to make great use of your brain power. The perfect drinks are not just a function of equipment but also, taste, care, and patience. So Long as you have an understanding of what you mixing or you do, you will always find a way around a piece of the bar-gear.

If you are in the market for barware, what should you go for?

A Shaker:

For home use, the standard three-part stainless steel shaker is good for this job. It is easy to use, long lasting and holding all things constant, your drink will pour a little bit colder than if the shaker was made of plastic or glass. This is commonly referred to as a cobbler. Most bartenders use the two-part ‘Boston’ shaker which is made up of a pint glass which is the American beer pint and a 26-ounce stainless steel mixing tin.

A Cocktail Strainer:

The strainers built at the top of almost all three-part shakers. As a result, they tend to pour rather slowly,  hence the dilution happens better. The best strainer is the one with a spring-edged contraption which can be held over the bottom of your shaker as you pour out your drink. You need to make sure that your strainer is a sturdy one. There are two types of strainers:

The Hawthorne Strainer: the spring is loaded to fit around the top of the mixing tin. It consists of a flat disc which is fixed to a coiled spring. The spring traps generally trap huge chunks or slivers of ice and other solid ingredients like muddled fruits and mint leaves.

Julep Strainer: It fits exactly into a mixing glass. It is a perforated bowl-shaped cup and it had a handle.

A Bar Spoon:

This can be anything that has a long handle and is sturdy. Most bar spoons have long necks to allow it to reach the bottom of the largest mixing glass. It can either be twisted or cylindrical and this allows the spoon to spin freely during stirring.

A Muddler:

This is important as it is a necessary tool that muddles up the herbs in any Old-Fashioned drink or mojitos. This is thick hardwood dowel which has a flat bottom.  You might need to sandpaper the bottom as most of these muddlers come varnished.No one would like to have varnish in their drink.  There is also stainless steel alternatives which leave less residual in your ingredients that are being muddled.

The flat part is one used to muddle and the round end is the handle. It is important to note that you will need some bit of liquid to muddle but too much of the liquid will make muddling a little bit difficult.

Jiggers:

These are used for measuring purposes. They come in the form of back-to-back stainless steel cones. You will need a two ounce/ ten-ounce jigger on the lowest side and also a one and a half ounce/three-quarter ounce and also a one ounce/ half ounce jigger as well.

Measuring Spoons:

These spoons come in different sizes but you will need to have only four of these. One tablespoon which is equal to half an ounce, half a tablespoon which is a quorate ounce. 0ne teaspoon(a sixth of an ounce), half a teaspoon (a 1/12 of an ounce). Anything above this boils down to pinches and dashes

A Knife:

This will need to be a nice looking, sharp paring knife. Other knives you might need is the chef’s knife for cutting up large fruits like pineapple or halving citrus.

A Small Cutting Board:

This will be used in cutting, slicing, and peeling of citrus.

A Vegetable Peeler:

This is majorly used to cut your twists.

A Juicer:

Whatever you usually use to juice your lemons, limes, oranges and or grapes will work well. If you are in need of any equipment, you can go for the Mexican-style hand juicer.

Fine-Meshed Strainer:

This is basically used to strain your juice. This will make the drink look better and also make it easy to clean the equipment used.

The Glassware:

This is an additional, especially for your home bar. No mixology gear is complete unless there is your glassware. The following three glass where are quite important:

• High Ball Glass: This is basically for drinks that contain large volumes of juice or/and soda mixers.
• Rock Glass: This generally for drinks with ice cubes. A heavy bottom is also good for muddling of the ingredient.  This is known as double old fashioned.
• Stem: This generally used for drinks that do not contain or served with ice cubes. The stem is generally used to keep the hand from warming the drink.

When you’re looking for an ideal wine you want something that offers the perfect level of sweetness, but just what does that mean?

Well, it’s going to be different for different people.

You can choose a bottle of wine with a very sweet rating on the wine chart or one with a bone-dry score, or maybe you like something a little closer to the middle of the pack. If you’re not sure, this is a good time to start looking at different types of wine and how they rank and then trying out a few options.

Bone Dry vs. Very Sweet

You may not think of a beverage of any kind as being ‘bone dry’ but if you’ve ever had wine categorized this way you might change your mind. Some wines are actually capable of sucking the moisture directly out of your mouth and make you feel like you’re nearly dehydrated.

Others are so sweet that you can feel the sugar coating the inside of your mouth. Of course, there are always those wines that fall somewhere in the middle or slightly closer to one side of the wine chart than the other. Only you can decide which way you prefer.

What Makes Wine Dry?

So, why does wine taste dry in some instances? Professional food scientists and wine writers have been looking at this for years, and they have come up with three different aspects of wine that decide whether it is dry or sweet, as to better place it in the wine chart.

These three aspects are the aroma, the tannins, and the acidity. Of course, sweet wines have these as well, but in different combinations. Tannins that are high will produce a more drying effect in the mouth when paired with high acidity and an aroma that is less sweet it will create the drying impact even more.

Some of the driest red wines that you can look for include a bold and bitter finish or savory flavors, like Tannat, Bordeaux, Aglianico or French Malbec.

Dry white wines include lemon and mineral flavors primarily and include options like Italian Pinot Grigio, Gavi, Muscadet, Vinho Verde, and Arinto. These wines will give you the bone-dry taste that you may be looking for, but keep in mind that we’re not kidding when we say they’re going to completely dry out your mouth and your taste buds while you drink.

What Makes Wine Sweet?

By the law of opposites, we know that if the bone-dry wine has high tannins, high acidity, and low sweet aroma, a sweet wine must have low tannins, low acidity and a great sweet aroma, right? Well, it’s just about that simple. Wines that taste sweet also smell sweet, and when you get a low level of acidity and a low level of the drying tannins, you’re going to get a glass of wine that tastes sweeter and sweeter, all the way up to that cloying sweetness of an exceptionally sweet wine.

If you’re looking for some of these very sweet wines you’ll find red wines that contain figs, raisins and dates are some of the best options. These include the Tawny Port and Vin Santo Rosso.

Very sweet white wines can consist of flavors of golden raisin, apricot jam, and fig. They include options like White Port, Passito wines, Moscatel Dessert Wine and Vin Santo. Each of these is going to give you the heavy flavor of sweetness that you’re looking for, and a great compliment to more acidic foods. Unless, of course, you’re really looking for as much sweetness as possible.

Balancing it Out

In the middle of the wine chart are options for off-dry or semi-sweet wines. These are great for those who want a little bit more balance but tend to lean in one direction or another. For red wines, you’ll find semi-sweet options that contain candied fruit and floral flavors, like Brachetto D’Acqui, Recioto Della and Valpolicella. I

n a white wine, you’ll discover off-dry wines with honeycomb and lemon flavors, like Chenin Blanc, Kabinett Riesling, and Torrontes. You’ll also find semi-sweet options that include tropical fruit and perfume flavors, like Moscato. These are going to give you a little more of the balance you may want for a dinner party or happy hour.

Finding the Flavor in the Wine Chart

Different aspects affect the flavor of a wine, as we mentioned in the wine chart. The tannin, acidity, and aroma of a wine will give it a distinct lean toward dry or sweet, so take a look here.

Tannins are related to the way that the wine feels on your tongue. They make the wine feel dry or not by changing the level of bitterness and astringency to the wine. For some, it doesn’t take a lot of tannins to recognize the effect, but others don’t have the same level of sensitivity.

Acidity is another area that you’ll notice a difference toward sweet or dry. That’s because higher levels of acid cut through sweet aspects of wine or anything else for that matter. If you have sweet, you want to add at least a little sour to balance it. Not enough and you get something very sweet; too much and you get something very sour, or acidic, which makes it taste drier.

Finally, the way something smells can play tricks on your mind. If it feels sweet, your body thinks that it must taste sweet and that works in favor of sweeter wines. And remember that you want to use a wine aerator when pouring red wine.

On the other hand, if it smells sour, you’re going to feel the sourness as soon as you take a sip. Your mind can play tricks on you in that way, or it can enhance the intended flavor of the end product.

No matter what type of wine you’re looking for, you can find it in red or in white, with a dry or a sweet option. You can also try out several different choices that lean in either direction. Sweet wines vary from semi-sweet to very sweet and dry wines differ from one off-dry all the way to bone dry. Just use the wine chart as assistance.

A wine vintage chart will visually show you the quality and traits of a specific region and year. These charts help you make good buying choices by showing you the best years and regions together. When you ask yourself if the 2018 Chardonnay from Napa or the 2019 is better, simply use a wine vintage chart to find out. The one that I find the best is by famous wine expert Robert Parker, you can find it here.

Why did you get into bartending? Maybe it was for the extra bucks, may be due to the fact that you are a beer person who has always imagined working at that brewery that you have been eying since you started to appreciate the fine art of beer.  Or maybe the reason was to get more girls. Or maybe you like being the life of the party.

For whatever reason, the reason evolves with time. If you liked it because you liked being the life of the party, that might get old but one thing that always remains and that will never lose its appeal is that every time you walk out of the bar every night, you have some money in your pocket at the end of the night no matter how broke you walked in.

How Much Money Is Too Much?

Based on where you work, a low-end restaurant/bar can bring in about 100 Dollars a night which is pretty cool but on busier hotel bars something between 200-250 dollars is pretty cool.

Do you want to bring in more? You can start to consider some really upscale cocktail bars and restaurants or even top tier casinos where on a normal night, 250 dollars is okay, but on a more grand night, more than 400 dollars can easily come in.

How can you bring in the green?

• Dress The Part:

No matter where you work, be it a resort, classy bar or some punk rock club, always dress the part.  Make sure that your clothes are clean. Make sure you are well put together and this will give you the confidence to give you that you need, the extra tip. No one wants to be served by a sweaty bartender.

• Spark Some Conversation:

Do not be scared to speak to your customers.  Make sure that they do not only talk to you but also to each other. Introduce them to each other. I mean you cannot talk to all people at the bar at the same time or can you?

• Bring In The Charm:

Bartending is all about the charm and charismatic personality. It is through this charisma that people keep on coming back. You will need to be fun, outgoing and a really good listener. You will need to have some great stories that will rock your people. Remember to always compliment.

• Learn To Enjoy Your Job:

The reason why bartending is one of the best jobs is because you get to meet and talk to new people all the time. One thing that is always unique about a bartender, everyone loves the booze supplier. Happiness is contagious, if you happy, your customers will be happy and the cheer spirit will definitely be felt in the bar.

• Be Clean:

Make sure that your bar surface and service is clean, so are your cocktail glasses and shakers.

• Have Some Style:

You will need to add some flair. You can start slow with some fancy looking paper napkins and straws. You can then up to some cool glassware, tins, and bottles.  If you are not already doing some flair, why don’t you give it a try?

• Know Your Customers:

Always acknowledge new customers as they walk into your bar. They will keep coming back again and again if they feel appreciated by you especially if you take the time to know their name and their usual drink.

• The Power Of Suggestion:

To get that extra zing, you will need to know your menu better than anyone else, other bartenders, the manager, waiters and everyone else. Know the ingredients in your drinks so that you can be able to easily suggest a drink for your guests based on what they ordered first.

• Know When To Give A Freebie:

A bar, of course, is not a place to give free booze, but any good bartender and manager know the need to give a free drink to a new guest or the longtime regulars. For the new guys, it will be giving a good reason as to come back as for the old customers, it is a sign of appreciation for their business.

• Keep Your Service Excellent:

This is a no-brainer for any person in the service industry. Do not complain about the tip you given because you ignored your customers, were rude or gave sloppily made drinks. Make sure you treat your customers like family, ensure anyone who has had a little bit too much for the road gets home safely.

Be friendly, make everyone happy be entertaining and do your job really well. This is secret to making great tips.

One of the hardest decisions that a person will have to make in their life is the type of job and career that they want to pursue. There are so many different types of work out there that narrowing it down to one can seem impossible. One of the most fun and most challenging careers that you can pursue is bartending. There are countless career opportunities out there for a good bartender once they complete Bartending School. Once you get out of your training, there are certain rules that you will need to take into consideration if you want to be successful in this line of work. Here are a few of those rules and how you can apply them.

1. Keep Them Happy

The first thing you need to consider when bartending for the first time, is that keep the customer happy is very important. You want to make sure that you use all of the tools that you have at your disposal to make the people at your bar satisfied with your service. The happier your customers are, the more money you ultimately stand to make due to the number of tips you will get.

2. Keep it Professional

Another important thing that you need to remember is that you are at a job and not a party, so be sure to keep it professional. Be sure that you are not too free with the alcohol because the bar owner is looking to turn a profit and does not want all of their money going down the drain. You need to make sure that you never drink on the job because this is very unprofessional and it can cost you your job. The more you treat bartending like a serious job; the better off you will be in the long run.

3. People are Watching You

Yet another thing that you need to remember when trying to have a successful career in bartending is that you are the center of attention while at the bar so act accordingly. You need to make sure that you are engaging and that you are laid back and have fun. The last thing that people want to see is a bartender with a bad attitude. This will cost you a lot of business and if you are not careful your job.

If you follow these rules, you will be able to have a long and successful career in the bartending industry. You need to also talk to some experienced bartenders to see what kind of rules that they have that you may be able to take advantage of.

Are You in United States or Canada And Want to Join a Bar School?

Anyone can go and get a Bartending Certification Online, but it takes dedication to become a great bartender. There is a lot of competition when it comes to bartending, so you will need to make sure that you find a way to stand out among the crowd. The more work that you put in to becoming a better bartender, the more success you will ultimately be able to have. There are a variety of things that you must do in order to be good at bartending and neglecting anyone of them can turn disastrous quickly. Here are a few things that you must do in order to be a successful bartender.

Learn the Menu

The first thing that you have to do in order to be successful at bartending is to learn the drink menu of the bar that you work at. You need to make sure that you know the menu in and out so you can avoid looking foolish in the future. The more you aware of what your bar offers, the easier it will be for you to accommodate your customers fully. Neglecting to learn the menu you will put you at a horrible disadvantage.

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

Another thing you need to remember when trying to be a successful bartender is that it is not about tips all of the time and getting wrapped up in how much a customer leaves you will drive you mad. You need to remember that bartending is a long term game and that one bad tip will not make or break you. Be sure to serve each customer that you have to the best of your ability and you will never be disappointed with the tip that they leave you.

Run Your Bar

You need to make sure that you set firm ground rules of what will and will not be tolerated at your bar. The more the customers know what they can get away with, the fewer disturbances you will have to worry about. The second you let the customers take over your bar, you will never be able to fully regain it which can be bad for business.

If you follow these criteria, you will be able to be successful at your new career. The more of a professional that you are behind the bar, the better off you will be.

So, you’ve mastered the basics of cocktails. You can shake, stir and strain a drink with ease. You can skewer and twist and zest garnishes in a jiffy. You can float, swizzle, express, dry shake and double strain too. Congratulations, you passed Bartending 101.

Time for the next level.  

There’s a lot left to learn, grasshopper. These techniques—from doubling up on jiggers and shakers, to sabering Champagne, to tapping a keg—will take you to the next level of drink mastery.

Use Two Jiggers at Once

Doubling up your jigger hand may seem like a small change, but it can vastly speed up your drinks when you’re making cocktails en masse for a party of impatient drinkers. Hold a larger jigger—a 1- and 2-ounce jigger preferably—in between your thumb and forefinger, and use it by turning your whole hand. Hold a smaller jigger—preferably a .5- and .75-ounce jigger—between your forefinger and middle finger, and use it by rotating only those two fingers in a seesaw motion. This leaves your other hand free to hold a bottle and means the correct measurement is literally never out of reach.

Double Shake

Shaking two shakers at once isn’t much different from shaking one, but it does take a bit more confidence in your technique. Make sure you have a firm grip on both shakers, placing your thumb, ring and pinky fingers on the bottom tin, and your forefinger and middle finger on the top tin. Everything else is a matter of style—you can tap the tins together for a bit of flair, shake them together in a tricep extension motion or alternate like a piston.

Throw a Cocktail

Throwing a cocktail from one shaker tin to the other isn’t just a flashy move out of Cocktail. In fact, the garish display of coordination is a perfectly balanced mixing technique, somewhere in between rough shaking and delicate stirring. Begin with both shaker tins above your head and the strainer in place as usual. Then, as you pour, lower the catching tin to your midsection. Once fully poured, return the liquid to the original tin and repeat a few more times until well mixed.

Flame Cinnamon Sparks Over a Cocktail

Flaming cocktails get plenty of attention in a crowded room, but if you want to put on a real show, you can make a cinnamon fireball appear over a drink. Float some high-proof booze (usually 151) on top of a drink, light it safely, then sprinkle cinnamon on top. The falling spice will ignite into a cloud of sparks that appears explosive but is actually relatively contained. You can either sprinkle the cinnamon from above (again, carefully), or shake at the flame from a slight angle from a spice shaker.

Make an Ice Sphere

Making a perfect ice sphere doesn’t require any fancy technique or special skills. It just takes the right tool and dedicated practice. Pick up a proper three-pronged ice pick and go to work at an ice block slightly larger than the sphere you want, chipping away at every corner you see until you are left with a round ball. Pro tip: Pour a bit of water over the finished ball to smooth the rough surface.

Pour Two Drinks at Once

Double your cocktails; double your fun. If you look closely at your Hawthorne strainer, you’ll notice there’s a gap in the middle separating two distinct channels for the liquid. Lining this gap up with the lips of two glasses sitting side by side allows you to pour a single tin into both cups at once.

Saber a Bottle of Champagne

It's unlikely you'll ever truly need to slash open Champagne with a sword, but if you're ever presented the opportunity, know it is one of the greatest visceral joys of this life. Keep the blade angled down at a 45-degree angle against the seam of the neck, and swing through like a golfer. Just don't go popping every bottle this way, otherwise you'll go from party hero to saber-happy weirdo.

Reverse Dry Shake

If you've mastered the dry shake for fluffy eggy cocktails, you can graduate to this more obscure practice. Simply reverse the order of standard and dry shakes. Shake the liquid ingredients with ice, strain the mixture into the smaller shaking tin or mixing glass, dump the ice, add egg white, and shake again. Julie Reiner of Clover Club fame prefers this method to make the bar’s eponymous cocktail, giving the drink an extremely large frothy head.

Properly Tap a Keg

Tapping a keg is one of those skills you never think to learn until you absolutely need it. Worse yet, the stakes are high, with a beer geyser as penalty if you mess up. Don't worry; just follow the coupler lugs to line everything up. And whatever you do, make sure the tap is disengaged before you screw it in.

Open a Beer With a Chef Knife

You can Macgyver your way into a bottle of beer with just about any household object, but—short of an actual opener—the most likely tool in your bar arsenal is a knife for slicing garnishes. Don't go stabbing away at the cap, though. Instead, use the spine of the blade to pry up the prongs of the cap, then use the forefinger of the hand holding the bottle as a fulcrum to lift the cap off.

Hard Shake

This move is so difficult, there’s supposedly only one person in the world who can do it right: its inventor, master bartender Kazuo Uyeda. Mere mortals can only half replicate his majestic, impeccable shaking technique, which achieves perfect dilution and aeration—at least, according to Uyeda. But if you follow our detailed instructions you might come close.

What is it?

Flair bartending is basically the art and skill of entertaining your clientele or audience with the juggling and manipulation of your bar tools in dazzling ways.



How to do Flair Bartending

Flair bartending is not all about the juggling of the bottles, some ice trick which is the definition of flair bartending in the strictest sense, but generally, it is just anything that can create an extra excitement and dazzle to your clientele’s drinking experience. You can do a simple juggling trick or a rather funny story or joke. If possible to use both, then use them.

How did Flair Become Famous?

Flair hit the mainstream after appearances in the 1988 film Cocktail starring Tom Cruise.

Perhaps, the flair scene exploded, even more, when it appeared in the iconic 2000 movie, Coyote Ugly.

The Largest Flair Bartending Competitions

Roadhouse World Flair – an annual competition in central London, UK

Legends of Bartending – Perhaps one of the most publicized events. Many videos on YouTube of this event helped promote flair. This event is in Las Vegas and has now been discontinued.

Quest – Quest is the oldest major flair competition in the world. It takes place in Orlando, but unfortunately, it has also been canceled.

Skyy Global Flair Challenge in 14 different countries including China, UK, Canada, Israel, Czech Republic, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, etc. – discontinued

Hard Rock Cafe has conducted a global “BARocker working flair competition”since 2013.

Flair or freestyle bartending can be categorized into styles: the working flair and the competition flair. The biggest difference between these two is the amount of risk and complication of tricks used, making the competition flair the most risk and more complicated than the working flair.

How is Flair Performed at Competitions?

This is all about the performance. Competition flair is borderline choreography. It requires hours of rehearsal.

Flair competition contestants number their bottles and have them positioned accordingly for tricks. Every second of the performance matters. Practicing the timing is crucial.

When it comes to flair competition, there is room for freedom.

At a competition, a contestant can perform tricks that can’t be done behind the counter at work. Take 4 minutes to make a drink at a busy bar and you will create a line. In a competition, spilling is a no-go zone.

The reason for all this flair is to achieve some money, recognition (those viral YouTube videos), better bartending gigs, and prizes just to mention a few.

If you doing your flair for this purpose, practice, and practice until you achieve perfection.

How Flair Bartending Can be Performed in a Bar?

This kind of flair requires a bartender to efficiently mix drinks while impressing a guest. The critical rule for flair behind the bar is to not use tricks that drastically slow down service.

The worst thing that can happen during flair on the job is spillage. Patrons will enjoy the entertainment, but will not be impressed about losing alcohol for it. The whole point of the working flair is to add value to your guests. Flair is for impressing.

Flair will increase a bartender’s interaction with quests nothing.

An exciting performance will be called for higher-paying gigs and even work at more glamorous bars. In specific hot nightclubs in rather very competitive markets such as Las Vegas, New York and Los Angeles, the over-the-top flair can be extremely useful.

Learning Flair Bartending

When it comes to flair tricks, you can either take a course or learn while on the job.

Classes are a good way to go especially if you want to learn how to be over an top bottle flipper. Hence, having a pro show you will help you get the tricks correctly and reduce the mistakes and the certificate will be useful if you want to work in a music-over-talking bar.

Schools that Teach Flair Bartending

Local Bartending School – Locations Nationwide
 

Alternative Flair Bartending

The whole bedazzle of bottle flipping and flames can be a spectacle, there is an alternative that is entertaining and does deserve a recognition,” the bartender with the entertaining word.”

Customers do not only go to watch the juggling but also to interact socially. The most memorable bartender is the one that shares the best jokes and stories, listens and also provides useful info and trivia and charming thee customers all through the night. This kind of flair will always bring in the big tips home. It is all about the exchange of many words with the dollars $$$$$

To be the best bartender, combine some easy, neat bottle and tool skills, inserting some tricks and engage the customers. Find the perfect balance as this calls in for the balance. Use your hands to show your professional ability and your words a charm. Where do you think the term “Cool Bartender” came from???

How Much Do Flair Bartenders Make?

According to the most recent data from the United States government, the average annual salary for a Flair Bartender in the United States is $32,952 a year (without tips). This salary works out to be approximately $15.84 an hour. This is the equivalent of $634/week or $2,746/month.

Which Governments Have Banned Flair Bartending?

Oklahoma – The performance of flair in bars in the state has been banned. [citation needed]

Where to go to See Flair Bartending?

Carnaval Court and Fuel Bar – The outdoor round bar at Harrah’s Casino in Las Vegas.

Nottingham Forest Bar – Historic bar in Milan, Italy

The Roots or Kita Koguta – For an elegant and sophistacted feel in Warsaw, Poland

Be At One – One of many flair options in the capitol of flair, London, UK