I'm in Rio right now, helping judge
Diageo's Global World Class Bartender Finals. I'll no doubt be
frolicking on the beach, right outside the Copacobana, with hundreds of
nubile young things, and . . . Oh, that's not right. I'll be
inside the hotel watching some of the world's very best bartenders strut
their stuff.
Later on, though, I could possibly make it to the beach, I guess. Wish
me luck!
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Excerpted from the
Annual Manual for Bartenders: 2012.
July 9
Mindful Connections
Mindfulness, as I apply it to bartending, encompasses connecting to yourself and
others. I highly recommend spending time in meditation before setting foot
behind the bar as a way to connect to yourself. Meditation can be sitting
quietly, but it can also include setting up your bar, listening to loud music,
or any number of ways in which you psych yourself up for the shift ahead.
During your meditation, it’s good to set your intentions for your
upcoming shift. Concentrating on
being of service to your guests is a good thing, for instance.
Another aspect of connecting with yourself is trusting your intuition.
Listening is very important to Mindful Bartending, and when you listen to
yourself, you’re trusting your intuition.
Ever serve a guest who you knew
you shouldn’t serve? Me, too.
Intuition can’t be measured, but we all know that it’s a sense that we
can usually trust. And the more you
trust your intuition, the more your intuition will lead you in the right
direction. Intuition is very
important to the Mindful Bartender.
Communication is how we connect to others, and it is also key when
practicing Mindful Bartending. I’ve found that two important aspects of Mindful
Communication involve looking people in the eye when I speak to them and trying
to spend as much time listening as I do talking, and you may find these actions
enhance your life, too. Asking someone how they are doing and then walking away
before they have a chance to answer is not part of the mindful practice.
And to continue on the connection front, it’s good to practice Mindful
Communication with absolutely everyone.
Pop into the kitchen before your shift begins and say hello to the chef,
the line cooks, and the dishwasher.
Look them in the eyes and ask them how they are feeling.
Listen to their answers, too.
Do the same with the servers and the barbacks and the check-out person at the
supermarket and the homeless guy in the subway station.
This sort of thing pays off big time.
Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can break your heart.
Try to remember this when you communicate with your guests, and try to be
careful about how you phrase things.
The word should is a good word to
avoid, since nobody like to be told how they
should behave.
And you don’t actually have to use the word
should—implying it by telling someone
flat out to, “Stop bothering those people,” for instance, is also something
that’s good to avoid. The phrase, “you might want to think about” comes in handy
when you’re tempted to tell someone what you think they
should do.
“I wonder if you could think about lowering your voice a little,” usually
works far better than, “Hey, you should learn how to behave in public, asshole,”
for example.
Continued next week
Buy this year's Annual Manual for Bartenders
HERE
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Ada "Coley" Coleman was a celebrated early
twentieth-century bartender at London's Savoy Hotel, and she was a woman who got
her fair share of the limelight.
When she announced that she was about to retire, in 1925,
The Daily Express quoted her as saying, "I made cocktails for Mark Twain when he
came in the Savoy, Diamond Jim Brady, Prince Wilhelm of Sweden, James Corbett,
'Mr A.', the Egyptian Princess - yes, and the Prince of Wales," and noted that
she was "known to thousands of men all over the world."
In "Coley's Corner," then, we bring you links to stories
about bartenders all over the place.
We think it might make Coley smile.
In this issue we're featuring:
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Copy and paste these babies to get yerself a very complete cocktail book.
Myriam
Adapted from a
recipe by Wouter Vullings, Bols Bartending Academy/The Fabulous Shaker Boys,
Amsterdam
60 ml (2 oz)
Damrak gin
30 ml (1 oz)
wild nettle cordial*
10 dashes Orange
Flower Water of Bitter Truth
1 lemon twist,
as garnish
Stir over ice
and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add the garnish
*You may find
wild nettle cordial in a health food store, or you can make your own by boiling
nettles and some sugar in water.
My Way Manhattan
Adapted from a
recipe by Daniel-Grigore Mostenaru, Lente Café, Bucharest, Romania.
It took
Daniel-Grigore Mostenaru, a bartender from Bucharest, to really nail a drink
called the My Way Manhattan, so I
sort of think of him as being the Sid Vicious of classic cocktails.
I do hope that he approves.
It took me a
little while to translate the recipe that Mostenaru sent to me, but that had
nothing to do with English not being his native tongue.
It was his units of measurement that made me ponder a little.
He didn’t use
fluid ounces, of course. We’re the
last nation on the face of the earth to use that system, I think.
Are you listening, Mister President?
But he didn’t use the metric system, either.
Instead, Mostenaru presented his ingredients in terms of time.
He called for
“60 minutes of Four Roses bourbon, 30 minutes of Dubonet Rouge, 1 second of
orange curacao 1 second of Branca Menta.”
And he went on to instruct, “first mist your mixing glass with seconds ,
then add the minutes, the ice, and stir for about 23 to 24 seconds.”
Daniel-Grigore Mostenaru has a way with words, I believe.
I’ll let this
Bucharest bartender have the last word on this drink, I think.
He described it as a “beautiful variation of a never-die cocktail with
subtle flavours of bitters fruit, and spices.
It’s an underground drink for people whom enjoy a nice measure of
bourbon. Well said, Daniel-Grigore
Mostenaru. Well said.
7.5 ml (1/4 oz)
orange curacao
7.5 ml (1/4 oz)
Branca Menta
60 ml (2 oz)
Four Roses bourbon
30 ml (1 oz)
Dubonnet Rouge
1 lemon twist,
as garnish
Pour the curacao
and the Branca Menta into an empty mixing glass, and swirl the liquids around so
as to coat the interior of the glass.
Add ice and the remaining ingredients, stir well, and strain into a
chilled champagne coupe. Add the
garnish.
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