Flair
“Flair” is a show during which bartenders juggle
bottles with alcohol, glasses, ice or barman’s tools. Fireshow is synchronized with music. It is
not only “l’art pour l’art”, but a
cocktail is always a final result
of it :) Here is an example of such a show.
Surprised?
Well, such a presentation takes a long time to prepare. But hold on, we need to start
somewhere, right? :)
First of
all, we should know something about the types of glasses that are necessary to
prepare certain kinds of liquors.
http://www.taisin-ss.co.jp/icemold/english/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/glasses.jpg
These are the basic types that we should have in our cupboards if we
want to impress our guests. Of course there are many more of them such as an Irish
Coffee glass or a Pimm’s mug.
Another step to prepare yourself before making superior drinks is to
organize basic tools. I will mention a few of them so you will be able to
choose the most suitable for you! A Blender: with a cup from the upper
side, needed for fruit & vegetable purée, cocktail preparation made of
ingredients hard to mix together, whipped cream. It isn’t a bad idea to have one, because it
might replace a shaker. There are three main kinds of shakers. The
Boston Shaker: A two-piece shaker with a metal bottom and a glass or a plastic
mixing glass; The Cobbler Shaker: A three-piece cocktail shaker that has
tapers at the top and ends with a built-in strainer and includes a cap and The
French Shaker: A two-piece shaker consisting of a metal bottom and a metal cap.
A knife which allows you to cut
fruit and vegetables easily.
Here are some tools which will come in handy preparing alcoholic beverages.
http://s1.fotowrzut.pl/YUJO3SQV13/3.jpg
We often hear that drinking e.g. whisky with cola is not permitted, or
makes no sense at all. Well, here are some basic examples of mixing different
kinds of alcohol. Vodka tastes good with Vermouth and Campari, but cannot go
with gin or champagne. Another one is classic whisky, which doesn’t like
Campari, Pernod, Gin, Vodka, Rum, Tequila, Cognac and cream of coconut, but
could go (worse or better) with the rest of alcoholic beverages and even fruit
juices or (which is often mentioned) coke that suits it really well.
Right now
we can start preparing our favorite drink! :) I could give you some recipes to
start somewhere, however, I strongly recommend doing some research and test
your favorite ones on your own! I enjoy it so much that I cannot stop looking
for new flavors, colors and ways of preparing beverages!
When you
achieve a certain level of bartender’s skills, you could try to make some effective tricks
like professionals do. It requires some patience and some additional bottles as
well (trust me, I’ve tried once and
a whole wall was covered with curaçao! :D). There is a link to a basic trick
which allows us to develop it into a series of impressive moves, enjoy!
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScrK3y3ydbE&feature=player_embedded
Wow, those videos are quite impressive!:) Is that something you can do?
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about clear ice makers? I'm an avid whisky drinker (I love me some single malt) and back in the day when I still thought drinking it on the rocks was the correct way to do it I bought one of them. It was supposed to improve the taste by removing all the imperfections that come with the regular, cloudy ice. I couldn't taste the difference but it looked way cool - I still use it sometimes when drinking a blend whisky with coke. Thing is it takes time and effort to make those cubes. Is it in any way mechanised in a bar environment?
The furthest I've got to date are three ingredients drinks (including lime:). Reading your article made me want to try making some more complex cocktails.
Not really, I've tried once and I've broken a whole bottle of curaçao :) Well, I'm not such a sophisticated alcohol drinker to taste a difference between clear ice and normal ice, unfortunately. I'm happy that I've encouraged you do some cool drinks, cheers :)
DeleteI don't drink, so it's hard for me to give a comment on that topic. I prepared Mojito once or twice, some layered drinks and jello-vodka shots (https://mikisrecipes.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/jello-shots-vodka.jpg).
ReplyDeleteI also helped with preparing drunken jelly bears (http://www.littlepinkmonster.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/IMG_4847.jpg), which is quite similar to earlier mentioned jello vodka shots.
Your article didn't make me want to try new things, but is well and interesting as well ;)
Those jelly shots are quite interesting, gotta try them ;)
DeleteNice! Things they do with the bottles are awesome. More awesome is how they mix so many kinds of different flavors. You won't believe but I'm a fan of a non-alcoholic drinks. Especially based on litchi. For me, mixed with different kinds of juice have extraordinary taste. Do you know any of non-alcoholic drinks I can make on my own without this special tools you described in your presentation?
ReplyDeleteThis level of skill requires a lot of practice :) I like taste of litchi as well! Unfortunately I don't know any combinations of non-alcoholic drinks, however, there is a table which tells you which flavor could be mixed with another one to suit each other, maybe there's something similar for non-alcoholic beverages :)
DeleteHow is this table called? Where can I find it? :)
DeletePolish version is available in the book named "1000 drinków i koktajli" :)
DeleteReally nice topic! Thank you for all the information. For example info about types of glasses and other tools are helpful and in my opinion important. Regarding “Flair”, I like watching these shows. It looks really professional and difficult, nevertheless I would like to learn it also, but till now I haven’t found time for that . I agree with you that it makes no sense to give recipes, because everybody has an other sense of taste and it is good to try new tastes through trial and error.
ReplyDeleteDo you know about some organized courses, where you can learn such tricks? How long does the course last?
I'm glad u liked the article. There are plenty of courses in the city, you can find some on the internet obviously :)
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ReplyDeleteSomething refreshing :) Nice amount of information. I've seen so many times bartenders that fail in flairing. A lot of broken glass and ashamed bartenders... Most of the time with expensive alcohol in hands. Still, you need practice to perform well. But in my honest opinion they shouldn't try it in front of crowd.
ReplyDeleteStill, professional bartenders are able to perform pretty well and amaze the crowd. About recipes, I agree with Tomasz, it's hard to make good recipe of a drink. When I'm making drinks I always ask recipients, for example how much alcohol they want, if any.
Well, everyone makes mistakes, no matter if it is performance on a scene, if you are acting to a movie or if you are doing a trick behind a bar, in my opinion :)
DeleteGood article, really informative. I've tried flairing too and also failed, fortunately the bottle stayed intact :p I guess I should stick to what I'm good at and just keep practicing the movement of lifting the bottle / glass up to my mouth and setting it down on the table ;) Nonetheless, people who can do it well impress me very much but I guess any extraordinary feat of agility is very entertaining to watch and sure takes lot's of time to master so it should be respected.
ReplyDeleteThe best way is to nourish your talents you have already discovered in you! :P
DeleteHi everyone. I`m not a fan of the mixed alcohol drinks, more than this I like to drink less complicated liquids. However the flair is really nice to watch and always this put smile on my face. I`ve had some experience with shaker and drinks making. It was a lot of fun but we could talk only about simple drinks. I`ve also heard about molecular drinks (http://www.molecularrecipes.com/molecular-mixology/molecular-mixology/). This is really crazy but nowadays not many things could surprise us. Maybe someday I will try to do something with my bartender’s skills but now I`m leaving this matter for professionals. Thanks for you effort of prepared presentation. Congrats
ReplyDeleteVery interesting presentation. In my opinion those tricks can be very useful for bartenders to gain a tip.
ReplyDeleteI really like Coctail Bar Max (http://barmax.pl/). Using fresh fruits for drinks is awesome!
Nevertheless my favourite drink is whisky on the rocks. Dimple whisky is the one I like the most.
Gotta check both the site and the drink, cheers :)
DeleteThank you for your presentation. I drink from time to time, never really fancy drinks though. It doesn’t mean I don’t like coctails or long drinks, but I am nowhere close to being a fanatic. My problem is I don’t like all of the alcohols, f.i. I am not able to drink gin, not a big fan of whisk(e)y, bourbon, cognac, etc. On the other hand most of the time coctalis seem to sweet for me :) as you see it’s hard to find the balance....
ReplyDeleteYou should visit Katowice, there is a shot bar called chupito (‘shot’ in Spanish) on Mariacka, where they prepare the drinks and coctails building glass-pyramids on the bar, lighting the shots up, etc. You will fancy it if you like things like that.
I once saw a spectacle at the Marriott Hotel in Warsaw. I was then on my uncle's wedding. Special guests of the event were potential Masters of Poland in Flair. Honestly, this show was cool for a few minutes, but after a while it bored me a lot. I wanted to got a drink as soon as it was possible ;D
ReplyDeletevery interesting. I think this is very hard art. You need very good reflex to handle all this tricks. Also you need a lot of knowlege and good memory to handle all this recepies. I think we can easly name them "artists"
ReplyDeleteI've been trying once that kind of serving. It's very hard to do that (I've broke one bottle). And fater all I have to say: vodka+cola without "flair" is my favourite drink and of course the company to talk with is the most valuable thing. :-) But it's very interesting presentation of course.
ReplyDeleteMagdalena Gawędzka, have you ever tried some tricks like Flair? Your presentation is very nice, also a few lot of my friends though about bartender courses, so I guess it's a popular thing nowadays. Personally I rather prefer to watch a show, not taking part on it, and I'd love to see "Flair" on live!
ReplyDeleteOkay dude, just freakin' pour that alcohol into the glass mkay?! :D It's always cool to look at things like this along with the lights and good music, it gives you that feeling that you are a part of some cool movement. But some of these guys doesn't have timing and feeling for their show, If you wait for your drink too long you can get confused. Like always pluses and minuses... :D
ReplyDeleteIt looks impressive. I am not a fun of drinks because they are mostly sweet. I prefer fry ones. Like James Bond :D . I don't have room for all that "drink stuff" and many alcohols. If I found a desire for a drink I simply go to bar with friends :P. I have to admit that the glass is very important. Sometimes the same drink can taste very different if we try another type of glass.
ReplyDeleteThis topic has recently became very popular. Some try to make drinks themselves without previous preparation, while others read, gather information, buy accessories, alcohols and only do according to the rules. As for me, I prefer to try new flavors spontaneously. The worst if one drink will taste me and I do not remember how I did it. If you invite guests often it is fun to learn a fancy way of doing and serving drinks. I think this short article would be a great start in the adventure of making drinks.
ReplyDelete