A Muddled Thought

Only 3 weeks left to register for Bar Smarts Wired, the online Bartending Course put out by Pernod Ricard USA and the Team Behind the Beverage Alcohol Resource Program(BAR). Registration runs until March 31st. Once this date passes registration is closed until the end of Summer.

We previously wrote about the Bar Smarts Wired Program here, as well its sister program, the invitation-only Bar Smarts Advanced Course here.

Anyone interested in bartending, mixology, cocktail recipes and the history behind how spirits are made should take a look at this program. Whether you’re a home spirits enthusiast or a bartender looking to learn more about your craft, after taking Bar Smarts Wired, you’ll have a new found understanding of the hows and whys of the spirits world.

BarSmarts Wired is open twice a year in two-month intervals. Unlike BarSmarts ADVANCED, which is the “invitation only” sister program, BarSmarts WIRED offers any bartender with interest in the craft an opportunity to participate and become certified through a password-protected web-based platform.

Interested candidates are directed to register at www.barsmarts.com where, once registered, they can download content, complete assignments, take exams and gain certification within the time frame specified.

The online program covers topics including Spirits Knowledge & Tasting, Industry History, Cocktail Knowledge & Technique, Bartending for Career Advancement, and Service & Profit. The cost to participants is $45 and includes a BarSmarts messenger bag and complete set of professional bar tools, which are mailed upon registration. Individuals 21 and older interested in taking the online course can learn more by visiting the BarSmarts website.

As part of our holiday gift guide, we had mentioned the online version of Bar Smarts, known as Bar Smarts Wired would make a great gift suggestion for any aspiring spirits enthusiast or bartender who would to expand their knowledge.

With our recent post, taking a look at the Bar Smarts Advanced Course we wanted to take a minute and mention that Bar Smarts Wired will be accepting new students starting February 1st.

The course costs $45 and includes a full bar kit(as shown above).

You can register here for Bar Smarts Wired.

While Bar Smarts won’t teach you everything you need to know to be a bartender, that only comes with experience and practice, you will come out of completing Bar Smarts with a new appreciation of the craft of bartending and a new way of thinking about spirits and mixology.

An invitation-only one day class run by Pernod-Ricard and the Beverage Alcohol Resource Team, what Bar Smarts is meant to do is to open up your mind in a variety of ways that when all is said and done make sense. It’s meant for both bartenders, as well as other individuals such as spirit brand ambassadors, and spirits media such as writers and bloggers.

In the last few years, the job of bartending has started to become more of a craft, that akin to the same mastery of ingredients that a chef possesses, is what this next generation of bartender or as some like to refer to themselves a mixologist will possess.

“Passion drives this industry”-Steve Olson

I think Steve Olson (of AKA Wine Geek) might have said it best during the classroom portion of Bar Smarts. The Bar Smarts program was created to help that next generation of bartenders, “be a better bartender”.

But why would you want to be a better bartender?

With the move to fresh ingredients such as fresh fruit, juices and syrups in recent years bartenders are now being looked at in a similar vein as chefs are in that they are able to create art in the form of something edible, or in the case of bartenders something that’s drinkable. In the past ten years the spirits industry has continued to grow. Case in point, in 1999 there were eleven craft distillers within the United States. Today there are one hundred and forty six.

Only in the last several years has bartending been considered a desirable career. How many people ten years ago, could be heard saying, “they wanted to be a bartender?” Flash forward to modern day, and bartenders are more and more being looked at given the same respect that chefs are. What chefs do with meats, fish, and other solid ingredients, bartenders match with the magic they often work with liquids.

But how does the Bar Smarts Course accomplish this?

The day of Bar Smarts starts off with a brief introduction of the roster of instructors which includes the likes of Dale DeGroff, F. Paul Pacult, Andy Seymour, Dave Wondrich, Doug Frost and Steve Olson. This is followed by introductions of some of the judges. With a class of around 120 students, the BAR instructors have had to request some additional assistance in the form of graduates of the BAR 5 day program. This group has included individuals such as Don Lee(Formerly of PDT, now Momofuku), Tad Carducci(Tippling Bros), Jim Meehan(of PDT), Aisha Sharpe and Willy Shine(of Contemporary Cocktails) and Matty Eggleston(of Smugglers Cove and Bourbon and Branch) but rotates depending on location.

Once the introductions have been made, the real fun starts.

At this point you’re split into two groups and the seminar portion of the day begins.

Depending on which group you’ve been placed in you’re either in for one treat or another.

Group A starts off with being led through a blind tasting by F. Paul Pacult ,Steve (Aka Wine Geek) Olson and Doug Frost in which you’re presented with five different spirits and walked through the process of dissecting the tastes and aromas of each spirit with the goal of becoming a better taster. If you leave this room without having better developed a new way to taste and appreciate each minute nuance of a spirit, there’s something wrong with you. Paul and Steve take you through each sample and explain why you smell what you do, why your taste buds pick out what they pick out and how to really pick apart a spirit. There’s a good reason these guys teach this segment of Bar Smarts. They’re amazing at what they do.

While Group A is getting their palates tested and retrained by Paul and Steve, Group B is getting the abridged history of barware, and how modern bartending aka mixology has come to be. After Dave, Andy and Dale discuss the tools of the trade they explain how to apply techniques such as the use of fresh juice, homemade syrups and infusions into your bar program, briefly discuss food pairing, and cover some of the basics behind creating original cocktails.

Once the first session has been completed, both groups switch presenters so by the end of the day each student has been had the opportunity to attend both the tasting seminar as well as the seminar on bar tools, history and mixology.

This first half of the day is all about getting you prepared for those final exams.

Speaking of which, at this point you’re probably getting a bit hungry and its time for a quick break for lunch before the course culminates in a two-part finale.

Depending on which group you were put into at the beginning of the day, this could either be a hands-on practical test of your classic cocktail making abilities judged by either one of the BAR instructors or by a previous graduate of the 5 day BAR Program.  You’ll have nine minutes to make any three of the classic 25 cocktails listed in the Bar Smarts guide.

If you’re not in the group that starts off the final part of the day with the practical exam (and count yourself lucky if you aren’t)  you’ll be taking a one hundred-question test that includes a blind tasting portion in which you’ll have to identify several different spirits.

Once you finish both parts you’re free to go home or find the closest bar and enjoy a much-deserved drink.

Confidence, if it was something you were lacking in your classic cocktail knowledge, you won’t be after taking Bar Smarts. Being primarily someone who has had limited time behind the bar and is primarily self-taught in his mixology skills, I have found myself on occasion second guessing the proportions as I was making some of the more well known classics. After completing Bar Smarts, that hasn’t happened once. I’ve even found myself thinking differently about each spirit I come in contact with.

Anyone who’s lucky enough to be invited to this class, I highly recommend you take it. You’ll leave with having learned a few new things and most importantly start thinking about spirits in an entirely new way.

I’ll leave you with this. A glimpse of the practical exam, with Blair Reynolds of Trader Tiki behind the stick.

Are you looking for that gift for the bartender or spirits fan that has everything?

Do they have every bottle and bar tool in existence?

Well what if you were able to give them a gift that celebrates the history and personalities of bartending?
Jill Degroff, famed artist and wife of Dale “King Cocktail” recently published the first in her series of “Lush Life” books chronicling the whose who of the bartending and mixology world.

By combining caricatures of some of the bartending world’s most well known figures with recipes and the stories behind how some of them got into the industry, Jill takes a fun approach to exploring and getting to know the personalities behind some of your favorite drinks.

From individuals such as Jim Meehan of PDT(NYC), Julie Reiner of The Clover Club, Jonathan Pogash(aka the Cocktail Guru), and Dale Degroff, Jill’s book is a one of a kind exploration combining both art and the written word to explore cocktail culture past to present in a way only Jill can.

Lush Life Retails for $24.95 and is available either through Amazon or direct through Dale Degroff’s Website.

Books, Bitters and Bar Tools oh my. Where can you find all those eccentric and interesting bitters, and all that cool barware your favorite cocktail den uses?

How about Cocktail Kingdom? Started five years ago, by Greg Boehm a children’s book publisher, and avid vintage cocktail book collector as a side project to reprint several of his favorite vintage cocktail books for some friends in the mixology community, Cocktail Kindgom has since expanded to a source for all your cocktail needs.

Whether it’s for reprints of vintage cocktail books from the 1800 and 1900’s such as “Harry Johnston’s Bartender Manuel” or imported barware from places such as Japan, and hard to find bitters such as Bittermen’s Xocaltl Mole Bitters, Cocktail Kingdom has it all.

A few of our favorite picks from Cocktail Kingdom’s constantly expanding catalog:

Books-
Harry Johnson’s Bartenders Manual(Pictured Above)-

A look inside the rules and conduct of how a bar was run in the late 1800’s. In addition to covering the in’s and outs of how to properly run a bar from inventory, to mixing drinks to how to hire, Harry’s book also gives the reader an in-depth look at how cocktails were created during this time period and how some of the now classic recipes came to be.

The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks By David Embury(Pictured Above)

Essentially the 1948 equivalent of Dale DeGroff’s “The Art of the Cocktail”, David Embury was the everyday business man who just happened to enjoy cocktails so much he decided to create a book that details the hows, and whys of creating a cocktail. This book covers everything from glassware to why one type of rum works best in a drink and all techniques you need to properly give birth to a cocktail.

Bar Tools and Bitters:

Naranja Japanese Metal on Metal Two Piece Shaking Tins(Pictured Above)
Sold as a two separate pieces, with the bottom retailing for $9.95 and the top retailing for $8.95, the metal of the tins enable the ice to get the liquids inside slightly colder than if you used a glass boston shaker. They metal on metal tins are also significantly lighter weight than metal and glass combinations and are very easy to snap together and pull apart.

Bartools:

With a wide range of different style barspoons from Japan, the UK, and Germany Cocktail Kingdom offers you a variety of unique styles including styles with a built in fork(pictured above), or a removable muddler as well lengths ranging from 32cm all the way up to 50cm .

Cocktail Kingdom also stocks Strainers such as the Bonzer Hawthorne Strainer imported from the UK.

As well as mixing glasses such as the Yarai Mixing Glass and the WMF Mixing Glass from Germany.

Bitters:

As a favorite ingredient of bartenders, Bitters often help balance out a drink.

Cocktail Kingdom stocks a wide range of bitters including the The Bitter Truth’s line.

The Bittermens Xocalti Mole Bitters-

Taking inspiration from classic Mexican Chocolate Mole Sauce, this bitter has been a favorite of cocktail lounges such as Death and Company, PDT, and Milk Honey for several years before finally being released to the retail market in July of 2009.

With notes of spice and chocolate this can give a unique new spin on many a cocktail.

Between reprints of vintage cocktail books, imported barware and unique bitters, Cocktail Kingdom stocks enough to make your favorite cocktail and spirits enthusiast happy this holiday season.

The first thing anyone who knows Gaz (formerly Gary) Regan thinks of when they hear the man’s name is that he’s probably had more gin throughout the course of his lifetime, than has gone through the Plymouth Distillery.

This along with an extensive history going back to the late seventies bartending in many an establishment throughout both the states as well as in England makes Gaz a bit of a resource when it comes to all things juniper based(the main component required to call something gin).

To top off this oh so short list of qualifications, Gaz has also published several other books regarding all things boozy and cocktail related. This includes The Joy of Mixology, and The Martini Companion: A Connoisseur’s Guide.

So when Gaz Regan released the “Bartenders Gin Compendium” earlier this year, the bartender and mixology community let out a big sigh of release.

This book should have been called “Gaz’s Bible o’ Gin for the Shaker crowd”. Anything you ever wanted to know or probably didn’t even think of has been covered in this book. Do you want to know what the difference is between Plymouth, Beefeater, Citadelle, Bombay and G’Vine are? What makes one taste more spicy, soft, or why you taste a bit of fruit in one of your favorite gins. Well Gaz has you covered. Besides giving the reader a look into his life behind the bar creating all sorts of gin based libations, Gaz breaks down how over sixty gins are made, including what herbs and botanticals are used, what each gin should taste like(based on notes from the distillers themselves) and over 250 recipes from some of the worlds most talented and creative mixologists.

This makes a great addition to any bartenders book collection for reference, or anyone who is interested in knowing more about why gin is what it is and what other options are there besides a Gin and Tonic or a Martini.

The Bartenders Gin Compendium- By Gaz Regan

Retail Price:$23.99 for Soft Cover or $30.99 for Hard Cover

Available at Xlibris.com

The biggest testament I can give to J.A. Henckel’s Twin Cermax knives is they survived two months of heavy use and transportation in my bar kit.

My goal with taking a look at these knives was to find a set of two knives that would cover all the needs of today’s bartender or mixologist. With the set of the Twin Cermax 6 inch Utility Knife and the 8 inch Chef’s Knife I found just that. With both knives built so well you’ll never have to worry about reaching for someone else’s knife or being unprepared for any normally difficult to cut ingredient such as a pineapple, watermelon.

With that said and done, these two Henckel knives have survived the following memorable experiences with me.

The Bar Smarts Live Class

Prep for several hundred cocktails to be served at Whiskeyfest NY 2009

A book launch party for Brian Van Flandern’s new cocktail book, Vintage Cocktails.
(In which several hundred drinks were served over the course of three hours. This involved a great deal of prep at which time the knives did not fail me once.)

Several United States Bartender Guild Events

Prep for several hours and several dozen bartenders creating on the fly cocktails at a “Cocktail Jam” at Astor Center.

And of course several months of becoming my go to knives for any prep work needed prior to testing out recipes for A Muddled Thought

Throughout each of these events and experiences, neither of these knivesever failed me.

The quality and build of everything from the blade down to the very handle of the knives is built to last and to survive anything thrown at them.

J.A. Henckel Twin Micro Pairing Knife 6inch Pairing Knife-Retail Price:$169.99

J.A. Henckel Twin Micro 8 Inch Chef’s Knife-Retail Price:$189.99

Cocktail Jam Pictures Courtesy:Leo Borovskiy of Lush Life NY.

Jim Meehan head bartender of PDT and the man voted America’s best bartender at the 2009 Tales of the Cocktail Spirit Awards partnered with Moore and Giles, a luxury manufacturer to create the Ultimate in Bar Equipment…

The Meehan Bar Bag.

In the past several years as the bartending trade has begun to morph into mixology and started to mimic the level of precision and artistry of chefs, by utilizing fresh ingredients, infusions and advanced culinary techniques the tools of the bartending trade have grown past your basic muddler, jiggers, barspoon and strainers to include multiple shakers, full knife kits, juicers, spray bottles, butane torches, and other assorted goodies. The need to transport all of these tools along with other assorted equipment has grown past the point that any duffle bag or a standard backpack will do the trick.

Hence the Meehan Bag was born.

The story as Jim tells it started in 2006 at the BAR Course
(Beverage and Alcohol Resource).

At the time Jim, had been using a Koobikit chef’s bag to store and transport his gear.

Other attendees to the class such as Aisha Sharpe and Willy Shine(Of Contemporary Cocktails) utilized converted over the shoulder knife bags for their gear. Jim continued to use a Koobikit bag, and over the next few years added a small knife roll, and a rolling suitcase. After seeing the assortment of other rigs that bartenders such as USBG NY Treasurer and Don Julio Brand Ambassador, Brian Van Flandern’s metal attache case and Jamie Bourdreau’s re-purposed doctor’s bag that he added a foam fitting to, Jim started thinking about a new take on bag.
He started thinking about something that had the right balance of durable, practical and something that reflected the classic style of his favorite Jack Spade calfskin messenger bag.

For someone that often runs around a lot to events, as well as New York City and always needs to have everything needed to craft a drink on him, I fell in love with this bag the first time I saw it in person. In designing this bag, Jim Meehan went further than anyone to date. Perhaps further than anyone should ever go with what you can bring along with you. With the ability to carry all your tools, four shakers, a 4 cup measuring pitcher, the optional knife wrap, side pockets for bitters and a room for a cutting board or laptop, this bag has everything covered. And yes I did say a laptop. The bag has a zipped back sleeve that can house up to a 15inch Macbook Pro. Though that might mean you’ll have to reconfigure the removal padded compartments to fit that cutting board, but if you need to bring all your gear and a laptop along in one bag you’ll do just fine with the Meehan Bar Bag.

The one negative I found with this bag is the price; this is definitely not your $100 Koobikit. Though the price does include the knife wrap.
On the other hand after personally handling one of these bags, its well crafted, carries everything and then some, and just as Jim Meehan does, has classic style.

I felt it best to close this article with a with a quote from Jim Meehan that sums up the bag best, and touches on everything I mentioned.

“This bag, like my passion for the craft, is overindulgent and a labor of love. I hope you like it.”
-Jim Meehan

(Editors Note:This bag can be purchased from Cocktail Kingdom or Moore and Giles directly.
While the bag is not currently available online for purchase at Cocktail Kingdom, they can be contacted via email or phone for inquiries.

Finally some fresh tools to go with all these fresh ingredients.

So that doesn’t really make sense, though that was originally going to be the title for this article, which is the first thing that came to mind when I came across Uber Tools. With the move to fresh ingredients, home-made infusions, bitters, and more creative thinking behind the bar it was only a matter of time before someone decided to redo some of the most prized tools of the modern day bartender who more and more frequently are becoming known as mixologists.

Uber Bar Tools, a company based out of Australia has created a set of revised, high quality and nearly indestructible tools to be used by future mixologists.

We decided to take a look at a three of their products, the Pro Stirrer, The Julep Strainer and The Strain Ray.

So as many modern day mixologists tend to break ice with bar spoons, what better product to come up with then a bar spoon that includes a weighted back that is perfect for breaking and shaping ice to fit the drink at hand. The Pro Stirrer is weighted perfectly and just feels right in your hand. Made of high quality metal, it works great in any task as simple as stirring a drink, to helping top a drink with another spirit such as the occasional absinthe or wine float.

Next up a look at both of the Julep Strainer and Strain Ray. The Julep Strainer works great when mixing with fruits or vegetables and trying to keep most pieces out of your cocktail such as mint, basil or most berries. A note if working with some fruit such as black berries or blueberries we’d recommend adding another strainer to filter out additional pieces as while the julep strainer did a better job than we’ve seen with other strainers it did still let an occasional small piece through.

Sadly there’s not much we can say about the ray strainer, which is actually a good thing. It just does what it was designed to do. It fits in a boston shaker perfectly, and allows you to strain your drinks, keeping the ice and other ingredients out of your glass. As with the other Uber Bar Tools, it’s solidly built and does a great job for what it was designed for.

The Uber Bar Tools Pro Stirrer retails for $21.95 while the Julep Strainer is $19.95 and the Strain Ray is priced at $29.95

Uber Bar Tools set out to do exactly what they wanted, to create a set of well crafted and durable tools for the modern day bartender or mixologist. These would a valuable addition to anyone’s bar kit. Additional information can be found at the Uber Bar Tools Website- http://www.uberbartools.com/

I’ve been unable to find any issues with these tools, and plan to add instructions to my will to be buried with the Pro-Stirrer as it’s become my favorite tool in my current bartending kit.