Theme Magazine- Bar And Restaurant Style

Path of the Bartender: What have you done for someone else lately?

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:19:00 +0000

by Gaz Regan of Ardent Spirts and the Worldwide Bartender Database.

I was heartened, recently, to read about Sheivonne Golding, a bartender in the rural community of Time and Patience, St Catherine, Jamaica, and a woman who raised $50,000 for a local school. Why? The article in Jamaica's The Gleaner that highlighted this woman's works of charity led me to believe that Sheivonne doesn't live a glamorous lifestyle, and the fact that the village where she lives is described as a "rural community" makes me think that the people there might lead simple country lives (and there's nothing wrong with that), yet Sheivonne raised fifty grand to help the local school. Fifty thousand dollars. Sheivonne is the stuff that real bartenders are made of.

Our worldwide bartending community continues to grow at a spectacular rate, and we've come to share in a fabulous brotherhood that bonds us together. As such, I believe that we bartenders can help change this world of ours, and I believe that acts of service to our communities is one of the ways in which we can achieve this. We might not have to power to overthrow dictators, but we most certainly have the power to make the lives of people less fortunate than ourselves just that little bit better.

Most bartenders have quite a bit of free time during the daylight hours, right? Have you thought about delivering meals on wheels? I did this for a few years. Just one day a week. It took me about an hour (yes, I live in a small village!). One hour a week. I spend more time than that daydreaming, I'm sure. And I'm also sure that there are lots of other charities around you that could use a little of your time every week. Check your local newspaper. I'm betting that you might just find something that suits you down to the ground.

If you really believe that you don't have time to spare, then how about giving a percentage of your tip cup to a charity? You could donate to Wine to Water, for instance--I chose that one for two reasons: they do legitimate good work, and the organization's headed by a bartender. Or perhaps you'd rather give to a local hospice, or a soup kitchen.

You can also think about giving money to that homeless guy that you pass on the street every day. And if you do that, do yourself a big favor--look into his eyes and ask him how he's doing. Then wait, and actually listen to his answer. You might be surprised at how rewarding this can be.

And while we're talking about giving, remember that you can give by simply thinking good thoughts. When you hear about somebody in trouble, send a good thought their way. When one of your customers tells you their sob story, think about saying a silent prayer for them as you listen. And when you say, "Have a good day," really think about what you're saying, and mean exactly that. The universe will pick up your vibes and deliver them forthwith. Promise.

Theme Awards 2009: Too London-centric?

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:07:00 +0000

by Ian Cameron

Does it all happen in London? On Theme we’re always
being accused of being London-centric, and a quick
glance at the shortlist for this year’s Theme awards across the
page will be enough to convince some people.
But it’s not true. In the mag this year, of the new venues
we’ve covered, 50 were in London versus 36 outside. I don’t
think that’s too bad a ratio to have, considering the disproportionate
size of the capital. And in terms of the operators, bar
designers and bartenders we interview each issue, there’s a
clear 50/50 split this year between in and out of London.

So why the London-centric shortlist? I can point the finger
firmly in one direction: our judges. For the first time, the
awards have been judged by a crack team of bar industry
heavyweights – read about them across the page.
What this means is that an independent group of objective
industry watchers – with specialist knowledge covering all
the country’s urban hotspots – consider London’s venues to be
better than the rest of the country this year.

And I’m quite happy about that. I’m happy that this year’s
awards have more integrity by having a judging team, who we
gave free rein to create the shortlist, and to score each entrant.

It’s from those scores that the winners have been calculated.
London generally has more bar and restaurant activity and
during the recession that’s been especially true. Bars with
budget design that’s right for the recession? London.
Innovative pop-up bars? London. Back garden distilleries?
Hidden speakeasies? Mixological laboratories in bars? All
London.

I’m sure many will disagree with the shortlist. Well, it’s not
designed to please everyone.

And next year, I’m sure – and I hope – the shortlist will look
completely different.

Hopefully you’ve also realised that we’ve moved the
awards ceremony. It used to be crowbarred in between the
two days of the Bar Show, which was fine until you actually
had to get up for the second day.

The ceremony is now at the Grosvenor House Hotel on
Park Lane on September 29, so block the date out, buy a
ticket and come along for a great night’s entertainment:
you’ve got the opportunity to work a room containing the
cream of the industry.

Giles Cowan on the drinking experience

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:44:00 +0000

A question that bartenders obsess over is how to make cocktails better. How to enhance a consumer’s experience, beyond simply the actions of pick up, sip, and swallow?

Enter stage left, the Cosmopolitan Popcorn. The modern classic vodka, Cointreau and cranberry cocktail has been modified into an unrecognisable form using liquid nitrogen, and it’s served in ice cream cones sitting on an ice plate. Or there’s the Margarita Mist, served with salted and sweet lime strings on the side. Or the smoked sweet and sour cherries that garnish a Smoked Rob Roy.

I was lucky enough to be making all these drinks recently within the confines of 50 St James, during the recent Diageo World Class global final, all served up by The Drink Factory.

Seeing the way people interacted with these drinks was fascinating. This wasn’t just about sipping and swallowing, but a real experience that became something to share.

The amusement – and bewilderment, in fact – of being handed a cone with steaming pieces of Cosmo, wandering what on earth they have been given and whether it was actually safe to drink, and then finding that the drink is actually quite familiar. Nothing to fear here! The queue to grab another smoky, sweet and sour-infused cherry said it all.

Another observer may have thought something quite different: that twisting the classics like this becomes novelty for the sake of novelty.

For me, these drinks illustrate how to create a drinking experience rather than just a drink, where everything about the drink becomes enhanced, along with the customer’s experience – without sacrificing the quality of flavour.

Unfortunately, the practicality of making this kind of drink on a busy Saturday night is still something that needs a little more thought...

Path of the Bartender: Back in My Day

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:15:00 +0000

by gaz regan of Ardent Spirits and The Worldwide Bartender Database

Doncha just hate it when some old fart starts a conversation with, "Back in my day . . ."? Get ready to hate me, then, cos I've been a hearing rumblings about something that's apparently been going down a lot recently, and it would never have happened Back in My Day.

The particular nastiness that I'm talking about here is bartender theft. No, I'm not talking about bartenders stealing from the register, I'm referring to the practice of bar owners stealing bartenders from other joints.

This, in my opinion, is unacceptable behavior. If you own a bar, and you need a bartender, then you might ask your present staff if they know anyone, you could post a want-ad in the newspaper, hell, you could place an ad in this very bulletin, but poaching bartenders from other bars is a very naughty thing to do.

Nuances are involved here, of course, and I guess I should point out that each incident should probably be judged on its own merits. If a bartender who works down the street from your joint, for instance, hears that you're looking for new blood, and if s/he is looking for a change of scenery and approaches you, then I don't think that there's much wrong with hiring them. It might be a good idea, though, with appropriate timing agreed on between you and your new hire, to call the owner of the joint s/he's leaving, in order to explain how it went down.

The kind of behavior that's totally unacceptable, though, is the practice of going into someone else's bar, spotting someone great behind the stick, and offering them a premium to quit their job and come work for you. It's not illegal, but it's sure as hell unethical. If you do this sort of thing, you're certainly not walking the Path of the Bartender.

One last thought before this old fart shuts up about this subject: If you steal a bartender from someone else's place, guess what you're teaching that bartender? That's right. You're teaching your new bartender that, in your opinion, it's okay to steal. How cool is that?

Is the bar industry's service up to scratch?

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:29:00 +0000

by Ian Cameron

I’m sure there’s a joke here about chickens and the
crossing of roads, but I can’t quite make it work. It happened
late last Sunday, when a group of friends and I were
looking for somewhere to eat.

We come across a new bar that I’ve heard about but not
visited. It’s pretty busy, but we find an empty table and sit
down. And then the wait begins. We wait. And then wait
some more.

Failing to make eye contact with any of the staff, I get up
just to make sure they are still serving.

So I stand at the bar. The bartender comes over and
opens a few beer bottles nearby, but still no eye contact.
Finally he looks at me. Doesn’t say anything, just tips his
head up. Says someone will come over to take our order.
But nobody does.

To cut to the chase, we walk out (no one having tried to
stop us), cross the road to a Nando’s, and have a much
better time. We were acknowledged as soon as we
walked in, guided through the menu etc etc.

What this all goes to show is that basic – really basic –
training goes a long way. Were we made to feel more welcome
in the first joint, told they’d be with us in a minute,
anything really, we’d have probably stayed.

Nando’s wanted our money, it had taught its staff how to
get it and we were happy to give it to them.
No offence to Nando’s, but the fact that a chicken and
chips chain gave us a better experience than a so-called
premium venue is a particularly sad state of affairs, especially
in this economic environment.

My story’s a roundabout way of explaining that we’re
championing training in a big way over the coming
months. In this issue we’re showcasing the launch of
Barcode, an important new initiative designed to create
nationally recognised standards. Turn to page 56 for the
full story.

And we’ll soon be highlighting a host of other new
training initiatives that will help promote professional bartending
and formally recognise it as a career.

If Nando’s can get its service spot-on for what is basically
a £10-a-head meal (with free soft drink refills!), there really
is no excuse for customers not to get treated nicely when
they are willing to pay substantially more.

Path of the Bartender: You Should Shut Up

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:25:00 +0000

by gaz regan

Did you notice how much that sentence annoyed you? Try this one: You should be nicer to people. Or hows about this: You should get a new job. Those statements really piss people off, right? Even when they offer good advise.

You might have been thinking about getting a new job for a while, for instance, but when somebody tells you that you should look for a new job, it tends to make you want to slap them upside the head, right? It's that word should that does the damage, you see.

Nobody has the right to tell anyone else what they should or shouldn't do, and when a bartender uses that word when talking to a customer, an automatic barrier goes up between the two parties. That's not a good thing. It leads to trouble.

We all know that there are times when we have to lay down the law, and as I said in a previous column, asking for their help is one way to go, but here's another suggestion: Instead of telling your guest that they should, say, keep their voice down a little, try using this sentence:

"I wonder if you could think about lowering your voice a little, please?"

By asking someone to think about doing something, you're not only avoiding the should word, you're allowing the guest to make his/her own decision on the subject. Chances are really good that voices will be lowered, and a confrontation will be avoided. Give it a whirl, then. Or should I say, please think about giving it a whirl .

For more information on gaz regan, go to Ardent Spirits or the Worldwide Bartender Database

Scientists don’t just drink from test tubes

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:16:00 +0000

by Giles Cowan

The combination of science and bartending is nothing new, with “molecular mixology” appearing all over the place. But before we bartenders start playing mad scientist, perhaps we should address the simpler questions of how different drinks react with each other, and why?

With that in mind, last week saw 69 Colebrooke Row (Tony Conigliaro’s new bar in Islington, and the new home to Drink Factory) play host to what was dubbed the first “Sci-Bar” event, organized by The British Science Association and The Drink Factory. The association was represented by Dr Andreas Sella, an inorganic chemist, and me, a thoroughly organic Drink Factory associate.

The event aimed to bring science to the masses in an informal setting, to demonstrate the importance of sensory interaction and trickery in mixed drinks. Topics covered included how and why bubbles can affect flavour, demonstrated by fresh G&Ts, followed by flat versions; how colour and smell can trick the taste buds, shown with a round of white wines dyed red; the science behind viscosity (otherwise known as layering); and finally clouding, or louching, on the back of a round of Green fairy absinthe cocktails.

The challenge was how I, armed with Boston shaker and bar spoon, could hold the attention of a room comprised of scientists and science students, when talking next to an internationally renowned chemist of some repute armed with a series of different coloured laser pointers and a black light.

To my surprise the attendees seemed equally intrigued by both of us. The topics were accessible to both worlds and were communicated in an informal and fun way. The eight-layered viscosity-inspired shot commanded gasps and heckles with one lucky individual having the opportunity to try her hand at the same.

The evening showed that science is not lost on people, but can be used as a tool to understand and, in fact, heighten the cocktail and bar experience.

What it left unanswered was why we do not hear more about the highly educated people who are genuinely fascinated and interested in the artistry behind cocktails, and the passion that seems to flow from bartenders as they work and talk about what they do? But in a culture where binge drinking rules, it’s easy to see what gets the headlines...

What are the qualities designed to make it into the Top 100?

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:53:00 +0000

By Nigel Sapsed, recruitment consultant, Sapsed Stevens, www.sapsedstevens.com

I meet a lot of this industry’s top people, because I’ve helped a lot of them get to where they are today.

Over the 13 years I’ve spent headhunting and placing people in directorship and other boardroom roles, certain qualities always emerge.

The key quality is an ability to thrive in any market situation. The demands of today’s market are much more people-oriented than they were even 10 years ago.

We are currently in one of the worst recessions in the last 50 years and I think we are beginning to see change again. Whilst every company can offer discounts and BOGOF’s, once the customer enters a bar, it’s service that matters.

Genuine service can only come from knowledgeable, attentive and friendly teams who care about what they do and feel valued in the workplace.

So I have boiled the essential ingredients of today’s top people into four headings:

Team-building - instilling the right approach to service is priority number one in today’s bar scene.

Consistency - The ability to deliver consistently top, product, service and environment is also vital.

Improvement – sit on your laurels and you’re dead! Take time to analyse your business, engage the customer and talk to your team, they often have the answer or the idea you were looking for.

Integrity – build a working environment where you and your team feel honesty and truthfulness are a given rather than ‘managed’ into the workplace.

I need your help- how to deal with tricky come-ons as a bartender

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:39:00 +0000

As a bartender you know damned well that nobody can teach you how to handle difficult situations with guests, simply because every time you're forced to confront someone, the dynamics are different. Let's look at a simple example: A guy is coming on to a woman at the bar and she gives you a look that tells you she wishes he'd go away. Happens, right?

You know the guy and you have a good idea of how to handle him, but his ex-girlfriend is there and there's a chance that she'll say something if she figures out what's going on. Or maybe not.

Perhaps the woman's ex boyfriend is there and you might be afraid that he'll start a fight is he overhears you confront this guy. Or that might not be the case, either.

Maybe the woman who is looking for your help encouraged the guy in question to come on to her, just so she could get you to come to the rescue, and perhaps get a little attention from you. That happens, too, right?

The situation changes every time, and it's up to you, the bartender, to figure out how to handle it.

I can't tell you how to handle it, and neither can anyone else. I can tell you, though, that using the sentence "I need your help" has gotten me out of a jam more times than Dave Wondrich has gotten away with not standing his round. That's a lot.

Telling someone that you need their help disarms them. They're flattered. They're eager to do whatever you ask. I can't tell you that this will work every single time you use it, but I can tell you that it's come in very handy indeed for me.

You take the guy aside by saying something like, "John, get you ass down the end of the bar, you're not going to believe what happened to me, and I'm dying to tell you." This way everyone thinks he's a good friend of yours, and he doesn't loose any face at the bar.

Once you get him alone, you say, "John, I need your help." Look him dead in the eye when you say it. Now tell him anything you want to tell him that's appropriate to the situation on that particular night. Make something up if you have to, but don't tell him what to do, ask him if he'd mind helping you by leaving that woman alone.

Try something like this: "Listen, John, that woman's mother is a friend of my mother, and I know she's a flirt, but I promised her mom that I'd look after her tonight, so could you do me a huge favor and go back there, check your watch in a couple of minutes, and tell her you have to be somewhere? You'd really be helping me out."

I don't guarantee that this will work, but I'm telling you that it's worked for me on more than a few occasions. There's no real confrontation involved, and nobody gets their ego bruised, so it's a win-win ploy, I think.

How very dare you!

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:49:00 +0000

Used with permission from Gaz Regan. See the original article here

There are times when I find myself getting really angry. Know what I mean?

Why the hell does that idiot have to keep telling me about the ball game? He knows damned well that I couldn't give a damn about sports, but he just keeps droning on and on. Makes me want to slap him.

Who the heck does that woman think she is? I asked her a simple question about her drink, and she gets right in my face. Jeez, lay off wudja, lady? I got enough to deal with.

That guy treats me like I'm his personal bloody servant, and he never damned well tips more than five bleeding percent. He makes me so damned mad.

We all get upset from time to time, even if we know, intellectually, that we'd be far better off if we just shrugged our shoulders, raised our eyebrows, smiled a little, and went on our merry way. It's part of the human condition.

As bartenders, though, if we can do our best not to get upset, we'll be doing ourselves, our bosses, and our customers, a huge favor. Remember that the bartender is the one person in the bar that everyone counts on. If we lose it, if we fail to understand what's going down, if we get irrational, or out of control in any way, shape, or form, then we're not doing our job properly.

One way to stave off anger is to try to understand what anger is. Anger is always based on fear.

Deep down, he guy who bores me by insisting on talking about sports, makes me afraid that nobody ever listens to me. The woman who got in my face when I asked her a question makes me afraid that people think I'm stupid. And the guy who treats me as though I'm his servant makes me afraid that people think that I'm not as good as they are. Once we understand that anger is based on fear it becomes far easier to let it subside.

I know damned well that people listen to me, for instance, so the guy who goes on about sports turns out to be just another lonely soul with nobody to talk to, and sports is the only thing he knows much about. He's afraid of being on his own, and I'm the only guy around he can talk to. If I give him a break, and perhaps ask him some questions about sports, I'll be making him feel good about himself, and that can't be a bad thing, right?

The woman who got in my face when I asked her a simple question is, herself, afraid. She's afraid that she doesn't make herself understood. That's why she bit my head off. When she does this, if I apologize for not understanding what she wanted. If I make it sound like it's my fault, she won't feel bad about herself, and she probably won't yell at me.

And the guy who treats me like I'm his servant is scared stiff that people will discover just how insecure he is about himself. If I give him a break, and play Jeeves to his Wooster, there's a good chance that he'll appreciate the fact that I make him look good in front of the other customers. Whatever he does, though, it won't kill me to play along.

All this anger, then, from both sides of the mahogany, has been based on fear. And as bartenders, we have the power to make it all go away, just by showing a little love and understanding. One jigger at a time, then, we can make this world a better place. What a great way to use the power that our customers give us, huh?

With Lotsa Love from Gaz Regan

“Nature has adapted me to preside over a rural Sunday-school, or a rustic temperance club, and I like not the affairs of state. I feel so stale. I wish I had a gin-cocktail." Puck, 1879.

The secret to success- being the host with the most

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Fri, 22 May 2009 10:23:00 +0000

by Ian Cameron

As we reveal the results of our poll of the most influential
people in the bar industry, I’ve been wondering
whether it’s possible to determine the characteristics of
success.

Knowing the results of the Top 100 before they were
made public, I took advantage of an invitation by Campari
to make cocktails with the man who tops the list this year,
the one and only Salvatore Calabrese. Campari has
enlisted Salvatore as part of its campaign to promote
Aperitivo – positioning the brand as one that primes the
palate and stimulates the stomach ahead of food. It’s an
easy sell for Salvatore as the Negroni is his favourite drink,
and his enthusiasm was infectious.

But it wasn’t so much what he was saying that captured
my attention – though being taught to ‘lift’ a Negroni’s
ingredients by The Maestro is about as good a lesson in
drinks making and history as you’re going to get – it was
watching him interact with everyone.

Working the room, he put everyone at ease with carefully
aimed small talk, personalised welcomes and great eye
contact, all with a smile on his face. Confident body language:
professional, but totally relaxed and at ease. One
by one, each person got their time in the Salvatore spotlight.
In our profile of Salvatore on page 26 I’ve referred to him
as a benchmark for the rest of the industry. He covers a lot of
bases: career bartender, operator of his own eponymous bar
at Fifty, published author with 1.5 million book sales and until
recently a columnist for GQ, and a liquid historian too.

But the thing Salvatore believes is the most important –
and most frequently forgotten – aspect of the industry, is
remembering why the industry is here: to host customers. At
this Campari event he was in his element – truly the host
with the most. His customer service standards are, admittedly,
high, very high. This is a man who trained wearing
white gloves, but still had his fingernails checked; where a
kick up the backside meant just that.

But his attitude, ethos and style constitute valuable lessons
for anyone in the trade, front or back-of-house, either side
of the bar. If you can combine amazing personal skills with
a superb palate for flavours – and if Salvatore teaches us
just one thing, it’s that that’s the right way round – you’re
mixing a great recipe for success.

Creativity in the bar industry is beating the credit crunch

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:18:00 +0000

Foul-mouthed nuns, men with fake tits, beaucoup de
fromage. Sounds like the plot for the hilarious, Oscarwinning
1989 movie starring Eric Idle and Robbie
Coltrane, but actually these are just a few of the weird
and wonderful things that I’ve seen bar operators doing
recently to persuade people to cross their thresholds during
the credit crunch – namely cabaret shows, drag shows,
and, um, cheese ‘masterclasses’, respectively.

If the recession can be said to have had any sort of
upside so far, it’s the surge in creativity that’s been borne
of all this uncertainty, in the knowledge that well-crafted
drinks and organically-grown food alone may not be quite
enough to tempt people through the door.

There are bars with open mic sessions, bars holding
learn-to-make-cocktail classes and bars launching comedy
nights. There are drag queens, pearly queens, dressing-up
boxes, book launches, film screenings, special tasting
menus and temporary art galleries (see pages 71-72)
The message is, if you can make ‘em laugh, teach them
something, make their visit more memorable somehow, it
might just – just! – make customers come back, tell their
friends and spend their hard-earned money at a time when
it is in ever-decreasing supply.

If you can turn eating cheese into a masterclass, why
not? It’s all about being ‘experiential’. And if you can do it
without resorting to discounting or devaluing your concept,
all the better.

I was asked earlier this month by an industry bigwig
what the most pressing issue is facing the bar industry.
After umm-ing and aah-ing my way through issues such as
minimum pricing, responsible drinking and all that, I settled
on the need to increase footfall and to ride out the credit
crunch. That’s going to be the focus for Theme for a good
while, and we want to hear all about your quirky ways
around the crunch, so get in touch.

So what if people are spending less? It’s pretty good if
they are spending at all. This is about survival. Bring on the
fake tits and sign me up for a cheese class.

Share the happiness- send good thoughts around your bar by Gary Regan

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:33:00 +0000

I've been listening to Deepak Chopra's Seven Spiritual Laws of Success on my iPod, recently, and although I know that this guy annoys all heck out of some people, I really like the man. First off I like that he ties science in with spirituality--it's the spoonful of sugar I sometimes need to help the spirituality go down--and I also love that Chopra shows us how to use the ways of the universe to make some cash. Well, okay, not just cash, but cash enters into it.

Success, Chopra points out, isn't necessarily achieved by making lots of money, but he doesn't see anything wrong with making money, either, so I think that if we, as bartenders, put some of his ideas into practice, we can have a worldwide experiment to see whether they lead to us putting more money into our tip-cups, right?

Wanna play?

First take a look at the three steps that Chopra says will lead to accomplishing "The Law of Giving." (Just one of the seven laws of success that he details in the book.)

1. Wherever I go, and whoever I encounter, I will bring them a gift. The gift may be a compliment, a flower, or a prayer. Today, I will give something to everyone I come into contact with, and so I will begin the process of circulating joy, wealth and affluence in my life and in the lives of others.

2. Today I will gratefully receive all the gifts that life has to offer me. I will receive the gifts of nature: sunlight and the sound of birds singing, or spring showers or the first snow of winter. I will also be open to receiving from others, whether it be in the form of a material gift, money, a compliment or a prayer.

3. I will make a commitment to keep wealth circulating in my life by giving and receiving life's most precious gifts: the gifts of caring, affection, appreciation and love. Each time I meet someone, I will silently wish them happiness, joy and laughter.

Okay guys, now let's put that into barspeak:

Next time you're behind the stick, send a silent good thought or a prayer to each and every one of your customers. Think it as you make their drink. Just think something akin to, "I hope you have a fabulous time here tonight." Something real simple.

Chances are you won't remember to do this with every single guest, but when you do remember, just do it, and eventually it'll get to be a habit. Whatever you do, though, don't give yourself a hard time if you forget. We're not here to beat ourselves up, you know.

Next pay attention to the "mood of the barroom." Is it, perhaps, a little happier in there tonight? If so, you've been successful, right?

Look, too, to see if people who normally don't treat you very well are perhaps treating you just a little bit better tonight. That's a success, too.
And finally, count your tip cup at the end of the shift, and see if you might have made just a little more money than usual. Wouldn't that be grand?

If you join in this experiment, I think you might want to keep it up for at least a week, or maybe you'd like to commit to a whole month. Whatever. It's your call. There's even a chance that you'll end up doing this for the rest of your life. Even when you retire to that mansion in the Bahamas . . .

This is gonna be a hoot, I think, and the best thing about it is the fact that there's potentially some hard cash to be made here, and all we're doing is thinking good thoughts. What could go wrong, huh?

And I'd love to hear back from you about what happens when you do this sort of stuff, so please drop me a line at gary@ardentspirits.com and tell me all about it.
Until next time, then, keep walking The Path of the Bartender

Cheers, Gaz Regan

Bartenders beware of getting an ego! Gary Regan on taking the credit

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:12:00 +0000

As I pointed out in The Joy of Mixology, I owe much to Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh. He was the guy who, soon after Bartender's Bible was published in 1991, took me by the hand and gently showed me how much I didn't know about the world of cocktails. Oh, I already knew much about the job of the bartender-I first worked behind the bar circa 1965/6 when I was just 14 years old, and although I'd also worked as a bar manager at times, I'd been behind the bar most of my working life since then. Around 25 years behind bars. But Ted showed me the historical side, and lots more besides. Ted was also the man who pointed out that Margaritas and Sidecars are related, leading me to create the families I put together for Joy of Mixology in 2003. Do you ever hear Ted say, "Gary wouldn't be where he is today if I hadn't helped him." No you don't.

You don't hear Robert Hess say that, either, or Dale DeGroff, yet all of these guys helped me out as I was coming up through the ranks. Paul Pacult is another guy who was incredibly generous to me in the early years. Incredibly generous. But you'll never hear him say anything about it. And Dave Wondrich is yet another guy who should get a mention here, too. I think that all of us have had our eyes opened by some of the stuff that he has brought to light in our industry.

I'm not being overly humble when I credit these guys with helping me. In some ways I hope that I've helped them, too, and I give myself a bit of credit for being anxious to learn from these people. And I've learned from young bartenders along the way, too. Chad Soloman, for instance, was the first guy to show me the "dry shake" when he was working at Pegu Club. And Stan Vadrna showed me the "hard shake," but I still can't get that one right.

Lots and lots of bartenders 20-plus years my junior have taught me over the years, and if you're a real bartender you know that the craft is a living thing--something that we're constantly learning about.

You're probably wondering right around now what it is I'm trying to say, so let me get to the point: A few weeks ago I heard that one bartender was putting down another bartender by saying that she taught him everything he knew, and that he isn't as hot as he thinks he is. This truly saddened me. The best teachers don't take credit for their students' accomplishments.

When we put other people down, what we are saying is "I am better than that person." And guess what, guys? Not one of us is any better than any person who walks the face of the earth. You're no better than I am. I'm no better than you are. And neither of us is any better than the homeless guy sitting outside Grand Central trying to raise enough cash for a sandwich. Putting other people down is nothing more, and nothing less, than an ego trip. And if you're on an ego trip, you can't walk the Path of The Bartender.

Egos are weird things, you know. They keep telling us that we're doing the right thing when, deep down inside, we know that that isn't true. It can be hard work to battle the ego, and we don't always win, but it's a battle that's worth fighting. Some of you out there are shaking their heads right now: "Well if he hadn't started it . . ." you're thinking. Well I'm here now to ask you to please think about doing yourself, and the rest of us, a huge favor: Let him start it. Be the one to end it by letting it wash right over you. Ignore it. Take the high road. Walk the Path of The Bartender.

Comments welcome as always.

Cheers, Gaz Regan

Irish whiskey and curry pairing at Moti Mahal

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:33:00 +0000

I’m a huge fan of whisky and curry, but I’ve never really considered having them both at the same time.

It came as a bit of a shock, then, that Moti Mahal, an Indian restaurant in central London, has decided to combine the two in preparation for St. Patrick’s Day. I am reliably informed that Indians drink a lot of whisky, so the pairing is perhaps not as unusual as I might have thought. Coupled with that, it also breaks out of people’s preconceptions of whisky as a digestif, and giving consumers a chance to see how well it matches with food.

The menu has been prepared in conjunction with Bushmills whiskey, which adds another string to its bow in terms of UK promotion, but also offers an opportunity to showcase its flavours with a unique Eurasian fusion.

Surprisingly, hot chillies complement the deep, complex flavour of the whiskey, and add another dimension to the long finish on the palate that both whiskey and curry share.

Favourites included the 16-year-old Bushmills paired with Palak paneer - the sweetness of the whiskey paired with the raisins and delicate creaminess of the dish really complement the whiskey’s lingering aftertaste. The Irish lamb stew with Goan sausages paired with the Bushmills 1608 anniversary edition also offers a rare chance to sample the anniversary whiskey before it disappears completely.

The menu costs £40 per person.

Steamed Dublin Bay Prawns,
Rice cakes ‘Appams’, Coconut herb chutney

Whiskey: Bushmills Original
~~~~~
Venison ‘Seekh’ Kebab,
Asparagus tikki, grilled fig

Whiskey: Bushmills Black Bush
~~~~~
‘Palak Paneer’,
Baked fillo parcel of paneer and garden peas,
Creamed spinach, raisin chutney

Whiskey: Bushmills Malt 16-year-old

~~~~~
Irish Lamb Stew with ‘Goan’ Sausages,
Potatoes, carrots and crusty bread

Whiskey: Bushmills 1608 Anniversary Edition
~~~~~
Salad and Sorbet,
Star fruit, rhubarb confit, blood oranges and strawberry,
mascarpone sorbet

Whiskey: Bushmills Malt 10-year-old

Gary regan gives advice on how to handle bad customers

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:39:00 +0000

Some customers get on your bloody nerves, right? They get right under your skin. They know how to wind you up, they know how to push your buttons, and if they don't go too far there's not a damned this you can do about it. You gotta take it in good part, right? Smile at their cheap shots. And perhaps pull back a little on the amount of gin in their G & Ts. There's another way to deal with them, though, and you might want to think about trying it out.

In the mid-1970s a guy came into Drake's Drum, the joint I was working at the time, and ordered a Singapore Sling. I'd never seen him before. I made him the drink--and I should point out that we didn't use the classic Singapore Sling recipe at Drake's Drum, but then again, neither did anyone else at neighborhood joints in the seventies. Nevertheless, I made him a decent sling and he drank it with no complaint. As he was coming to the end of his drink I walked over to ask if he'd like another but he declined. He looked me dead in the eye, put a single penny on the bar, and said, "I like to be popular." He stood, turned his back, and disappeared into the night.

I've no need to tell you how pissed off I was. A penny tip. A bloody penny tip. I never got upset when people stiffed me--it's swings and roundabouts after all--but leave me a penny tip and I'm one very pissed off bartender.

Two nights later he came back, and he had another Singapore Sling. I made it with 1/2 ounce of gin and 2 ounces of grenadine. He paid, drank his drink, and left. No tip. But he drank that awful drink and then he smiled at me before he left. The *** was playing with me.

A couple of nights later he came in again, and the same thing happened a second time. He got a rotten drink, drank it, paid for it, stiffed me, and once again he gave me a big smile before he left. How the hell could I get to this man?
The following Friday night at around eleven, the bar at Drake's Drum was packed, regular customers were waving double-sawbucks at me and screaming for drinks, and in walked the Singapore Sling guy. He stood at the back of the crowd and he smiled at me. I smiled back. And suddenly I knew what I had to do. I ignored my regulars, I made him a pretty good Singapore Sling, and I handed it to him over the crowd,
"It's on the house, mate," I told him. "Great to see you again."
I never saw the man again.

Next time your most annoying customer comes in, try thinking about why he or she enjoys needling you so much. It has something to do with them, not you. Are they, perhaps, looking for a little love and understanding but they're not quite sure how to go about getting it?

It's a possibility. Perhaps you could think about changing the way you react to them and seeing what happens. After all, if he thinks he's an ***, and you think he's ***, chances are he's going to act like an ***. If you stop believing that, you've cut the odds that he'll behave like an *** in half. It's worth trying, doncha think?

Till next time, then, keep Walking the Path of the Bartender
Cheers, Gaz Regan

Gary Regan on how happiness is important to the bartender

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:53:00 +0000

I've been reading The Art of Happiness by The Dalai Lama recently, and it occurred to me that being happy, and making other people happy, is something that bartenders might want to focus on. After all, when we're behind the bar we aren't there to serve cocktails--we're there to serve our guests. And if we make our guests feel just a little happier than they felt when they walked through that door, then we're walking the Path of the Bartender.

How can we go about making our customers happy? One of the easiest ways is to be happy ourselves. Happiness can be infectious. I'm not suggesting that we put false smiles on our faces, and I'm not implying that we can be happy all the time, but I would like to suggest that there are times when we can choose to be happy rather than choosing to be sad or angry. Let me tell you a tale. A true tale.

A few years ago I was sitting at my desk, looking out on one of the most dismal days I've ever seen. The skies were dark, the wind seemed like it was gale-force, and the rain was pelting down on my driveway and bouncing right back up into the air. What an absolutely horrible day, I thought. It's crappy out there. I was pretty miserable.

And as I sat there, wallowing in my misery, an email came in from an old friend in Manhattan. Someone I've known since the early seventies when I tended bar at Drake's Drum. It contained just one sentence:

Isn't it a Beautiful Rainy Day?

That email changed my life. I realized that I had a choice about how I felt about the weather. I chose to see the beauty in the wind and the rain, and the gorgeous darkened skies. I chose to be happy that I was warm and dry and had food in my stomach, and if I chose to take the day off work and make myself a big Hot Toddy with a dram or two of fabulous whiskey, then I could do that, too. Why would the weather make me miserable? I had so much to be thankful for.

The weather has never ever gotten to me since that day. Sometimes the weather has inconvenienced me, but it's never made me unhappy since I read that email and realized that sometimes we can choose to be happy. That email changed my life.
Once you know that you can very often choose to be happy, then every time you go to work behind the stick, no matter what mood you're in, you can ask yourself, "Is it possible for me to choose to be happy right now?" And if the answer is yes, then you're walking the Path of the Bartender, because if you're happy when you're behind the bar, then guess what? Chances are that you'll be making your customers happy, too.

Till next time, then, try to walk the Path of the Bartender.

Cheers,

Gaz Regan

John Johnson vs Phil Woolas- Who's really to blame for irresponsible drinking?

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:22:00 +0000

by Allan Taylor

The experience of bar owner John Johnson and the irresponsible drinking row he is facing with local MP Phil Woolas in Oldham perfectly illustrates a dilemma likely to be faced by increasing numbers of operators.

On the one hand, responsible operators should regulate the amount their customers are knocking back: on the other, the recession is turning the on-trade into a fierce battlefield, where the choice for many is either to cut prices or face closure.

So who should really carry the can for ‘irresponsible’ drinking? Be honest with yourself; if you could get a half decent night out at a good club with unlimited drinks for just £5.99 all in, wouldn’t you jump at the chance? I suppose it’s easy to point the finger at the operators for providing the temptation, but aren’t we all supposed to be adults? That’s why we have a legal drinking age after all.

I don’t know about you, but I certainly know my limits and even when I’m offered an unlimited supply of alcohol, it would be very rare that I ever ‘drank myself sick’. And even if I had, it doesn’t then guarantee that I’m about to start a riot, or put myself in serious danger. Although I can’t speak for the whole of the British population, I certainly do give the general public a lot more credit than the government seems to.

John Johnson says he shifts, on average, 3.8 bottles a head under his ‘January Sale’. Four bottles of lager or cheap alcopop is hardly going to get anyone dancing on the tables and – although this represents an average – I would bet that people go in thinking they’ll be drinking all night but in reality after the first two or three, they realise that they’ve had their fill.

And at 18p profit per bottle, who’s really winning in this war? It’s certainly not the operators, who are grateful for any cash flow during this financial crisis.

Even if we look at venues where alcohol is relatively cheap, for example working men’s clubs, the community atmosphere and shared interest provide a welcoming place where relatively little trouble breaks out. Cheap alcohol does not necessarily equate to bad behaviour and nor to an instant inability to regulate your alcohol intake.

I’m not saying we don’t have to tackle irresponsible drinking - we do and it’s a big issue in this country. But placing responsibility squarely on the shoulders of bar operators – and certainly singling one of them out – is unfair. It is irresponsible people who drink irresponsibly.

Mark Ridgwell on the credit crunch in the on-trade- Will bars respond to the woes of 2009?

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 14:38:00 +0000

by Mark Ridgwell

Only one month into 2009 and already, the doom and gloom merchants are driving me mad with the blues with which these depressives colour all their conversations and commentaries in the media whether it be moaning about the 8% duty hike, the government’s intent to tackle disorder and violence attributed to alcohol abuse, the promised introduction of a tax escalator; rising costs, mounting closures or the budget cuts on just about everything except the reprinting of price lists.
Certainly there is much to moan about and many will have genuine reason to fear the months ahead but surely, the drinks industry, particularly bartenders are in a privileged position. Bad times for customers should be the very reasons for bartenders to focus, not on problems but on the opportunities for release and reward in their bars. Ever walked in a bar and been happy to hear bartenders moaning about their problems? Of course not. More likely you’ve been grateful for the glamour and escape of a great drink, served by an inspired bartender, happy to lift your spirits.
Well that’s just how all of us should be responding to what undoubtedly are going to be difficult times for our customers, just like the Greens who, when captains of industry say now is not the time to talk of an environmental agenda, respond by saying that now is exactly the time that makes such talk more rather than less important.

2009 should be a year when bars respond to the economic woes, less with talk of the economics of serving drinks or the problems of alcohol abuse and more by providing memorable drinking experiences. Let the managers worry about the numbers and, like the privileged entertainers they should want to be, let’s see bartenders and their suppliers for that matter talk more about what needs to be done to excite and reward audiences in the year ahead, to enhance the service of spirits rather than just create another forgettable cocktail and to encourage trial and discovery rather than just price up drinks, already luxury experiences for most.

Last year I enjoyed some truly memorable drinking experiences, not least with gins such as Beefeater 24 & Bols 1820 and thanks to Fever Tree, with Partida & Ocho tequilas thanks to distiller and distributor sharing a passion for creating another Mexican revolution, with rum thanks to a truly inspired Ian Burrell, with cognac thanks to so many houses now being truly committed to the blending and packaging of cognacs for enjoyment rather than reverence and in Pubs that value their back bars as much as their beers, thanks to Nick and Alec at Pleisure Pubs in Brighton. But I’m lucky. Most I meet do want to reward me with their passion for spirits and to share their knowledge with me so that recommendations become much more than just a drink.

And that’s why, for the rest of this year, despite what you read, all too often in the Press and pick up in conversation, I beg all who sell spirits to see yourselves as privileged entertainers with a host of stars on your books; as temporary guardians of these great stars often from families who’ve rewarded their audiences for generations if not centuries rather than providers of brands, more dependent on their management than their performance. It’s the stars that’ll provide you with the opportunities to satisfy every taste and enhance every drinking experience whatever your audience and whatever the price they can pay. What’s more, in truth and to the surprise of many, once measured into the glass these spirits are ‘acts’ that’ll most often provide less content for audience abuse than the wine ‘acts’ playing at other venues, in 250 ml glasses and at 14-15% a.b.v..

So more recognition of spirits as products of pleasure, please and less as premium pours, more as rewarding pleasures and less as instruments of destruction, more focus on what’s in the bottles than on price and marketing and more desire to create memorable drinking experiences than to obsess with the creation of cocktails. Thank you,

Mark Ridgwell
www.tasteandflavour.co.uk
"An Extraordinary League of Gentlemen to Entertain and Inform"

Vermouth tasting at The Hoxton Pony

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:43:00 +0000

The New Year brought a new experience, even for this veteran hack. It was time to attend my first ever vermouth tasting.

It’s true – for all the distillery tours, whisky sipping, sherry with food matching sessions, and vodka tastings where attendees were implored to appreciate that “it doesn’t all taste the same you know”, I’d never really given vermouth much thought. It was something, like gomme and lime juice, that you put in cocktails.

My perceptions began to change within a few minutes of Ludo Miazga taking to the stage at the vermouth tasting that he organised at the Hoxton Pony in Shoreditch. In spite of being held just a few days into the New Year – or perhaps because of this – a healthy gathering of some 30 or more bartenders turned out, suggesting that they too may have had a gap in their knowledge, as well as their diary.

Formerly a bartender at venues including Milk & Honey in London, Ludo is ‘ambassadeur international’ for Noilly Prat. His presentation had something of the mad professor about it; slightly frenzied, with lots of arm waving, but was entertaining and interesting in perfect measure.

Ludo’s pronunciation of vermouth initially seemed overly gallic, but then he pointed out that the words derived from wermut, the German word for wormwood. The herbal plant from the Artemisia family is a prescribed ingredient for vermouth under EU law, which also insists on natural ingredients and a base that is at least 75 per cent wine.

Noilly Prat has origins dating from 1813 and assumed its current name when Louis Noilly went into business with Claudius Prat in 1855. The vermouth uses two types of wine from its native Languedoc region in southern France, close to Montpellier – wine from the picpoul grape accounts for 60 per cent of the total, while the balance is from clairette grapes.

Ludo explained how neutral alcohol was added to the wine, with the vermouth then aged for more than two years, with a year in former cognac casks in the open air sandwiched between two spells in Canadian oak vats.

Only after this ageing are the two wines blended with mistelles – a blend of grape juice and alcohol – and fruit liqueurs, and then the trademark mix of herbs and botanicals are added. There are 20 herbs for the flagship dry vermouth which accounts for 90 per cent of sales, including camomile, coriander, quinine, nutmeg, oranges and cloves. The sweet rouge variant has five further ingredients including saffron, cloves and cocoa beans, while Noilly Ambre, introduced in 1986, has a total of 40 herbs and spices with cinnamon, vanilla and roseflower the most significant of the additions.

The herbs and spices are macerated for three weeks and subjected to a daily ‘dodinage’ (stirring) under the watchful eye of the maitre de chai (cellarmaster). After a further six weeks of resting the vermouth is bottled, some two-and-a-half years after the grapes were harvested.

Ludo led a tasting of the three Noilly variants, which don’t have to be subsumed into cocktails, they are enjoyed straight by French drinkers as an aperitif. The subsequent cocktail session began with simple serves with lemon peel, or mixed with crème de cassis, and a refreshing long drink with cognac, vermouth, a ‘horse’s neck’ garnish and topping of ginger ale.

Ludo then turned up the creative heat, with a Noilly Toddy incorporating honey, cloves, star anise, orange peel and chocolate bitters, and finally a New York Sour, with the claret added to the rye sour replaced by Noilly Rouge and a Noilly Ambre foam and marinated cherry added on top.

Look out for more detailed recipes in Theme’s next cocktail supplement: open your eyes to vermouth and take Ludo’s advice – try not to pronounce the final ‘t’ in his brand’s name.

Shaking up sherry

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:20:00 +0000

by Ian Cameron

I don’t envy anyone charged with marketing sherry. Talk to anyone about sherry and it will be a matter of seconds until they mention the following words: ‘granny’, ‘favourite’ and ‘tipple’. That’s a real pile of prejudice to overcome.

It is, of course, all horribly clichéd. But like little old ladies, clichés can have an unfortunate longevity and have often lost their grasp on reality.

In sherry’s case, it’s time to shut its clichés away in the lexicological nursing home and throw away the key, and the Sherry Institute of Spain has been working with some prestigious restaurants and mixologists to give it some contemporary relevance.

It’s currently working with ten London venues, educating bartenders about sherry, the different types, its provenance and production, and on how to serve and store it in the bar. In mixological terms, this is about demonstrating how it can be used in cocktails; in food terms, it’s about pairing and follows on from chef Heston Blumenthal’s discovering some complicated science-y sounding compounds which he says make sherry perfect for food matching.

Ticking the box for premiumisation, it’s also about promoting very old sherries as an alternative digestif to cognac and whisky.

On that last point alone, that’s a tough sell, but one that could be achieved through education. Sampling a range of VOS (that’s very old sherry, a minimum of 20 years) and VORS (very old and rare sherry, a minimum of 30 years) category sherries - a designation developed in 2000 though which so far yields scant recognition - it was immediately clear that these are sophisticated and complex drinks, with an amazing mouth feel full in flavour and long in finish, dry rather than cloyingly sweet, and surprisingly fresh considering their ages.

Sherry packaging has become far more contemporary too, in sleek wine bottles rather than dumpy whisky-style glass. Importantly, they offer value for money and are cheap. Not WKD 2-4-1-style, Lidl special offer cheap, but cheap compared to an aged wine of the same age. We’re talking between £30 and £85, which is the absolute upper limit compared to an aged Bordeaux for several hundred pounds.

Take the 25-year-old Lustau at £30, for example, or the 30-year-old Matusalem sweetened oloroso at £17 for a half bottle. Harvey’s, probably the UK’s best known sherry, also has an aged range, with the Palo Cortado VOS coming in at just £19.

So I don’t envy anyone charged with marketing sherry. Reclaiming the clichés is easier said than done, though any drink called a ‘tipple’ should in my opinion, basically be relegated to the dusty drinks cabinet of doom, taking slightly sozzled granny with them.

With brand awareness arguably the lowest of any drinks category beyond a couple of key companies, thousands of bartenders and operators will take time to indoctrinate in the ways of the botega.

But other drinks categories have overcome similarly prejudicial perceptions. The German wine industry has managed to shake off the hoary hand of hock, and Mexico has made huge in-roads with taking the image of tequila away from the world of shooters and slammers.

But I hope the Institute is successful, it certainly has a fine arsenal to play with.

At the Connoisseur's Club

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:50:00 +0000

Cliff Richard and Shakin Stevens both performed live in Belfast on the first Tuesday in December, but for all the shaking going on at their respective gigs, the discerning crowd were elsewhere witnessing a show by two bartending legends.

Dave Wondrich and Gary Regan appeared as the latest star attractions at the Connoisseurs’ Club, an occasional gathering of drinks enthusiasts that takes place in Belfast but is very much on the global radar for many of the industry’s movers and shakers.

The events are co-organised by two experts on the Northern Irish drinks scene, Steven Pattison formerly of Drinks Inc and Sean Muldoon of the Marchant Hotel.
American historian Dave, whose most recent book chronicled the life and drinks of Professor Jerry Thomas, and veteran bartender Gary, a regular attendee to the London Bar Show among others, entertained a group of some 120 people. This included many Belfast-based bartenders but also significant travelling support from Dublin, Scotland and London among other places.

Never more at home than when he’s firing withering expletives at his peers, Gary began by lamenting his relegation to “a fucking warm-up act for Wondrich” and quickly got into his stride.

He paid tribute to 21st Century bartenders’ creativity, contrasting this with the efforts of his generation including the Harvey Wallbanger and Sex On The Beach. But he also reminded bartenders that their role went far beyond the drinks they made.
“People don’t come into bars for a drink, but for all sorts of other reasons,” he said. “Your job is to figure out why a person has come in, try and provide for their need and make sure they feel better when they leave, and not just because they’ve had a drink.”

Gary presented five offerings under the heading Drinks That Have No Business Being Made, But… Component ingredients included malt whisky, blue liqueur Hypnotiq, Jagermeister, Dubonnet and Archers, while two of the drinks resulted from the long-running feuding between Gary and Dale DeGroff, each trying to trip the other up with apparently impossible ingredients. Audrey Saunders and Dick Bradsell were among the other bartenders in supporting roles in Gary’s unconventional journey.
Dave began by saying that having Gary opening for him was akin to the Rolling Stones opening for the Brooklyn garage band he’d performed in during the 1980s. He gave some historical background to a series of drinks, although he acknowledged that booze-related history was “a murky history full of blackouts, drop-outs, exaggeration and ego boosts.”

The Chatham Artillery Punch, most authentically mixed in a three-gallon horsebucket, was “stirred into delirious deliciousness”, the end result “a deceiving, diabolical and most delightful compound.”

After punches went out of fashion – “you couldn’t be that drunk all day” – citrus juice and ice became more widely available and featured in drinks such as the Gin Daisy and the Clover Club.

The evening ended in blue flames, as Gary and Dave got to grips with a few bottles of cask-strength Caol Ila whisky – one of many products supplied by sponsors Diageo – and knocked out 120 Blue Blazers in quick time. The formal part of the evening may have been over, but the entertainment continued long into the night back at The Merchant.

DAM (Dale’s a Mother…)
37.5ml Dubonnet Rouge
15ml limoncello
7.5ml Talisker 10-year-old
Method: shake and strain into chilled goblet, garnish with lemon twist

The Gary Regan Special
60ml Bushmills 10-year-old
15ml Archers peach schnapps
15ml Jagermeister
Method: stir and strain into chilled cocktail glass

Original Chatham Artillery Punch
two bottles Bulleit bourbon
two bottles Woods’ Navy Rum
two bottles VSOP cognac
two bottles of champagne

Method: muddle the peel of a dozen lemons with 500g caster sugar, allow to sit for an hour and muddle again. Add a further 1kg of sugar and 1.25 litres fresh lemon juice, then combine this with the liquor and ice in large bucket. Serve in wine goblets and top with grated nutmeg

Clover Club
30ml Tanqueray gin
30ml Noilly Prat dry vermouth
15ml fresh lemon juice
10ml raspberry syrup
15ml egg white

Method: dry-shake ingredents for 10 seconds to activaye foam, then shake again with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass

Gin and Skin

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:46:00 +0000

By Ian Cameron

I’ve just had some excess skin removed, courtesy of gin and tonic.

And unlike those unplanned cuts, bruises and scrapes that can come with having a skinful of G&Ts, this was deliberate, I was naked and I was on the receiving end of a full body juniper-based scrub and massage with the promise of a well-made G&T afterwards.

If that sounds weird, well yeah, I guess it is. Certainly most detox treatments aren’t followed by an immediate retox, but the Spa at the Chancery Court Hotel in Holborn markets its new Gin & Tonic Treatment as a very masculine style spa experience so I thought I could take it.

With businesses trying to increase footfall amid the credit crunch, taking customers from spa to bar is definitely one of the more quirky ways I’ve seen of cross-pollinating customers between businesses. And as we come to the New Year, it’s probably a good way of translating those New Year detox resolutions into something none too taxing.

Anyway, being a well-groomed sort of chap, I thought that a couple of hours at a Spa sounded like quite a nice way to spend a mid-week afternoon.

The treatment began with me face down on the massage table, my face poking through the hole, eyes shut, inhaling something relaxing, I’m not sure what but I presume it was healthy and smelled nice. Then came a salt and oil body scrub using crushed Juniper berries, coarse sea salt, juniper berry essential oil and, apparently, tonic water. This was an intense exfoliation, by which I mean it was at times verging on being painful, though hopefully it was doing me some good.

After I’d showered the goo off, the therapist expertly shielding her eyes from my nakedness, I was back on the table for a warming Juniper berry oil full body massage. This was truly relaxing. The benefits of using juniper are apparently that it is good for detoxing, stress relief, as well as easing muscle aches and pains”. I’ll take their word on its detoxing properties, but am happy to confirm everything else.

Finally, a tall Tanqueray 10 G & T was given to me in the Spa’s gold leafed relaxation room. Unfortunately, it’s then back on the Tube to the office and a full inbox, though happily no longer weighed down with all that excess skin.

The Gin & Tonic is the signature treatment of the Spa at Chancery Court’s new Men’s Treatment Menu (1 hr 25 minutes – 120.00 pounds). For more information and bookings, call 020 7829 7058 or visit www.spachancerycourt.com.

Single malts are still in style

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:06:00 +0000

by Ian Cameron

Spirit categories are ever keen to promote themselves to younger consumers, and whisky is no exception.

But if ever there was an occasion aimed at the traditional whisky drinker, the annual launch of Diageo’s limited edition, classic malts was it, and it was a sea of middle-aged, male, grey-hair that presented itself at Diageo’s central London HQ last week. What’s the collective noun for a group of whisky aficionados, I wonder?

It’s hardly surprising, I suppose. All cask strength, ranging from 49.5 per cent ABV to 64.2 per cent, these Special Releases are not the fainthearted, and priced at between £43 and £205, due to some of the distilleries concerned no longer existing and others with deliberately small bottlings, they’re not that accessible to the man, and the odd woman, on the street either.

I’m guessing a lot of these people are collectors, for whom it really matters that one particular brand is unusually in an unpeated variant, or that another has been bottled after eight years rather than the normal 12, but I cannot help feeling a little cynical that many of these bottlings are limited only because Diageo has chosen to, er, well, limit the bottlings. I think I’m getting the hand of this supply/demand lark.

After lining our stomachs with some excellent Scottish canapés (try asking for some in a rough Glaswegian pub) I was ready play my part and help reduce Diageo’s reserves that little bit further.

First up was Caol Ila. This is the highest strength of the group, and the cheapest. Normally bottled at 12 years, this is an eight year bottling, that after diluting with a little water doesn’t taste overly youthful, in fact it’s fairly restrained despite its strength.

Next comes Lagavulin, 56.4% and 50 pounds a bottle, this is also unusually young at 12 years, and is a really earthy, predictably powerful spirit punch even after dilution.

On to the Talisker 25, 132 English Pounds to you Sir. It’s incredibly fresh despite its age, giving you a feeling of little puffs of smoke on the palate rather than a big smokey wallop. The Talisker 30, the most expensive at £205, is unbelievably salty, particularly so as there is no salt chemically in whisky. More of an acquired taste, that one.

Glen Elgin 16-year-old whisky comes in a good looking smokey grey bottle and gives you a nice, musty odour and a smooth, sweet taste without being cloying.

Brora 25-year-old comes from a distillery that’s not operating anymore but that was otherwise one of the most Northerly distilleries in Scotland. It’s surprisingly light, with rich fruits coming through on the palate, and it’s quite drinkable without dilution despite the 56.3 per cent ABV.

Port Ellen 29 year old whisky is almost as old as me and, like me, is surprisingly fresh and sweet, becoming bitter on the tongue, and 180 pounds a pop. I’d better stop the analogy there. It instantly becomes significantly more smoky with a little water.

Finally three variants of Linkwood bottled in what look like what you might see balsamic vinegar in, 50ml bottles to make them more accessible apparently, though still 130 pounds each. Each has been aged in either port, rum or red wine casks for 14 years, so more a second maturation than a finish. The port Linkwood was appropriately sweet on the palate; the rum had an overpowerfully rummy nose, though became more of a whisky with water with the rum coming through on the finish; while the red wine Linkwood, thought to be a sweet red wine, gave you a familiar big red bop on the nose.

After that lot, I’m feeling more of an aficionado myself, and I can certainly feel a few hairs turning grey, so it’s up to the bar for a wee dram of Guinness to bring me back down to earth.

Beefeater 24 launch

noreply@blogger.com (thememagazine) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:28:00 +0000

by Tom Innes

It wasn’t just bizarrely-clad trapeze artistes and a child’s rocking horse that were suspended on high wires above the crowds at the Beefeater 24 launch. Real life was also on hold.

Everywhere one looked, every piece of free time or patch of vacant ground, something freakish was going on. A remote-controlled fire-breathing Meccano horse charged at a man dressed as Jesus; monastic figures chanted softly in the bushes; drag queens vied with can-can girls for attention and stubble rash; mythical figures roamed around with firework-packed antlers on their heads and their tongues sticking out; a magician swirled a gin and tonic attached to a pool triangle and a dog lead around his head; Jesus, who was probably some distance outside his comfort zone by this stage, downed the drink in one.

The above paragraph isn’t much like any others I’ve written, and the global launch for Beefeater 24 wasn’t like any other party I’ve attended. Brand owners Chivas Brothers was determined to mark one of its most high-profile launches with a night to remember, and in spite of (or because of?) gin flowing like, or perhaps even instead of, water they certainly succeeded.

If there was anything conventional about the evening, it was squeezed into the early moments when media guests had the chance to learn about the new super-premium gin, which uses Japanese tea among its botanicals, from master distiller Desmond Payne and brand director Nick Blacknell. Dan Warner showed off the mixological possibilities with some polished cocktails.

Then the cabaret began, and never really ended. Strolling through the grounds of Syon Park in West London, guests in top hats and feather boas sipped mulled gin, stared at the never-ending parade of performers and then stepped into a large conservatory where the trapeze show played to a soundtrack of 50s rock and roll.
The Siberian October temperatures were just another factor some way away from the norm. Food began with cheese-and-biscuits, followed by pork pies, dishes of pasta, then canapes. Jade Jagger arrived to DJ in a booth constructed, by our friends at D2 design, from a sawn-off Rolls-Royce.

The event was a global launch attended by movers and shakers from around the planet. It must have cost dozens of hundreds of thousands. The firework display was epic. There will be those who question this in the horribly-cliched and omnipresent current climate.

But hang on. Desmond, Nick and team have been working on this launch for years, starting in an era when the credit crunch was a dessert served at the Rainforest Cafe to kids who’d eaten all of their main course. They’re stretching out the gin category in a bid to compete with rival super-premium white spirits like Grey Goose, Belvedere and Patron, especially in the US market, but without losing their London roots and credibility. There may have been mistakes regarding the way the announcement of the new product was handled, with a somewhat ham-fisted embargo, but we all live and learn.

Chivas could have taken any number of cautious options, but chose to press ahead with something big, ballsy and risky. Hats off.

We live in sensitive times, but there was nothing the average person would have found offensive, and nobody mentioned having sex with anyone’s grand-daughter. If there’s a problem with the global economy, is that the fault of Chivas? Clearly not. Should the company draw in its antlers, play it safe? Some people might think so, but I’d give Chivas credit for eschewing this course. The spending of a bit of money won’t do the economy any harm, and the chance to escape real life, offered from wall to wall on silver trays, was an opportunity the revellers feasted upon hungrily. Just in case it was their last feed for a while.

Click here to see more pictures and exclusive video from the event