The basic bible to be the best bartender...
The art of mixology is proficiency in inventing, preparing and serving mixed drinks, or cocktails. All mixologists are bartenders, but not all bartenders are mixologists. A mixologist is someone who has an obsession towards the art of drink making and therefore endeavours to how each drink made in that way, garnished with this precise ingredient and mixed using this technique rather than another.
The cocktail-making techniques do not just include piling up a lot of drink-making equipment, shakers of various varieties and stacking up those shiny bottles of liquor. It requires something more than this. The passion to learn, the knack for mixing the right proportions and the love towards serving people are some of the important requirements to create desirable drinks than finishing the task as a duty. Here are some of the golden rules of mixology which aid in learning the mixology basics, understanding the standard cocktails, getting introduced to the intricacies involved in the mixed drink recipes and falling in love with the liquors and their chemistry.
Standard cocktail for starters:
Starting with gaining mastery over the classic cocktail recipes instead of experimentation initially can be a good take during the learning curve. Creativity is welcomed but an understanding of the basics and then proceeding with the improvisations will always fetch excellent results. The vintage tricks always act as an advantage for your mixology mastering.
Customer is the king:
This is the universally accepted notion that the “Customer always comes first”. It is always better to understand the fact that a mixologist gains the expected name and fame only through the proper serving methods and understanding the taste and preferences of the patrons.
Know your inventory:
A bartender should always keep the customers informed about what to expect based on the availability of the necessary ingredients at the bar. It is not right to keep the customers waiting for their drink and later inform them that the order they are looking forward to would be unavailable due to the shortage of some ingredients to be included in the drink. It is always safe to notify the customers before they order based on their mood and choice.
Paradise lies in the presentation:
Take time, and be patient while setting up that drink before it hits any table. Beautification, the creative presentation takes a very important role in any drink-making technique as the first look of the cocktail must be the best before its consumption.
Eyes, Ice, baby:
Ice plays an important role in any drink. The dilution, the texture and the form of the ice to be used in each drink are the first and foremost lessons to be learnt by the bartender wannabees. The number of ice cubes in every drink, the level of dilution that ice brings in for the cocktail and the form of ice – crushed, chipped or cube, must be well understood to give a proper feel and experience of a signature drink.
Understanding of the ingredients:
As we all know that cocktail making is not just about mixing two or more liquor varieties with some diverse flavoured ingredients. But it also includes an understanding of the chemistry involved with it. The sweet and sour balance, the spice and the salty blast of flavours, the combination that will only give a soothing effect without any side effects is the significant knowledge share that a celebrity bartender passes on to the GenX bunch of mixologists.
CREATIVITY AND CHEMISTRY IN CREATING COCKTAIL MENUS
Cautious with those apparatus:
Every type of drink requires a different kind of shaker. But not every use of a shaker can give birth to a good drink. Shaker, muddler, strainer or even the burner needs lots of quality time to be spent with the mixologist to get the bang on the precision of a drink mixing technique. The mixology basics will include the execution of all these techniques which have to be mastered by the bartenders in order to serve the best of the best cocktails in the town.