opinionated alchemist

“Everything in moderation, and that includes moderation itself.”  ―  Tadahiko Nagao Honestly - in hospitality [and especially bars] we should study this quote often - maybe daily. Bartenders are so prone to overdoing it with details at times - and then [or others] neglecting other details.  One of the first totally neglected point - but nowadays vastly overdone topic is ice. Until the "ice-craze" ice for drinks came out of a ice-machine. Usually a crappy one, which was not able to produce proper cubes - nor consistent and adequate quality of and shape of ice. These ice machines are still standing in a lot of hotels - a lot of restaurants and a lot of bars. Maybe half a decade ago, there was a rather healthy  shift to better machines - ]lets mention here the only two brands, which are until now able to produce proper cubes: Hoshizaki and Kolddraft] - and everything could be so good. But this was not enough for some. Japanese bartenders are chi...

I was never a flair bartender. I was always more dedicated to service, to quality and to entertain the guests with humor and edutainment - not with cheesy bottle tricks. The only thing, what I did, which can be remotely seen as part of flairing, was work-flair. This is the technique to incorporate flairing into your work routine - however without slowing down and without sacrificing quality. Because lets face it - modern exhibition flair, might look good, but the drink you will get, are forgettable at best [and yes there might be some exceptions, which I never encountered]. But does flairing bring the bar forward? A big no! Great flairing has something to do with 100% dedication - for hand-eye coordination, timing... but the issue is, that it doesn't have anything to do with great service- and it has nothing to do with a great product. A good circus artist could become an incredible flair bartender... but does that makes sense? If it comes to mixology, maybe a good chef...