opinionated alchemist

We "global" bartenders (and restaurateurs) find often too many excuses not to excel in our bars, in creativity, in service. But then there are venues, which are at times in the middle of nowhere, which are disproving our points. Sure most of the time, these are restaurants - but also bars are not as uncommon as one would guess. Off course, when it comes to bars, 'Murica is the centre of attention; few cities there are bartenders' paradise - all above New York City. Yes the rents are expensive - but loads of bar-interested people, which fill the cash drawers of operators and the wallets of bartenders. But every single location has its advantages and disadvantages - and yes - every location has it's opportunities. In this post (and maybe this even becomes a series), I would like to take one location as example - and like to show, which chances there are, to make a truly outstanding bar. Let's begin - shall we? First stop Philippines - Manila. I have ...

Oh - yeah... since a long time I am ready to participate another Mixology Monday - I am so excited. This time - it is a quite easy going subject - Summer Break. This MxMo is hosted by  Joel DiPippa of the  Southern Ash  blog - thanks so much! As I am Beverage Manager in the real corporate life, I had also this time the idea to extend the fun, and ask the interested bartenders, if they would like to participate... two were excited as me - and you will find their thoughts and pictures below. First things first: the thoughts of Joel DiPippa: As we look past the frost in the air for the arrival of spring, I wanted to challenge you with the theme of Spring Break!..  The best part of Spring Break is that it means so many things to so many different people, so I have some high expectations this month.  Yes, tiki-heads, I am looking at you. I want all of you to dig deep, steeled by last month’s MxMO, and find your spring break drink! What sort of drinks d...

You might know, that I am not the best person for smoke and mirrors (no pun intended)... personally I like the simpler presentations.  However I also understand the psychology when it comes to drinks. And using smoke, is pretty much the easiest wow factor if you do have the equipment. From a flavor standpoint it can be also tempting, but often it is just unnecessary. If you are anyway mixing with Mezcal or Scotch (at least the smokier ones), smoking is just falsifying the aroma of the distillate.  On the other side, I made the experience, that peat (of malts) usually don't work very well with other regular cocktail ingredients like citrus juices... however some smokes do much better in this department. Equipment Polyscience Smoking Gun I bought myself (for the use in the hotel...) a Polyscience Smoking Gun. It is made out of plastic, and it is very obvious, that the plastic body is taken from a cheap volume produced consumer product (*cough* mini table va...

I have never really made a secret out of it: I think that complicated cocktails, with loads of ingredients are simply unnecessary... even foolish at times. I do believe in classic (and new classic) drinks - made on the highest level possible. A lot of bartenders though don't really understand fully the concept - there is a lot of perception and much less real knowledge (and taste) in the bartending world. Take for example the humble horseneck. If you would ask a group of bartender to make a premium version of it, most would use a great bourbon, Angostura bitters & a commercial ginger ale and call it a day. There I do agree with those who say, that using premium spirits is a waste in mixed drinks. There are others which would use the premium spirit, would though use a premium mixer, Angostura (or fancier bitters), and also feel confident to have done good work. But here is the thing: often "premium" mixers are more or less the same as commercial mixers. Yes...

Since quite some time there are discussions, if technology is replacing bartenders.  And some people in the industry take a clear stance against other people, who like to implement further technology in the bar industry. If you have read some of my posts here, you will know, that I am not afraid of progress, I rather like to embrace it. However it has to be done right. I think, that technology should not lower the quality. And this is exactly the purpose of this post. Please check out the background of the Somarbar Robotic Bartender on Kickstarter. It seems that some "nerdy engineering guys", put it in their mind, to produce a cocktail making machine. They don't seem to really have sought any consultancy of a bar expert, nor do they seem to be at anyway affluent with this topic. Here are my complaints:  Calling it a Robotic Bartender is a far stretch.  The machine is solely measuring and "blending" ingredients together. There is no...

Excuse my Star Wars reference here... but it quite obvious, that you can't really say, that the industry is with the force (dammit - again a Star Wars reference) I have read yesterday a very interesting article in German on Trinklaune.de , when I browsed my Feedly posts. After RSS standard was dropped by Safari and other browser, I recommend Feedly to keep in touch with your favorite blogs. Anyway- the article states, that a lot of rums were chemically tested, and most rums contained significant quantities of sugars, but also glycerine and vanillin. This obviously created some controversy- but the most disturbing thing is, that the producer downplay these results. You might ask, why this is a big deal!? I am not complaining because of health reasons. Yes, sugar is bad- but so is ethanol. It is more about lies and perception. You have to understand, that sugar is alternating significantly the sensory quality of alcohol. I found a great experiment on rumproject.com , which s...

When I went recently for shopping for booze, a couple of products just stick out. There was Ferdinand Quince Gin (which is rather a liqueur - didn't tried it yet - but as soon as I do, I will definitely post it here) - and there was Plymouth Navy Strength. Truth has to be told: I was always a bit bored by the normal Plymouth. They usually give you the whole story, that Plymouth is a specific gin, made with softer water (...), but at the end, it taste like a London dry gin, if nobody tells you otherwise and its rather "pathetic" strength of just above 41% pales against my preferred gins. I have to honest: I am a bit "concerned" about the whole gin craze. I do get it: gin is more flavourful than vodka; and it is great to have a couple of different styles of gins in your bar. But do we need gin bars? And/or do we need a dozen or more different gins? Is it more smoke and mirrors than anything else? I would say yes! And yes - if you compare them sid...