Hitting the right spot

This leads to a bartender/mixologist becoming more involved with the tastes and preferences of their guests, which helps in fixing the right cocktails.
Hitting the right spot

BENGALURU: Bartending is a very interesting profession. You learn a lot because of the nature of your work, you get opportunities to meet a lot of different kinds of people, and learn different choices of food and cocktails. This leads to a bartender/mixologist becoming more involved with the tastes and preferences of their guests, which helps in fixing the right cocktails.

Here are some tips, tricks and techniques to make a drink more appealing 

Use the right spirit: The most important aspect is selecting the spirit for the patron. You should know their choices and taste style. This can be done while having a prior conversation with them. This 10-minute chat (at a non-busy bar) can help to a great extent. Always keep yourself updated with the new trendy spirits and learn about the brands so you can share the same with your guests. Make sure you have stock of these spirits on your bar shelf.

Use classic and modern glassware:  After the choice of spirits, I believe that glassware is equally important while serving the drink. The bartender should do enough research on new glassware that is trending or available in the market.  Selecting the right glassware is a very important job.

Select the perfect mixer: Now, this is a never-ending process. Different spirits go well with different flavours, for that you have to learn about flavour first. Try to develop the taste buds for different herbs, spices, citrus and other rare fruits. Learn new techniques for using flavours and keep experimenting . Once you start understanding this, you can pair your spirit with the perfect mixers. For eg, try using fresh fruit and fresh citrus for cocktails. Avoid synthetic flavour syrups. Create your own signature fresh fruit or spice-based syrups and keep them handy. These fresh mixers or syrups will not only give it a fresh taste, but will also lift the quality of the cocktail. 

Ice: Ice plays a major role as it is the heart of any drink. Ice wasn’t taken seriously 10 years ago, but now, it is an important part of every pub/restobar. They go out of their way to get the best ice machines.  Hand-crafted ice is the trend now. Every bartender should know about the ice that is used in a bar. Based on that, you can get the right amount of dilution, and can make that perfect drink.

(The writer is beverage programmer, Raahi Neo Kitchen and Bar)

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