Bartender HQ Podcast : Bar Culture, Cocktails and Flair Bartending for Everyone.

Flair Bartenders love to share videos of their skills, and rightly so, Flair Bartending is a very visual and dynamic art and there are few ways more effective to communicate it than with video. However, all too often the videos are shaky bedroom footage on the lowest quality setting with either background music recorded through a low quality mic or simply the sound of bottle on tin.

On the show

In this week’s podcast we look at how to film on a budget using items you already have, such as smartphones while keeping the quality of the video as high as possible while taking a look at the new Bartender HQ (work in progress) studio.

If you have any questions please feel free to email or tweet me, and I’ll do my best to help!

Learn Flair

Also on this show, how to learn the Stall – catching a bottle on the back of your hand!

 

So on this week’s podcast we’re talking Flair Bartending and why you should learn to flair!

As you’ll probably know, I’ve been flair bartending since right at the beginning of my time behind the bar, from flipping ice cubes into glasses at my first nightclub to taking a national second place with TGI Fridays a few years ago. Find out on today’s show why you should learn to flair bartend in your own bar and what it can do for you.

5 Reasons to Learn to Flair

* Its an instant way to show you care about what you do. So many bartenders are just there to make a little cash on the side, but being a performance flair bartender makes you stand out immediately as someone who takes pride in their work.

* It’s visual and crosses language barriers and noisy environments. Because of the nature of flair bartending, it works regardless of whether people can hear or understand you, so its perfect for busy and loud nightclubs as well as large crowds.

* Travel – Flair Bartending opens doors for travel like nothing else – if you can demonstrate your flair bartending you will have little trouble finding work in resorts all around the world – I’ve worked in Dubai and Kavos with my flair bartending, recruited for Dubai because of it and got a job instantly in Kavos by showing what I could do.

* It doesn’t slow you down. When you learn to flair properly and understand where it fits within good quality service. Using your flair bartending skills appropriately will keep your service quick, yet allow for you to really show your moves when you have quieter times at the bar.

* You’ll keep your guests at the bar longer. Guests will have a much better time in the bar when you’re entertaining them than they will if you’re simply placing a drink in front of them, taking their money and then doing nothing they benefit from until you want more of their money. Your flair, even when serving other guests, entertains everyone at the bar.

If you want to check out the Steve Schneider Podcast mentioned in the show, check it out here.

Find our YouTube channel with Flair Videos and Podcasts here.

Follow us on Twitter @BartenderHQ

 

Have a question you’d like answering on a future podcast?

I’ve spent this weekend training new flair bartenders at Reflex Arcadian in Birmingham. Flair Bartender Training is a little different from training bartenders in general, as the way the bartenders move is critical to their work.

In this week’s podcast I discuss their first week’s training, down to the level of how to hold bottles for accuracy of pouring and reducing spillages. Next week their actual training in flair moves begins and will be a thread running through the next few podcasts.

If you’re interested in Flair Bartender Training and would like to learn the moves along with Ben & Shannon, check out our YouTube channel where the moves will be posted this week as they’re filmed.

Free Flair Kit for Flair Bartender Training

Want your own FREE Flair kit? Assemble your own equipment with this free guide and you’ll be able to practice all the flair moves and routines

Where to get the feed

Want the BartenderHQ podcast in your podcast feed every week as soon as it’s published. You can find the Bartender HQ podcast on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/bartender-hq-podcast-bar-culture/id917852999?mt=2) or Stitcher Radio (http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/bartenderhq/bartender-hq-podcast-bar-culture-cocktails-and-flair-bartending)

Here’s the second part of my conversation with Russell Davis from Spike TV’s Bar Rescue. In this part we discuss much more about Russell’s thoughts on bartending and its future.

Also discussed on this show, how Russell assesses a bar as he walks in for the first time, causing controversy with Old Fashioneds, the bar’s he’d love to sit at, his desert island cocktail and much much more.

So sit back, grab an Old Fashioned (no cherry…) and enjoy the show!

 

On this week’s BartenderHQ podcast, I’m talking to Russell Davis from Spike TV’s Bar Rescue about everything from Cocktails in Space to some of his other projects he’s looking into with other Bar Rescue personalities like Chef Brian Duffy and Ryan from Top Chef.

Russell’s experience as a Nightclub & Bar Bartender of the year and years running bar consultancy over at UnlimitedLiabilities.com just go to prove the caliber of Bar Rescue’s team, and to those who think its just about the TV show, these guys are the real deal and there’s a lot to learn from the show!

Find Russell on Facebook & Twitter.

On this week’s BartenderHQ Podcast:

Only 5% of UK drinkers planning to try new drinks in 2015

Diageo buys Don Julio Tequila brand to add to its portfolio.

Flair Bartending:

Creating a Flair Bartending Routine

Brendan Rodrigues

On this week’s Bartender HQ Podcast, we talk about how to get the drinks out as fast as possible behind the bar and the tools you need to do it!

The Bar Blade Holster from Barproducts.com

The Pourer Popper from Barblades.com

Electronic Lighters (from your local store)

Tom Dyer TD105 30 Speed Pourers (from www.dangerousdyer.co.uk on Facebook)

Balisong Butterfly Knife Beer opener

Shaker tins from Barproducts.com

Articles on BartenderHQ

How to Multiserve at the bar

Setting your station for success

Drink of the Week

TGI Friday’s Mr Grey Screaming Orgasm

Tips for Tips

Taking photos for your guests from 199 Ways to increase your Tips by Scott Young

On this week’s Bartender HQ Podcast:

AlcoBlow is rolled out in Birmingham

Birmingham clubbers can now be breath checked for their alcohol level before being admitted to nightspots in the city, with blowing more than twice the drink drive limit meaning you could be refused entry. What do you think? Tell us on Facebook!

Bacardi redesign their bottles

Probably the most popular bottle amongst flair bartenders is changing shape. Is it for the best, or have they ruined the most flippable bottle in the world for all of us performers? Let us know your thoughts on Facebook!

Raise The Bar by John Taffer

I’ve learnt a lot from a first casual listen to this audiobook (on Amazon Raise the Bar: An Action-Based Method for Maximum Customer Reactions) and it’s well worth a listen whether you’re a bar owner, manager, or just starting out as a bartender. I’m giving a copy away, you just need to tell me on Facebook why I should give it to you!

Tips For Tips

I’ve talked before about having everything your guest forgot so you can fill their needs, but today’s is specifically about phone chargers, so make sure you can charge all the major brands and your guests will really appreciate it!

Drink of the Week

Classic Sidecar. Full recipe details here!

On this week’s show I tell you why I think the vast majority of “Reasons you piss off your bartender” articles are rubbish and simply excuses for not doing our jobs properly!

Here’s the article I’m going though if you want to read along with me (its just like a kids book for story time!).

Mentioned in this section:

6 Tips to become a multi serving Jedi

10 Ways to get served faster at the bar

Also on this show:

Tips for Tips: Working as a team with the other bartenders and wait staff in your bar.

Drink of the Week: Ginger Jack

Jon Taffer describes himself repeatedly on Bar Rescue as one of the world’s best bar consultants, and that seems pretty accurate. His track record speaks for itself, and you can tell by watching the show that he really knows what he’s looking for. He surrounds himself with some of the best experts in the industry, and gets results. Here are a few lessons we can all learn from Jon Taffer and apply in our own bars.

1: Learn to Pour Accurately

Regardless of whether you free pour or use jiggers, the amount leaving the bottle should match the recipe and it should all end up in the drink, not on the bar top or in the drip tray. Learn to pour accurately, cut cleanly and make sure the guest gets the value they’re paying for while the bar doesn’t use more stock than it needs to.

2: Keep it Simple

Sprawling and overly complex menus for both food and drinks make your product harder to produce consistantly, increase stock holding and can slow service, as well as confusing the guest with more options than they can handle. Think like Apple, choose the best options for your customers and only feature those to reduce option fatigue.

3: Take Pride in Cleanliness

Every bar should be clean and safe to work in, so look at your bar from the guest’s perspective as well as ripping apart the insider to combat fruit flies, stickiness and worse… as seen on almost every episode of Bar Rescue! (Steve Darwin’s guest post on cleaning)

4: Don’t hire your family or friends

Hiring someone you already have a relationship with makes any potential issues down the line if they don’t perform well really hard to handle, so make sure you hire on merit in the first place. You’re allowed to like the team you work with, but remember you’re running a business not a charity!

5: Stack orders to reduce workload

Taking multiple orders means you can effectively make less drinks, just larger drinks. You cut time at every stage by grabbing multiple beers, blending and shaking multiple cocktails and generally looking pretty badass (see this article on becoming a multi-serving Jedi!)

Get Jon Taffer’s book at the link below… Highly recommended!

Raise the Bar: An Action-Based Method for Maximum Customer Reactions

Tips for Tips

Clean Bar tops all around!

Drink of the Week

Sour Drinks:

* 50ml / 1½oz Spirit or Liquer

* Juice of 1 lemon

* Dash Angostura  Bitters

* ½ / ¾oz Simple Syrup (to taste)

Shake with ice and Strain over fresh in a rocks glass.