Cocktail developments?!
This nugget of information was posted on 16/02/09 at 8:15 pm by Mal and is filed under Mal's musings.
In the 80’s & 90’s drinks were made from a whole variety of sticky liqueurs. You know the ones all the colours of the rainbow usually with the word Crème in front of their names. They could be mixed in any order & quantity with juice in a tall glass to produce the same sugary sweet “cocktail” more accurately called a “mixed drink”.
This was not necessarily a crime. It is how many cocktails were originally created, to hide the appalling flavours of cheap hooch, bathtub gin or unholy moonshine.
Today it’s happening all over again with flavoured sugar syrups, jams & a whole variety of stupid cookery ingredients. Unfortunately this time around bartenders aren’t using the cheaper poorer quality spirits but instead choosing top end boutique liquor. This menagerie of ingredients can actually mask some really poor cocktail making.
Bartenders who don’t understand their basic principles of sweet & sour that can’t regularly produce a balanced drink often mask their inabilities by simply adding more ingredients.
The same mistakes are often made with cookery – there are only a small percentage of chefs around who can improve the flavour of a freshly caught fish or a well sourced steak.
The solution to this problem in my opinion would be a well made classic drink. However I recently read an article stating that you needn’t put classic cocktails on a bar menu as everyone should know that they would be available anyway. I would love to agree but the reality is quite different.
You have to travel a long way to find a decent Margarita, Mai Tai or Manhattan & even further if you wish your second drink to taste anything like your first.
Drink with integrity, stay wet!
Mal x
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March 9th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Couldn’t agree more.
However, a bar tender can only be as good as his customer… and when that customer is adamant they would like a sex on the beach with “plenty of grenadine” there is little a bar man can do change their mind. I suppose the key is to spot the customer that may request a drink that won’t rot your teeth, and won’t mind you taking 5 minutes to put his love and tender care into it.
Classic Drinks should always be listed on any cocktail menu in my opinion, after all, they have earned their “classic” pre-fix for a reason.
March 20th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Great article Mal. A realistic observation of the trade at present.
I love innovation and wouldn’t like to stifle anyones creativity. That said, for me, particularly when using expensive spirits, the drink has to feature that spirit predominantly. I start sweating when the bartender reachers for the 4th and then the 5th ingredient.
For me, a good drink is about picking out a characteristic in the spirit, accentuating or complementing it, then balancing the drink. keep it simple.
May 18th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
hey guys
saw i study’s in catering school in french to become barmen. And do you know ABF ? it’s group’s for every body french barmen and in school we study’s this coktails. It’s very interresting.
I watch you want’s work with spirits but i think the most it’s special spirit for every body for test is you take a bottle of havana club or an other botlled and pour in vanilla or chili, coconut with vanilla 40 days. it’s very very delicious.
It’s just 1 idea to french.
see you soon and sorry for my english it’s not very nice
May 20th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Totally agree with the principle here Mal. I think classic drinks should be subtle, strong, carefully made and consistent. In my experience the challenge is getting people to drink these drinks. And apart from that, if people do want these drinks, you need to be sufficiently committed to the principle to pay for the staff needed to make it work well – good trained staff behind the bar, and ideally floor staff to take the orders and deliver the drinks in the first place. What makes Mojo so different from pretty much anywhere else in the UK is the ability to deliver quality drinks at an acceptable speed and price in an environment that is frequently bonkers. You don’t panic at the bar in Mojo about getting served if you’ve been there before. Anywhere else you would need the floor staff, otherwise clients would worry about ever getting served. Right enough – must get back to work. Keep it up Mojo (Alex – see you soon).