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Amor Y Amargo is the best NYC bar, especially when Sother is working and hosed Up is on the speakers. Plus, four dollar house made sweet vermouth on draft all day? Sign me up. Then Painkiller(PKNY now), Maison Premiere, and I feel like I need a beer bar, Pony Bar? I don't know. Union Pool for shows. Really, these are just great places that my friends work at/own. Choom Gangster - Craft cocktail bar & a high volume college nightclub. Who likes working six nights a week? I do. I missed the discussion, but always start as a barback, no matter what line of bartending you are getting into. It's the type of position that paying dues will benefit you more than anyone else. Also, I'm just 25. Choom Gangster fucked around with this message at 00:48 on Aug 12, 2012 |
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Aug 12, 2012 00:45
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Coldfire posted:Out of curiosity; what are your go to shots? Someone got their scowl on at me the other day for enjoying a shot of Jim Beam White, and I realized it was a bit of a guilty pleasure to drink well spirits over back bar during service. Any heavy amari. We have a house bottle of Amargo Angostura Vallet that I brought in right now. Sometimes Wray & Nephew. We have a house "bomber" shot at my bar that we reserve for special occasions. The Jamaican Bobsled. A shot of Smith & Cross, and shot of Wray & Nephew, and half a pint of any sort of porter, though thematically Guinness. Take the shot of Smith, drop the shot of Wray into the beer, and polish it off. Can be taken in teams of four, and always with the accompanying chant of "Feel the rhythm, feel the ride, get on up, it's bobsled time" Coldfire posted:I'd also be interested to hear about how many of our cocktail bartenders on SA have won/ entered/ are entering competitions, whether global, or brand based. I do more class teaching and event attending than I do competing. I won my regional Don Q contest this year, that took me to MCC. I was selected for both PDX and Camp Runamok as well this year. Leading up to PDX my business partner and I, the other bartender at our bar, are going on a cocktail tour, hosting guest spots up the west coast in Phoenix, San Diego, LA, SF, PDX, and Seattle if time permits. Though, a couple dates will probably have to be removed this time around since I have a second book to finish, a new rum bar to open, and did I mention our bar is just the two of us?
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Aug 16, 2012 19:33
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Vegetable Melange posted:Don't buy anything; let them bathe you in swag and samples. If they push Voli vodka, they'd better do it with sexual favors and a big bag o'blow. Maison Premiere? I just got back home from Camp Runamok. Without exaggeration I would estimate that the 120 or so of us went through 350-400 cases of bourbon in a week's time. Also, Hollis Bulleit parties harder than most very grown men. By the third or so day, hangovers no longer exist. Time to sober up before PDXCW. Choom Gangster fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Sep 18, 2012 |
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Sep 18, 2012 23:02
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Melange, are you going to PDX? Also, where do you work?
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Sep 27, 2012 07:59
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Vegetable Melange posted:no run amok or PDX for me, but I trust you know and/or have been glitter bombed by my friends. Come say hello when you are bound for the east coast again. It's a small drunk after all. You still haven't said where you work. Are you in NYC? For some reason I thought that's where you were. I didn't get glitter bombed, because I'm not Jason Littrell, but I do have friends in the city. Payman from PDT is a very good friend, and Polsky and Chris from Amor and Proletariat are friends, almost everyone that now works at Maison Priemere is from Tucson, including Maxwell the bar manager. Oh, and Yael, she's all over the place. So yeah, there is a decent chance we share friends of acquaintances.
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Oct 1, 2012 01:08
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Do you have a picture of the New York ones? I got my Arizona one a few months ago, with basically the same reaction. My Chartreuse coin on the other hand...
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Oct 16, 2012 21:10
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Shooting Blanks posted:Going one step further, if you're going to ask for a cocktail of the bartender's choice, it's not a bad idea to give them some idea of what you're looking for - maybe a base spirit (bourbon, gin), or something else you really like (citrus juices, fizzes made with egg whites), etc. Doing this at the right bar can open you up to some really cool stuff. There's at least one bartender who has posted in this thread that I have visited more than once and literally never ordered a specific drink from - I just let the guy make whatever seems interesting, and am always pleasantly surprised as a result. This is a huge part of how my bar functions. I pride myself on cocktail knowledge and adaptability, and doing this as a bartender exercises both heavily. I have one group of people that come in, that at this point just ask me to make cocktails based on word association, or in reference to something in their lives or pop culture. It's fun, and a great way to test out new menu drinks.
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Nov 30, 2012 08:39
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We've taken to replacing "86" with "hosed" at my bar. The reorder list is even titled "hosed List". It comes from camp fire duty at Camp Runamok. Bon Vivant Scott and myself were responsible for making the nightly campfires, and one day we poorly communicated cutting wood duties, leaving us with nothing to burn. Two phone calls later, we had 13 Knob Creek casks to break down to burn. To celebrate, we shared a bottle of Ocho reposado. I lost the cork as soon as I opened it, Scott asked where it was, I told him, "Cork's hosed," to which he responded, "I guess we'll have to finish it then." So the work mantra around here during service is " X is hosed" and the other person responds, " gotta finish it" as a way to acknowledge that they heard you.
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Dec 13, 2012 02:36
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In my nightclub days, I've broken up around a hundred fights I'd say. Everything from minor scuffles to full-on ear slicing and gun pulling. Fights are stupid, but apples to assholes, every time one broke out at our club, me and my barbacks were there first. Security guys will through you out, barbacks will gently caress you up. Anyway, I've left that behind, consigning myself to explaining to my customers that I know my bar was on Food & Wine's Ten Best of 2012 and dreaming of Jack Rose milkshakes after work.
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Jan 6, 2013 13:51
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February? I think. I know I have to do some pop-up work, but otherwise I try to distance myself from most of the bartenders and reps in this area.
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Jan 7, 2013 11:28
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Sazeracs should never, ever, be served up.
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Jan 29, 2013 00:14
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People think it's odd, but I wear running shoes behind the bar. I did when I barbacked a huge nightclub as well. I wear Red Wings at home, but don't like trashing them through bar slop at work. Also, we are blessed with St. Pat's on a Sunday, and will be closed. A friend of mine starts his first bar job backing at the biggest little bar in town on Sunday though, he is going to get his will, might, and wit crushed through the ringer. Which, with a bar job, means it's only uphill from there.
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Mar 14, 2013 05:52
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Adding love for Hay Merchant, I know some of their employees and they are doing things right. I used to barback a night club; the biggest and most popular in Tucson. This nightclub happens to be retrofitted into the first floor of the Hotel Congress, and building that was completed in 1919. It was a great barbacking experience, because it was quite possibly the worst laid out bar in the history of such blunders. There are three primary bars, with two secondary smaller bars. None of them have dishwashers, only two have triple sinks and two have keg refrigerators. That's right, keg refrigerators, not lines from an independent keg walk in. So, when the club was packed and a keg blew, it meant the barback going into a back prep room where the beer walk in was, shouldering a nigh 200lb half barrel (against all OSHA code and any common sense but because the bar was so narrow, and of course 42" tall), walking through a club full of 900-1200 people a distance of 500-1000' and switching it out at the bar. Rinse, repeat. Yeah, get a walk in.
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Apr 13, 2013 21:30
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On carrying kegs to bars, I once watched a fellow barback (a five and a half foot, 220 pound, walking, talking, cut of muscle, piss and gristle) trip himself with a half barrel shouldered come crashing down trapping his arm and shoulder between the back bar and said keg. Tore his rotator cuff. Filed for worker's comp, was told he was at fault for shouldering the keg by ownership. That place really is just atrocious.
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Apr 15, 2013 04:26
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JMod posted:1) Baker's is one of my favorite bourbons, and every time I see it I'll order it, extra-enunciate the B, make a B with my fingers, and every single time they grab Maker's, pour me a drink and I'll shake my head. I'll say a BAKER'S and then they get mad and throw the drink and act all pouty like I did something wrong. How can I order this drink in a loud bar? Just order regular Jim Beam.
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Apr 24, 2013 10:33
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rorty posted:I'm perfecting a cocktail based on a biscuity cake orangey thing some UK folk might be familiar with and I'm really trying to get the biscuity taste on the end. Any suggestions on what might add biscuity tastes to a cocktail? You have two choice when making a drink that mimics the flavors found in another product: fake everything and alienate the identity of the cocktail for the sake of it's inspiration, or make a properly balanced cocktail that is an homage the flavors that inspire it. I'd suggest the latter. Oh, and it's a cocktail, not a Martini. Like it was said but ignored before, if you want egg and nutty flavors, use Amontillado sherry, or if you want something a little sweeter use Pale Cream. Don't use triple sec for a concentrated orange flavor, it has other citrus in it. Use a curacao or better yet an amer l'orange, like Picon, or Torani. Use Guatemalan rum for the vanilla, something like Zacapa or Zaya (though technically now made in Trinidad). Orgeat will give you extra nut flavor as well and is actually tastes of almonds not apricot cookies as amaretto does. Hopefully that helps and doesn't come off as condescending.
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Jul 3, 2013 00:23
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Are any of you going to Tales? I'll be there Tuesday to Monday working.
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Jul 11, 2013 02:52
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Ouija posted:Don't ever shake anything with bitters in it This is the worst advice.
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Jul 15, 2013 10:02
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But guys, drinking on the job is dangerous, and, and did you hear? Sometimes it's not even legal!
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Aug 24, 2013 10:34
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Exactly. I never drink at work. I don't even drink at the big Lush Life events I put on, where all the work is done and there is no reason not to. I find it unprofessional. But hey, last day behind the stick? Drink'em if you got'em.
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Aug 26, 2013 09:41
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Vegetable Melange posted:Speaking of events and professionalism, what cabin are you in this year? Only the most extra medium.
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Sep 9, 2013 08:39
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At least I didn't Buzzball you. To inform you all in the thread, myself and Vegetable Melange were cabinmates at bourbon summer camp last week. He farts, a lot.
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Sep 10, 2013 03:04
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I'll be there working/attending, but I bet you already knew that.
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Oct 2, 2013 23:59
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Rittenhouse Rye. End of story.
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Dec 17, 2013 08:02
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There aren't many cocktails of origin outside of the US historically, it's our tradition. That said, you have great sherries, brandies and Madeiras to work with. Take the Creole Contemptment, 1 1/2 Cognac (sub Spanish brandy) 1 1/2 Madeira, 1/4 Maraschino, dash of Angostura. Cocktails are more likely inspired by or made with regional ingredients, but rarely from that region. Use Spanish Pisco, it's profound in pepper character. Use it as a substitute for tequila in a house daisy that maintains what some know from the Margarita, while staying thematic and relevant to the restaurant.
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May 29, 2014 18:20
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MAKE NO BABBYS posted:Daiquiri is credited as being invented by an American while he was in Cuba during the war, as was the Pisco Sour, sooooooo..... It's a formula if not invented in America, widely and made wildly popular by Americans. Totally, other people made them other places but between Wondrich's research/books and America Walks Into A Bar I think historically it's justified. The Daiquiri was invented by Jennings Cox in the 1890s in Santiago, Cuba, then popularized by Constantino at La Florida years later. And I meant the mentality as much as the cocktail as a whole. The concept is American through and through.
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May 30, 2014 11:06
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MAKE NO BABBYS posted:Yeah, Jennings Cox was an American in Cuba for a stay during the Spanish-American war, as I said above. I was just elaborating.
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May 30, 2014 17:13
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Gropes posted:I'm trying to come up with a new cocktail for our summer menu. What are some rum cocktails you guys enjoy during the hotter season? As of now I'm thinking of using Zaya rum and making a mango cordial since they're in season here but want some inspiration to fill the blanks. Cobra's Fang 2 oz Rum 1.5oz OJ .5oz Lime .5oz Passionfruit syrup 1 tsp Grenadine 2d Angostura 2d Absinthe Make a variation with the mango.
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Jun 12, 2014 09:55
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Building your Mojito is such a dufus move. It's a drink like the rest. South sides aren't built to protect the precious mint. Also, just make mint syrup.
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Aug 15, 2014 23:43
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Not to sound like a broken record, but use sugar syrup and prepare it frappe or something. Unless the goofy ritual is important, in which case yeah, slow the water. Also, forget I called it goofy.
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Aug 17, 2014 11:44
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That's a big fish story. I'm now doing draft cocktails at music festivals and I can tell you that the daily drink depletion for Coachella was 20k cocktails per day. Over 150 handles. At 15$ a drink. I do exclusive VIP parties for very large corporations where there drinks are free and we burn through 1/8bbl in 20 minutes. 10k$ is a made up, bullshit number. Also, hey Rosser.
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Jul 3, 2016 18:31
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I have a story from years ago, of puke in a crazy place. The rule at the nightclub I bounced at before bartending was that the newest guy cleans all puke. So I'm roaming the dance floor and some guy stops me to say there's puke in the men's room. I get to the bathroom in search of vomit, but come up empty handed. I can smell it, but it's not in a sink or urinal or toilet. That's when I saw it. Knowing it would be selfish to keep this discovery to myself, I seek out the new guy to see if he can solve the messy mystery. We get to the still, he scans the walls and floor, plugging his nose. I gesture to the toilet paper dispenser on the stall wall. He grimaced, looking confused, And opened the cover to the dispenser. There it was! Sinkgria, puke, vomit, whatever you call it, filled the cover as it lay open. That's right, someone barfed IN the toilet paper. At least they had the manners to close the cover back up. Moral of the story? Puke brings us all closer as a community.
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Nov 10, 2016 04:40
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