Through the Cocktail Glass

The Lost Art of Bartending

Monday, October 12, 2009

If you think about the profession of bartending I'm sure the first thing that pops into your mind is the "nightclub" bartender, or liquor dispensers as I like to call them, who just push across drinks that you call to them, and make them as fast as they can and just take your money without so much as a thank you and forget about a memorable cocktail. And to actually see some personality with most of "these" types of liquor dispensers? Forget it. To them it's all about the money and collecting phone numbers, or adding notches to their bed post. Lost in the mayhem that is the nightclub is the artistry of bartending.

Bartending dates back to the ancient ages within the Greek, Roman and Asian societies. Back in those days, public brew houses (or pubs) were places for people on the run to hide from government bodies, so brew houses became a barricade for people, thus the name bar. And the word tender is archaic meaning to treat with tender regard or care. So the word bartender is one whom treats people in a caring matter while hiding them from the everyday threats of society. And if you think about it.....how true is that? Extremely! Bartending is more than making cocktails and pouring beer....and certainly more than collecting money.

So for those of you looking to become a bartender, or more importantly the people who are already behind the "stick" and are serious about your profession, my first bit of advice to you would be, learn your craft -- it's not about collecting phone numbers and really if you think about it, it's not about making drinks in most cases. People can sit at home and mix their own gin and tonic or whatever concoction they're craving. People come to the bar to escape the everyday grind and be entertained by the gatekeeper to paradise.... a.k.a the bartender. It's about the people. We all have a bit of politician in us as well. Shaking hands, hugging babies, and smiling through the toughest of times. Making your guests feel welcomed and comfortable at your bar is the biggest hurdle, after that it's as easy as being your entertaining, happy self and keeping their glass full.

Second bit of advice I would give is, take pride in the cocktails you're giving to guests. I'm not saying you have to create this drink in which it takes muddling, 10 different ingredients and candy coated rim and flame to produce, no, I'm talking about making something as simple as a gin and tonic. Select a terrific brand of gin and tell your guest why you chose this particular gin to make their drink. If you don't know the difference ...... learn it!! Pour the correct amount in the cocktail and don't forget about the garnish. Use the best looking lime or twist or whatever you are using, your drink is only as good as it looks. If your drink looks great - in your guest mind it already tastes great and they haven't even put it to their lips yet. Too many times have I seen or been a victim of the "burned" drink. I'm sure the bartender is thinking they are doing a favor by pouring an obscene amount of booze. Trust me when I say if you think you're getting a better tip by pouring straight booze -- you're wrong and it could backfire in a myriad of ways. Don't compromise the quality of drink you're making by thinking about the tip you'll receive by doing so.

Third strain of advice I can give add your own flair to your repertoire. Flair by definition is adding a distinct style and elegance to a routine; a natural talent or aptitude. Flair is NOT flipping bottles and glasses everywhere. Flair is something as easy as the way you place the cocktail napkin in front of your guest. Or the way you shake the martini shaker, or something as easy and subtle as the way you dress behind the bar (no, not Office Space flair either!). Every movement and gesture you make as a bartender behind the bar can be considered flair if done properly, and people appreciate it because it shows a passion for what you are doing.

Lastly, but I'm sure not least, is BE YOURSELF. If you don't like to be around people, work odd long hours and are not naturally jovial than this business is not for you and you should get out of it. Guests and employers can and will see right through the facade and your tenure in this business will be short-lived and unfruitful. This industry is unforgiving and unrelenting, but is extremely rewarding and exciting. Some of the best bartender's I know are not known for their ability to invent and create crazy libations, they are known for making great cocktails while providing an escape while sitting at their bar. People want to be around them and they have an aura about them that is magnetic and appreciated -- this my friends is what this business is all about, if you wish to be successful at it.

But Wait There's More.....

Thursday, July 30, 2009

The contest isn't quite over yet! Here is what I mean; there is a People's Choice Champion that is also invited to Vegas to part take in the festivities in Late August. So here is what I am asking all of you to do, even though you haven't tasted my cocktail you'll have to trust me that it is a really fuckin' good drink, and for those of you who have tasted it...thank you!

You have the opportunity to send me to Vegas, with Nick from Town Talk Diner, simply by texting my personal code (GQ3470) to this number 88704 as many times as you want to. You'll then get a text back from Sapphire just to verify that you are at least 21 years of age. Got it? Text GQ3470 to #88704 and you'll be helping me go to Vegas to compete and represent Minneapolis, and my new restaurant OM nationally against 35 other U.S. cities!!

Those of you who have not tried my cocktail and would like to, I'll be making it at OM this August once the restaurant opens up for business. By the way, I have a whole different entry coming soon about my new restaurant -- you don't want to miss that entry if you're into amazing food and libations!!

Okay!! You all got it? Real simple text my code (GQ3470) to this number (88704) and that's it!! Thank you in advance and wish me luck, I appreciate your support and taste buds!!

Jesse.

P.S. This texting portion of the contest lasts for three weeks roughly, so text away my friends, text away!!!

Bombay Sapphire Competition Results!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Let me set the stage for you all about this competition. This was 28 of the best bartenders in the city of Minneapolis. Johnny Michaels, Richie Rivera, Nick Kosevich etc. -- basically the "who's who" in downtown when it comes to mixology and crafting amazing cocktails. Johnny won this event last year and is the King when it comes to mixology in Minneapolis, Richie does crazy culinary shit with his drinks, and Nick....well Nick does things that I've never seen before with his cocktails and his knowledge about spirits are unparalleled and the list could go on and on with the level of talent that was participating in this competition. I felt confident and prepared to deliver one hell of a cocktail and was not intimidated by any of the big hitters...humbled and honored but not intimidated!

The judge was none other than Milo Rodriguez, a master mixologist from the UK that is representing Bombay Sapphire. Google Milo Rodriguez and look at his resume.....it's off the charts! Among other local and nation wide critics that were probing and asking questions about you and your cocktail. A pretty humbling atmosphere to say the least.

Who do I get paired with at my table?.....Nick Kosevich from Town Talk Diner! Are you kidding me?!? Yes, that Nick Kosevich that just won my Iron Bartender competition 3 months ago! Great!! We're friends so the night was all in good fun and spirit! To top it off I was in the first spot to be judged and Nick was second in line. So whatever Milo was judging on, we were setting the bar for others to beat or match.......so the pressure is on full court press.

The drink I prepared was a version of a Gin Rickey I learned while living on the West Coast. So I felt compelled to bring the west coast to the midwest for an evening. A Gin Rickey basically is a classic gin cocktail that has gin, lime juice and soda water....that's it. Here's is what I did to the Gin Rickey... I found some French cherries that were brandied and took them out of the brandy and placed them in a equal parts cognac and kirsch combination to bring an added layer of flavor to the cherries. French cherries are a lot different than your regular maraschino cherries you see at 99.9% of the bars. French cherries are much more firmer, have a darker hue or color to them, and they are tart not sweet and syrupie like maraschino's are. So I took 5-6 cherries and placed them in the bottom of a mixing glass and covered them with granulated sugar. I also have a misto mister (stainless steel pump can, that is used for olive oil mainly) that has 50% angostura bitters and 50% Bacard 151 Rum. I take the misto and brulee the cherries with the angostura bitter/151 mixture.....yes brulee (carmalize the cherries with fire!!!). After about a 15-20 second brulee, I add 1 tablespoon of Rosewater, 1 half of a lime that I then juice on the spot, and 3 oz. of Sapphire Gin. Give a light muddle, and shake the hell out of it. Strain into a collins glass filled with ice and top with about 2 oz. of bottled soda water. Garnish was a silver spoon that I drilled a hole through and skewered a brandied cherry through the hole to give the Spoonbridge and Cherry effect to the drink....thus the name of my cocktail .... Spoonbridge and Cherry Gin Rickey.

Milo Rodriguez appears to love my drink. Asking me all the right questions; my inspiration, about the ingredients I used, my technique the whole gamet. He leaves my station after about 7 minutes of me making my drink and talking about it and I feel great. The drink is perfect, the explanation of my drink is perfect, he (Milo) seems to like it asking me all about the drink and my bartending technique blah blah blah .... and goes to Nick's side of the table and I know his drink is phenomenal ... it's the Green Fairy -- my personal favorite drink in the city of Minneapolis!! Milo then spends just as much time with Nick as he did with me. Now we're both done and have the chance to go "mingle" with everyone else now. Everyone's cocktails are amazing. Taste, appearance, unique everything. My confidence level now has slipped a bit once I start weighing my competition. Whatever, I'm honored to even be in the same competition with all this talent in one place!

Long story longer, time to announce the results....... Milo goes on about how tough second and first place was to decide .. second place goes to.......... Jesse from OM! That's right.....me!! I was absolutely floored! I knew I had a great cocktail and I gave it my all but I had no idea that it had defeated 27 other talented mixologists! Nick took home the 1st place trophy....of course, but I'm totally happy with my showing. Yes, Nick gets to go to Vegas....again, but I gained some cred within the Minneapolis bar scene with my cocktail and growing following. And to that I am humbled and honored. Great competition and can't wait for the next one! Cheers to all whom participated and supports us in our chosen profession and craft.

Bombay Sapphire Cocktail Competition

Monday, July 27, 2009

I've been away for a while and I apologize! I've found out it's real hard to write a blog (regularly), when I work nights, be a daddy and husband during the day and keep up on everyday activities...namely mow the grass, paint walls that the kids have drawn on, and other household duties. So I'm squeezing this in as the kids are playing outside....I think! I'm in a cocktail competition tomorrow (Tuesday July 28th) at Sea Change (attached to the Guthrie Theatre). 8:00 p.m. is the start time and unfortunately it's by invitation only. I do get 4 invites to hand out (well 3 since my wife gets one!). It's first come first serve if you arrive in time, you'll get in. Just drop my name or contact me before you're coming and I'll put one aside for you.

I'm up against some very stiff competition, including the newly crowned Minneapolis' Iron Bartender Champ Nick Kosevich from Town Talk Diner. He has taken second place the past two years in a row! It's time to pass the torch Nick.....get to Wisconsin already would you???!!! Just kidding, it's an honor to even be in the same competition with someone as talented as you are, good luck to you my friend with all that lays ahead of you!

There is a people choice champ as well, I'll have more info on how you can vote for me without even attending the competition. As for tasting my amazing libation? Just come to OM (the old Nate's Clothing store, on the corner of 3rd st. and 1st Ave.) in mid August and I'll make you one....or two! I can't divulge my recipe just yet, but stay tuned to this blog and I'll give you all the tasty details!! A hint is it's a classic gin cocktail, with a "Jesse" spin on it, and there is fire involved! Trust me it's delicious.

Wish me luck and hopefully I'll see some of you very soon at OM to taste my delectable libation.

Peace and Love to all!

And the Winner is..........

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Alright all you Iron Bartender maniacs grab your favorite beverage, snuggle up real close to the computer monitor and indulge yourself in this episode of this little thing we call Iron Bartender of Minneapolis. In this episode we crown the first ever Iron Bartender of Minneapolis Champion and I'm hear to fill you in on all the twists and turns the evening had in store for our two talented bartending duo's.

Let me set the stage first of all, Nick Kosevich and Patrick Denny from Town Talk Diner were up against Richie Rivera and Jeff Weber from Eli's Bar and Grill. Three secret ingredients, three rounds would determine Minneapolis' first ever Iron Bartender! This wouldn't be, however, the normal format....no sir, we had some twists and turns in store for these two talented mixologist's.

If you haven't been to an event of Iron Bartender yet let me tell you a side story about this competition. Each of the 26 teams would bring with them coolers full of different puree's, simple syrups, bitters and any other homemade concoctions that do not include alcohol. They would also bring any exotic fruits and vegetables, meats, flowers...anything they could get their hands on, special glassware, garnishments, gas burners..basically whatever fit in their car they were bringing....with the exception of booze.

With that in mind, I had a little something in store for them. The first rounds twist would be each team could select only 5 items they brought with them to mix a cocktail, martini and a shot. The 5 items could be a home brew syrup, a special tool, a special garnish, certain glassware - you get the picture, no more than 5 items however. The 5 items Nick and Patrick from Town Talk Diner was grapefruit-lime sour, basil oil, demerara sugar, sweet poached cherries, and blood orange/cherry sour. Richie and Jeff from Eli's Bar and Grill chose black chai, lemon ginger tea, 5 spice syrup, vanilla syrup and kumquats.

So with the 5 ingredient selected from each team we're set to unveil the first secret ingredient of the evening. First ingredient was.....Sapote. Sapote is native to Central America and Mexico. It comes from very tall and mature ornamental evergreen tree that reaches 60-140 feet tall. They can be eaten raw out of a hand, but are very common in shakes and smoothies. The taste of the fruit is supposed to be that of a cross between a sweet potato and maraschino cherry with a avocado texture. The reason I say "supposed to" was because, contrary to what the clerk at the local produce store told us, these sapote's were NOT at all ripe, they were dry and extremely bitter. With the unveiling already done and the surprise element already compromised we had no choice but to continue with the challenge..each team would not have an advantage over the other working with the same unripe fruits. Sorry fellas, I guess in the future I will eat one before I buy them! Each team in the end used the sapote as a puree or a muddle to try and equalize the bitterness and tartness the fruit had to it. Each succeeded quite well given the circumstances of the unripe fruit.

The second round of action was my favorite of the three. We decided to break up the teams with another twist. Nick and Richie had to do away with their "sous tender" they've been working with for the past 7 weeks and pick someone from our raucous crowd. Who would they pick? The answer from Nick was a quick and easy selection. Nick chose Tommy Bagnot, a chef at Town Talk Diner. Richie's selection was also a quick one, Richie chose Wayno, a bartender from Santorini. Wanyno had been bounced from competition a week prior by Richie and was in the crowd as a spectator. With the "new" teams set, it was time for another secret ingredient. Timer set to 15 minutes..secret ingredient is....... Tamarind! It is fruit from a tropical tree native to Africa. The fruit if you've never seen it, is brownish and long, slender shells (I'm not going to lie, they look like a big turd if you didn't look closely). They are sweet and are used to make jams in most cases, but can be eaten raw as a snack as well. They also go great as a topping on your favorite ice cream sundae.

The two teams worked extremely well together. Each staying ahead of each other doing their specific tasks. Nick was the cocktail maker, and Tommy was definitely the chef making a bean soup to combine with one of Nick's concoctions. Nick and Tommy broke out the liquid nitrogen and made a ice cream or sorbet of sorts with it, quite cool watching the steam from the nitrogen pour all over the bowl and floor! Richie and Wayno on the other hand were more like 2 bartenders working together would be. Each making cocktails and measuring ingredients and tasting, trying different things, each garnishing cocktails with special sliced fruits and vegetables. As a fellow bartender it was a fun round to watch to see how both teams would adapt to this little wrinkle.

The third and final round of competition would be the toughest test yet. Paired back with their original sous tenders, Nick and Richie were set to do battle one last time to see who would wear the title of Iron Bartender of Minneapolis and also be going to Las Vegas in style! In this battle the timer would be set to 20 minutes. Why 20 minutes? Was the ingredient that tough that the competitors needed some extra time to think this one out? Timer set, secret ingredient is.....tomatillo! Tomatillo's are little green tomato's basically. They are a staple in Mexican cuisine. They have a husk surrounding them and should be peeled in order to use the vegetable properly. They are commonly used in green sauces in Mexican cuisine and are very tasty when roasted and turned charred.

Each team went at this ingredient differently. Richie and Jeff immediately put about 5 tomatillo's on an open flame and began roasting them. Nick and Patrick began peeling and cutting them to maybe use as a puree or sauce. With 5 minutes elapsed in the third and final round came the wrinkle.....remember we added 5 extra minutes to the original 15 minutes. Here is why, with 5 minutes gone, Richard (the MC), yells "BARTENDERS, STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING!" Then Kari (the other mastermind behind this competition) dramatically comes through the kitchen doors with yet another covered platter. We added a secret ingredient to the mix that must be incorporated into each drink. The ingredient.....wasabi! Now the bartenders had 15 minutes to incorporate wasabi into the concoctions they had already started. Either adjusting levels of ingredients or start all over from the beginning. Being a mustard root, wasabi and tomatillo's should work well together and drink specs shouldn't have to be altered too much to incorporate the wasabi into them. If I could transmit smell through this blog I would. The smell of roasted tomatillo's and fresh wasabi being used was amazing, I couldn't wait to taste the end result.

The cocktails that came out of this round were unfathomable! Deconstructed Bloody Mary's with mussels, Filet Mignon and roasted corn salsa were used as garnishes for god sakes! Both these team brought it and brought it hard for this final battle! I must say that this final battle saw the most ingenuity, unique and delicious libations yet! These guys I would put up against any one in the country and feel very confident their cocktails could hold their own all alone!

With all the scores tallied from all three rounds we had a winner(s). With only 7 points separating the two teams.....Nick Kosevich and Patrick Denny from Town Talk Diner are Minneapolis' first ever Iron Bartender and are going to Vegas baby! Richie and Jeff although did not win, showed they do have what it takes to go the distance and understand what it means to be mixologists. Eli's and our community should be honored they work and serve us here in our great city!

Congratulations to Nick and Patrick for outlasting all competitors put in front of them, and congratulations to ALL competitors, volunteers, spectators and everyone involved with this great event showcasing our industry and that we may be bartenders but we take pride in what we do and we are not liquor dispensers, we are craftsman (and women) as well.

CHEERS to all who attended these events over the past 7 weeks! Without you all this wouldn't have happened and been as successful as it was for the first time! Yes, I will do this again, and YES it will be bigger and better than the previous competition! I'll keep you informed of coming details and would love your feedback if you attended to what you liked or didn't like about this competition. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

City Pages has written a short and sweet article about our cute little competition....thank you Jessica for your help in letting everyone know about this great competition.

Apology Needed!

Friday, April 24, 2009

I need to offer up a HUGE apology to a prior blog entry I posted a week or so back. Regarding the judging and how disappointed I was in it. Let me say, and this is no excuse for what I wrote, I was a little peeved of some of the things I was over hearing from the judges when talking to some of competitors. This whole competition I wanted to have integrity and legitimacy and I felt at the time that had been breached and it rubbed me the wrong way. Also, let me say, I appreciate all the judges that participated in the Iron Bartender competition. So if any of the judges have read the prior post I hope you can accept my apology and continue to support our effort and community offering up your free time and time away from your families to engage with all of us...especially us bartenders!!!!

My second HUGE apology goes out to Wayno and all the Santorini supporters! Honestly without the Santorini crowd I don't know where this competition would've gone. You all really brought the energy and is exactly what I was hoping for every week we competed, so if I offended any of the Santorinian's I hope you can accept my apology. Wayno, you know I love you and respect what you do, I was really more worried about the integrity of the competition than any one particular feelings and didn't want to diminish your victory(s).

So there, I feel bad that I offended people with a past posting and I didn't mean it to be an attack on any one particular group. I'll take this as a lesson learned and will be careful what I write from now on. I have a lot to say and some of it is not thought out all the way through. I appreciate EVERYONE that has participated, rooted, witnessed, volunteered, and judged or had anything to do with this competition and hope you all continue to support us all! This competition is not about me...it's all about you, our industry and our community.....so CHEERS to all of you (This is me giving you a big group hug).

Peace and Cheers,
Jesse Held.