Chapter 9: Chapter 9 Mixology One
Mixology: Mixology Word mixology refers to a bartender’s knowledge and skill, but a manager must know everything a bartender knows and more
The biggest mixed drink on record was a rum punch made in the west Indies in the eighteenth century
Mixology: Mixology 1200 bottles of rum
1200 bottles of Malaga wine
400 quarts of boiling water
600 pounds of the best cane sugar
200 powdered nutmegs
Juice of 2600 lemons
Served by a 12-year old boy in a boat
Mixology: Mixology 600 guests (4 + btls of rum per person)
Today’s mixology concerns not big recipes but single drinks made to the customer’s order
It is a skill dating from the 19th century days
Grand hotel and the fashionable cocktail bar
Mixology: Mixology Earlier mixed drinks were from the colonial days (mostly hot)
Mixed drink was developed to cater to the well-to-do in the big cities and the fashionable resorts
Building of railroads fostered this growth
A new breed of bartender developed to man the elegant bars
Mixology: Mixology Mixology- the art or skill of mixing drinks containing alcohol
Includes the techniques of the bartender which do require skill and sometimes art, and the knowledge that backs up the skill
Bartender must know the drinks by name, ingredients, mixing methods, and the way they are served
Mixology: Mixology The manager must know even more
About mixed drinks in general
Mixed drink- includes any drink in which one alcoholic beverage is mixed with another or others
Or with one or more nonalcoholic ingredients
Mixology: Mixology Includes every other bar product except a glass of beer or wine or a straight shot of whiskey or brandy
Structure and components of a mixed drink
Each drink has (1) a major alcoholic ingredient, or base, usually a spirit, which determines its character and usually its predominant flavor
Mixology: Mixology (2) one or more complementary ingredients, which modify or enhance that flavor
May also have (3) one or more minor ingredients that add a flavor or color accent
(4) A garnish
Mixology: Mixology The major ingredient is the base of the drink
Some highly flavored mixes manage to reverse flavor roles with the major ingredients
Most drinks contain 1 jigger of the major ingredient
Mixology: Mixology Jigger size is the decision of the management
Developing your drink recipes
A successful mixed drink is based on carefully calculated relationships of ingredients, and on a carefully calculated relationship between glass, ice, and drink ingredients
Mixology: Mixology Make those decisions before buy your glasses and chose your ice cube size
For each drink you establish the following:
1. The amount of the major ingredient to be poured
2. The other ingredients and their proportions to the major ingredients
Mixology: Mixology 3. The size of the glass to be used
4. The amount of ice in the glass
5. The garnish and its arrangement
Ice- primary function is to chill the drink
But it also controls the proportion of liquor to mix by taking the place of liquor in the glass
Mixology: Mixology Measuring
The only way to pour a drink that follows a recipe is to measure every ingredient
There are various ways of measuring liquor
Metered pour (dispensed through a handgun)
Mixology: Mixology Jigger- (choose the size and stop pouring at the line)
Free-pour - subjective form of measurement that involves turning the bottle- upside down while counting in one’s head
Takes practice, experience, confidence, and good reliable pourers
Mixology: Mixology Usually the least accurate way to pour
If it is accurate and consistent, it can have the advantages of speed and showmanship
Measurement assures the full value of bottle in sales
Best drink, consistently, every time
Mixology: Mixology Mixing methods
The way you want a given drink made in your enterprise is another aspect of mixology related to quality and consistency
Speed and service as well
4 basic mixing methods
Mixology: Mixology 1. Build- mix it step by step in the glass in which it will be served, adding ingredients one at a time
2. Stir- mix ingredients together by stirring them with ice in a mixing glass and then straining the mixture into a chilled serving glass
Mixology: Mixology 3. Shake - shaking it by hand in a shaker or by mixing it on a mechanical mixer
4. Blend - mix it in an electrical blender
You can blend any drink you would shake, and you must blend any drink that incorporates solid food or ice
Mixology: Mixology Drink Families (p. 269)
Mixed drinks have a structure and have countless variations
Highball family- mixture of a spirit and a carbonated mixer or water, served with ice in a highball glass (railroad signal for full speed ahead in the 1800’s)
Mixology: Mixology The rationale for pouring the liquor first is that most mixes, being heavier than liquor, will filter down through the liquor and you will probably need less stirring
Building a highball (p.272)
Most in-demand highballs (p.273)
Mixology: Mixology Fruit-juice drinks
First cousins to the highball family
Many people consider them highballs
Fruit juice takes the place of the carbonated mix
Amount of ice is often less than the highball, to give a higher proportion of juice
Mixology: Mixology Stirring is vigorous, since juice and liquor do not blend as readily as mixer and liquor
Building a juice drink (p. 275)
Liquor on ice
Served over ice without adding anything to it
Mixology: Mixology Usually served in a 5 or 7 ounce glass
A glass 3/4 full of ice will leave plenty of room for the liquor without any danger of spilling
Two-liquor drinks on ice
short, sweet drinks on the rocks appeal to younger drinkers and make good drinks to sip after dinner
Mixology: Mixology Jigger of major spirit, with a small amount of a flavorful liqueur
Proportions range from 3:1 to 1:1
Because the two liquors blend easily, these drinks are built in the glass and are among the easiest and fastest drinks to make
Mixology: Mixology Building 2 - liquor (p. 280)
Collinses, Rickneys, Bucks, etc..
Collins- Liquor and sweet-n-sour, soda, ice (Collins glass) Build with collins mix
Rickeys- Liquor, fresh lime, soda, ice
(highball or old-fashioned glass) Build
Change soda to ginger ale and lime to lemon and you have a buck
Mixology: Mixology Wine cooler and spritzer (p. 283)
Old-Fashioned drinks - Liquor, sugar, bitters, water, fruit, ice (Old-fashioned glass) Build
Pousse-café - Liqueurs of different densities (Straight-sided liqueur or brandy glass) Build
Coffee drinks (p.288)