Gin Lane

What I saw in Newcastle, would be repeated up and down the country…It was bitterly cold, the ground was a sheet of black ice but the crowds were out in force. Girls were tip toeing around in 5 inch heels, unfazed by the plummeting temperatures, wearing next to nothing and more concerned about where they would be getting their next drink vs the onset of hypothermia.

I lost count with the amount of promo staff trying to entice me into their establishments, with the promise of free shots!  It was like a scene from the Inbetweeners movie, only 30 degrees colder. Would it be a delectable highland tequila…I think you know the answer to that.

Flyer in hand I walked into the bar.

What struck me was I was entering into a totally alien environment, places I had not visited since I was a teenager.  The chart music was blaring and the big groups of guys and girls were drinking what reminded me of the pints of ‘green monsters’ I used to serve at the Halls of Residence bar I worked in back in 1998. While standing at the bar, I could not help but check out what delights were on offer…apart from the free fluorescent blue shot voucher I had to redeem. Just so you know, I didn’t!

Treble Vodka & mixer for £2.50

3 for £5

Seriously?

9 shots for £5, that works out at 45p a shot, what sort of ‘vodka’ were these customers putting down their neck and more importantly how much would the bar have to sell to actually make any money?

This got me thinking, is binge drinking just a part of the British psyche? You only have to look at the famous picture of Gin Lane by Hogarth, to realise that this has been prevalent in our country for centuries.
Compared to the level of drunkiness in the 1750s, which tipped the scales at 14 gallons of gin a year for every man, women and child; we could be seen as being t total in comparison.

Seriously though, it was a real eye opener, as these are places I choose not to visit but seeing the amount of people that do…quantity vs quality seems to be winning! Therefore in such a price sensitive time we are living in now, how can we change these engrained opinions on alcohol and how we choose to drink it?

The Eureka moment

A couple of days later I was making some breakfast and decided to have some beans on toast (Heinz of course)…then I had a light bulb flash above my head. I love beans on toast, but I would really get bored if I ate it every day; but if needs must, I would, as it is cheap and serves a purpose.

We live in a day and age now where we have so many culinary choices. Breakfast can be anything from Eggs Benedict to Crunchy Nut Cornflakes. We have a portfolio of things to choose from that we feel comfortable eating and creating. However to the vast majority of the UK population, when it comes to their personal drinking portfolio…it is somewhat limited.

A fact that has stuck with me since my repping days, is that 65% of customers do not know what they want to buy until they get to the bar. But there lies the problem. If a customer has a limited personal portfolio of drinks in their repertoire, then they will default to what they trust and feel comfortable buying.  They will be blinkered and default to their ‘metaphorical beans on toast’…vodka and coke / lime & lemonade / orange juice, you get my point.

If customers are confident going out to restaurants and experimenting with different dishes without a raising an eyebrow, why is it that they don’t do the same in bars?

There are several factors - Bars have got to take some of the blame and I really do hope that the English government take a leaf out of the Scots and imposes a ban on all price promos, as it is just encouraging this disease to flow through the vains of our country.

The biggest stumbling block I foresee, is how do we educate the masses. Yes as bartenders, we do our research, try out new products and perfect our own creations, but in the mainstream bars and on a hectic weekend night, you can’t stand their asking a million and one questions to make your guest a perfect drink, it is simply impractical.

So that’s the thought I want to leave with you…how can we get customers to increase their personal portfolio of drinks?

From now on, BarLifeUK is going to refer to retro, medicinal bottles as 'hipster' bottles.

Last week Chivas Brothers, the premium whisky and gin division of Pernod Ricard, announced that there was going to be:

“a new look for its Plymouth gin brand, re-positioning it above Beefeater 24, as a “super premium-plus”.

My initial thoughts on this matter were mixed, but the word that kept cropping up in my head was that this decision was a very bold and I mean very bold indeed.

On face value

If you broke this re-positioning exercise into its simplest form, then you can understand why some people are a little confused by the issue,

1. The liquid inside is going to be exactly the same as before
2. The only changes will be the design of the bottle …which by the way looks awesome
3. The price will be increased by approximately 40% to £25ish

See what I mean about bold?  An increase of 40%, when we are watching our pennies at the moment and they are not even changing / improving the gin itself.

The key for me is the term that has been used to explain this decision…Plymouth Gin was undervalued!  Is this a fair point?

The fine line

To me there is a fine line between confidence and arrogance.

I must confess that I admire them making this positive move, as if you do feel undervalued, then sometimes you have to dust yourself down and confidently pronounce I think I am worth this much.  It has the heritage, its a tasty gin, so who are we to question their decision?

If you look at the gin category as a whole, it is being flooded with a wealth of new brands, all are different from one another, some have been received better than others.  But there lies a key problem…how can you stand out from the crowd, when all that is happening is more and more competition is coming your way, in a specific price range?

A bar can’t possibly list every single gin.  So how do you make your brand a must stock and not a may stock?

The bigger picture

The fascinating thing for me, is that sometimes as bartenders we neglect to think of the drinks industry on a global scale, I am the first to admit I can be guilty of it, but more and more I am beginning to look at things in a completely different way.

Why?

There is a really cool resource you can download called Millionaires 2011.  This identifies the spirits that sell over one million 9 litre cases around the globe and showcases the trends that are currently happening.

The thing that really grabbed my attention was the effect that the emerging Asian, Pacific & Russian markets are having.  These have a truly monumental effect on the manner in which spirit companies think and market themselves.

We are all aware that times are hard, people are not going out as much, preferring to go to the supermarket to buy their alcohol, instead of going out 2-3 times per week.

However, did you know that:

1. In Russia there has been a 40% increase in premium imported whisky sales in 2010, 80% of which being Scotch
2. Martell (owned by Pernod Ricard), was the fastest growing international brand in the world (19.9%), Courvoisier was 3rd (17.6%).  These have both  been helped by the strong growth in China and other Asia Pacific Markets

*all figures supplied by Drinks International Millionaires 2011

This to me reinforces the point that we have to stop thinking insular and consider the affects of the huge populations of people that live of the other side of the world.

Reuters state that Asia will add 1.66 million dollar-millionaires by 2015, taking the total number of wealthy to 2.82 million as the world’s fastest-growing major economies of China and India continue to mint millionaires.

Looking at figures like that, hammers home their is a necessity for super premium products in the world.

Showing off

Imagine you have been spending most of your life on the bread line, then all of a sudden the economy picks up, you luck starts to change and you come into money.  What will you do???  Go out and celebrate of course!

We have all heard the stories of Bankers spending £1000s on bottles of expensive Champagne, Magnums of Grey Goose and not giving a monkeys.  Are we now seeing this happening on the other side of the world?  The difference being that there is a greater number of people doing it.

The difficulty with being submerged in the drinks industry for so long, is that we are aware of product life cycle of spirits, I for one have seen countless products reinventing themselves.  But that is my point, there is a whole lot more people that have not!

Therefore if there is such an abundance of newly rich people, wanting to spend their money, what will they look out for…in my opinion the bottles that look cool and are the most expensive.

I have seen first hand the ceremony that goes into buying a bottle of spirits…the sparklers come out, as the waitresses parades through the crowd to your booth.  Eyes are on you…who are they?  What do they do?  The difference being is that there is always someone else in the room wanting to out do you, so what happens, they buy a bigger bottle, maybe 2 or 3.  With money sometimes brings egos!

Questions?

This brings us full circle back to the re-positioning of Plymouth Gin.  To me its first test will be how the re-positioning will be received in Spain, which is currently going through a Gin renaissance at the moment!

Are they looking to be the Grey Goose of the gin world?

What I am really looking forward to seeing is the creative marketing literature?  How they are going to communicate the changes not only to the trade but to the general public?

All in all I am just excited to see a spirit brand believing in itself and confidently pronouncing I am worth it!

We imagine Mr X looks a little like this. Only with Cognac.

You will know the type I mean…the ones that think they know it all, flash the cash and think they are above every one. I have been brought up to be polite, sincere, take everyone on face value and not to pass judgement.

He sat there sipping his expensive cognac, giving his views about everything and anything, and completely unprovoked he said:

‘What do you know, you are only a humble bartender!’

I was dumb struck and very insulted, but being the professional, I just politely ignored it and decided to clear up and go home. What really struck me is that why in this new golden age of cocktails are bartenders still seen as humble?

Definition

1. Low in rank, importance, status, quality, etc; lowly: of humble origin
2. Not proud or arrogant, modest: to be humble although successful
3. Courteously respectful: In my humble opinion you are wrong

What leaps out to me is that I like to think that I act in a manner that is numbers 2 and 3; however Mr X (as we will call him now) saw me as number 1.

How does that work? How can someone make a HUGE judgement about me, simply because I am working behind the bar?

Bartenders behaving badly

I think that a lot of preconceived judgements manifest from guests having had bad experiences in a bar that linger in the back of the mind.

Mr X could have had a bartender that:

1. Thinks they are gods gift, who knows everything and will disagree with any drink he orders
2. Who doesn’t actually give a monkeys because they are hanging out their arse and just want to lie on their sofa eating McDs, writing on Facebook how bad they feel and will never touch Uncle Wray again!

If you don’t agree with a drink choice, don’t be rude, be humble and suggest some other ideas…if you like that sir, have you ever consider this?

I am not trying to tell you how to suck eggs, but if we are to change the opinions of the countless Mr Xs out there, then maybe we need to follow some advice my Mam gave me:

‘Treat someone like you want to be treated yourself’

Bartenders vs Chefs

Everyone knows chefs are dishonest and not to be trusted.

There is something that I have had a bee in my bonnet for a long time. How is it that when you start your career in the culinary world you have a clear and defined career path, but in the drinks world we don’t?

Wannabe chefs firstly go to college and spend a couple of years learning the building blocks of their craft. Everything from techniques to classical recipes, honing their skills; so they are prepared for the big wide world.

Whereas my first experience of working in the drinks industry was pulling 95p pints at a Hall of Residence Bar in Manchester, hardly the place to inspired and learn best practise; but I was hooked!

Therefore is it time that colleges need to appreciate that some students may be interested in a career in the drinks industry?

Are we at a stage where we need to breed best practise from the start?

£12,228 (really?)

The problem I believe the drinks industry faces in attracting career bartender is the salary above. According to the Guardian online, the average salary for a bartender is £12,228, which works out at £235.15 per week, before tax. It is the 2nd worst paying job in the country. Which is hardly attractive is it?

No place to hide

After being in the drinks industry for over 13 years now I would like to think that I am a confident but humble bartender. My one gripe though is that sometimes I think that the powers that be under appreciate what that experience brings.

I will explain…

Going back to my comparison with the culinary world, as a Head Chef you have a team that works under you, you have time to prep and you work to a specific menu.

As a bartender you do and your don’t. Yes you prep your garnishes, have a cocktail menu and drinks list but that is where the comparison ends.

Why? Well the thing is you never know who is going to walk into your bar; you will never know what they will ask for, yes you can make assumptions by your guests gender, age and the way the dress. However I have learnt that they can be completely wrong.

The big difference between being a chef and a bartender, is that we can not hide away from our customers, we are there stood in front of them and in some ways we have to perform, entertain and deliver professional and courteous service.

How we ‘perform’ will go a long way into how the guest judges the bar, hotel or restaurant they are visiting, if it is great they will tell 6 of their friends, if it is bad 20.

Food for thought

If you were sat looking at a food menu and decided there was nothing on it that you liked, I can guarentee a chef would not be the most receptive to a guest asking for some of their own choosing. It is just not practical or cost effective.

As a bartender this is what we thrive on, asking the questions to get to answers, to deliver the perfect drink for a customer. What spirit do you like? Do you like it to be booze heavy? Do you like in a long, short or martini class? If a waiter did this with a guest, the kitchen would go into meltdown with all the different dishes that would be required.

This is what is magical about mixology, that with the right training and level of self confidence, you can easily deliver world class service.

Therefore I will leave you with a question to mull over:

Why is it that there is such a wide gap between the salary of a Head Chef & Mixologist?

This picture gives Simon Webster the horn.

BarlifeUK requested that I look into this, and if I am honest, it has proved to be a lot more difficult that I first anticipated. To get things going, here is a question that I guarantee as a bartender you will have had asked of you:

‘Do you throw the bottles around like Tom Cruise?’

This to me is why we will never be able to get away from the Blue Cocktail. It’s absolutely crazy to think that film came out in 1988, but for a lot of the guests that come into our bars, it is the only reference point for the term ‘cocktail’. They expect to see umbrellas, neon colours and drinks that are long and super sweet.

The colour blue has affiliation with a lot of my childhood memories…raspberry flavoured super sour sweets and ice pops – I never understood why they were this fluorescent blue, instead of red and could go a long way into explaining why I have such a love for straight up Daiquiris on the sour side.

These were my parent’s worst nightmare, as all those E numbers and sugar rattling around in my brain that got me ‘up a height’, as they would like to put it. But because they were bad they were good, its the ‘don’t you dare do that’ syndrome that bartenders grasp with both hands. They will always have a place in our hearts, the guilty pleasures that we can’t ignore.

A good friend of mine Ogi D from the Leeds, encapsulated it perfectly:

‘Blue isn’t a colour…it is a lifestyle. The effect is purely psychological. Bringing a flood of memories through this simple yet potent trigger effect. It makes the drink itself a garnish’.

He gave me an epic cocktail that can transport you back to days gone by - ‘Banana-Malibu-Blue-Daiquiri’

• 25 ml Malibu
• 20 ml Blue Curacao
• 25 ml Malibu
• Half a medium sized banana (rest could be used as a face mask or a nutritious treat)
• 10 ml Wray & Nephew rum
• 10 ml Sugar Syrup

Mash the banana, add the rest and steam-train shake it to oblivion Double strain into a Cocktail glass previously rimmed with blue sugar. Add 25 ml of Guinness on top as a float.

Clean & classic

It is very strange to think that we seem to completely ignore another way of looking at my favourite colour. On every corner of the globe people see the colour blue…you just have to look up at the sky or swim in the sea, to be reminded that it also represents purity, vitality and life itself.

I am not going to go off on a mad tangent and be all ‘hippy-like’, but when you consider it in this form, your mindset should change. This is when my quest became a lot more interesting, as I began to wonder…when did the Blue Cocktail first come about?

Book Worm

Smurftender lurked in the shadows, waiting. He would have his vengeance for all the blue drink recipes Jacob Briars had stolen over the years.

This is the thing I love most – delving into the archives and doing a little bit of research. However, this can be your downfall. Why? Well as soon as you start to make references to when you think a cocktail or as I am trying to find out ‘a colour’ of a cocktail, first came about; then someone will try and catch you out.

Fingers crossed I have uncovered a few gems you will never have heard about, and that you will go away and try to recreate them.

The obvious place to start was the spirit that gives the fabulous sky blue (purpley) hue…the cause, Crème de Violette or as it was commonly known back in the day, Crème Yvette. I wanted to unearth some beauties, no umbrella in sight (but a red flag is optional).

The Dewey Cocktail

Fort Wayne News (July 29th, 1898): “When the red, white and blue concoction was shoved across to him he pulled a red handkerchief out of his pocket, attached it to his cane and held it over his head with one hand, while with the other he tilted the glass until the cocktail trickled down his throat. “What’s the game?” asked the bartender.“No game at all,” said the big man. “It’s strictly according to naval regulations. Red flag hoisted to signal that I am taking ammunition aboard, that’s all” and with a cheer for the red, white and blue, he wandered out.”

• Half part Raspberry juice or syrup
• Half part Maraschino
• Half part Crème Yvette
• One part Plymouth Navy Strength Gin

Layer ingredients into small wine glass. Needs to be consumed in one sip as the sailors did it. Red flag optional.

A few years later, a lovely sparkly number - New York Day by Day by O.O. McIntyre (even his name makes you want to have a drink with him) November 24th, 1915

The Submarine Kiss

“Sailors who come to Broadway for a touch of high life have invented a new drink called The Submarine Kiss. The liquid combination is a milky white above and purple below and the submarine effect is secured after drinking about three.”

Silver fizz floated on a pony of Crème Yvette in a hollow-stemmed champagne glassThe good folks at Crème Yvette, have recreated this into an absolute delight (which I have tweaked a bit, to be a bit more on the sour side)25ml Crème YvetteTop with Silver Fizz, which is,

• 50ml Plymouth Gin
• 15ml fresh lemon juice
• 10ml Simple Syrup
• 10ml Egg White
• Combine silver fizz ingredients in two-part shaker tin. Dry shake. Add ice. Shake again. Add Crème Yvette to the bottom of a hollow stemmed coupe or champagne flute. Fine strain and layer silver fizz over Crème Yvette.

The thing is, I could now continue to list dozens of more cocktails, but what is the fun in that; I personally find that the best way to learn is to actually go out and do some research yourself.

I did not want to describe the obvious classics, like the original Aviation. It’s first reference was written in Ensslin’s 1916 Recipes for Mixed Drinks and included 2 dashes of crème de Violette but was later omitted in Harry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), as it was so hard to come by (phew!).

What I will do is get you to click on this link which will lead you to unearthing some more amazing long forgotten drinks, as well as some old favourites. I hope that you have enjoyed my little piece and please feel free to get in touch by emailing: john@wanttoimpress.com