Is this the future of cocktail menus?

Cocktails are seeing all kinds of innovation these days — but not often the menus that list those drinks.  Sometimes it seems like nothing much has changed since the invention of those always-sticky laminated menus.

But in recent weeks, I’ve noticed some innovative and compelling approaches to cocktail menu presentation. Of course, there’s the “axis approach” on Pouring Ribbons’ menu, which plots all the drink on an axis spanning from “comforting” to “adventurous,” and from “refreshing” to “spirituous.” And there are the growing ranks of iPad menus, which sometimes use technology to provide a little extra information about items, such as winemaker videos.

But the two following menus display a tremendous amount of thought about design and drink concepts, as well as high production values.  Are either of these  likely to set a new template for cocktail menus going forward?

Exhibit A:  Menu-as-Book:  Dead Rabbit

The Bar at The Merchant Hotel in Belfast made waves years ago when they started publishing cocktail menu books, and I spotted a couple of copycat menus-as-books during a trip to Dublin a few months back. But the idea hasn’t caught on here in the U.S. But now that Sean Muldoon has moved stateside to open his new Dead Rabbit outpost in NY’s Wall Street area, he’s brought his menu books — and their high production values — here as well.  A look at the menu:

This is the full monty: the hard-backed drink menu book on the left, a seasonal drink update in the middle, and the soft-backed spirits list book on the right.

A closer look at the cocktail menu. It feels like soft leather, and is published by Drinksology.com. Can’t help wondering how the cover will hold up after a few drinks are spilled on the outside.

A look inside the book: one of the few spreads with more than a minimum of color.

A listing of punches, served in individual portions. The format here follows throughout the menu pages – illustration and quote on the left, menu on the right.

It’s an extensive little book – so extensive as to require a Table of Contents to navigate.

Here’s a look inside the Spirits List. It lists not only product name and the price per pour, but also extensive tasting notes, the proof, the country of origin, and for ryes and whiskeys, the mash bill! I’ll be hanging on to this document for future reference.

 

Exhibit B:  Menu-as-Newspaper:  The Vault at Pfaff’s

Another interesting use of medium – instead of the super-permanent book, The Vault at Pfaff’s has opted to go with the super-disposable newspaper format. The top lists cocktails, and wines are listed inside, spirits on the back. It’s a clever nod to the fact that The Saturday Press was published in the same space that now houses the bar — 157 issues of the literary weekly were published from the 1850s through the 1860s, with a hiatus for the Civil War. (An aside: thanks to Lehigh University, you can browse copies of The Saturday Post online.)

Although it’s an eye-catching and tactile experience to hold newsprint, a nice nod back to the historic space, it has failed in one way, beverage manager Frank Caiafa confided:  ”We thought people would want to take them home, as a keepsake,” he said. “But people seem to think they’re too nice to take!” Luckily, I had no such compunctions, and here are a few snaps of my menu:

The front of the newspaper-style menu. Insane scrawlings and circles are mine – not part of the design!

A look inside the newspaper. I’m not sure how this works on nights when the bar is crowded – I have trouble finding space to open a newspaper on a subway, let alone a crowded bar.

A closer look at one of the “ads” on the inside — they’re not advertisements at all, and no one has paid to be featured in the menu, Caiafa says. Some are antique scraps of text, others provide information about a specific brand (here, Perry’s Tot Navy Strength Gin) that Caiafa thought guests would want to learn more about.

Why the best cocktail doesn’t always win

Make that cocktail work.

Last night, I fell asleep while watching Project Runway. While the contestants  buzzed about the workroom in the usual frenetic panic, the on-screen mayhem manifested itself in an unusual way:  I dreamed that I too was a contestant — in a cocktail contest. “Taste this,” I urged an imaginary co-contestant in my dream. “It’s missing something, isn’t it?” I raced around the workroom in my head, pressure building as the clock ticked down (“we’re out of ice!” I screeched), my hands shaking as I tried to pleat a lemon peel into a ”make it work” garnish.

Oh, the drama.

I don’t have to be Freud to interpret this particular dream:  I’ve been judging a number of cocktail contests lately. This is a task I enjoy – tasting drinks from talented bartenders, hearing the stories behind the drinks, rendering an opinion.

But usually, I’m one of a panel of judges.  (Hey, just like the panel of judges on Project Runway!)  At the weekly Mixology Mashup held at Coppelia, I was one of three; at the Caorunn Gin “Storytellers” competition at Tales of the Cocktails, one of four; and at the Coffee/Cocktail Mash-Up held at Weather Up to benefit baristas and bartenders, one of five judges. Obviously, the greater the number of judges, the greater the number of opinions. And the drink I think is best isn’t necessarily the one that takes home the prize. Here’s why:

Different judges bring different viewpoints to the table. The Coffee/Cocktail Mashup is a prime example:  I voted based on which cocktail I preferred. But the coffee expert sitting next to me was more interested in the characteristics of the coffee varieties used.

Sometimes one judge gets the deciding vote. This is particularly so at more informal confabs. For example, at the Coppelia event I attended, Chef Julian Medina selected the winner, breaking a tie. (On Project Runway, I suspect that Nina Garcia always casts the deciding vote. But I digress…)

Showmanship often trumps the drink. On paper, it’s all about the drink — and a great recipe can get a bartender to the contest finals. But in person, it’s also about the bartender’s attire and demeanor and their ability to wow the judges. At the Coffee/Cocktail Mash-Up, the winning drink was delicious, but it didn’t hurt that it was also the only drink that came with a Polynesian soundtrack and was set on fire!

A poor story can undermine a great drink. When presenting a drink, usually a bartender will explain a little about the inspiration behind the drink. This was especially true at the Caorunn event, which was explicitly about “storytelling.” One bartender presented a drink…and then proceeded to tell a long story about tuberculosis. I don’t even remember the drink — the offputting sad-sack story completely torpedoed what was probably a perfectly fine cocktail. But my notes — full of detail about the other drinks in the line-up — had just one pleading line for this contestant. Please stop talking about tuberculosis, I’d scrawled.

The next time I fall asleep watching Project Runway, I hope I dream about Tim Gunn instead.

Is this the last Irish whiskey you can taste only in Ireland?

During a recent trip to Ireland, I stopped into the Palace Bar, the oldest bar in Dublin. It still has all its original Victorian-era fittings, including a “Writer’s Bar” – now, how could I possibly resist that?

While seated at the bar, I noticed a display of private-label Palace Bar Irish whiskey. Although it’s becoming a novelty for U.S. bars and restaurants to have their own private-label brand or barrel, it’s not a widespread practice across Ireland. At least…not any more. (A side note: I saw very few people drinking Irish whiskey during my stay – it’s broadly a beer and wine culture– and very few bars offering more than a handful of bottlings. And no wonder:  it turns out that a whopping 90% of Ireland’s spirits are exported.) But here was a rare Irish whiskey that can’t be obtained anywhere else but in Ireland.

I asked the barkeep for a closer look at the bottle. It’s a 9-year-old single malt, single cask whiskey, bottled at a fairly strong 46% abv, and touts the bar as “Famous for Intellectual Refreshments.” It’s also made by the Cooley Distillery, newly acquired by U.S. spirits company Jim Beam. Cooley was the last indie whiskey distillery in Ireland; William Grant owns Tullamore Dew; Diageo owns Bushmills; Pernod Ricard owns Jameson. Cooley had been the last indie holdout.

Would Cooley continue to make the Palace Bar whiskey? “No, they have no interest in smaller bottlings,” the barkeep said mournfully. He’d been working at Palace Bar for fully four decades, and was there when they’d launched the Palace Bar whiskey not even a year prior. In the 1940s, he continued, it was traditional for pubs to have their own brand, but that practice had largely died down. The Palace Bar last had a private-label whiskey maybe 50 years ago.

So that means that the remaining Palace Bar bottles may soon be rare. Priced at 50 euros, it doesn’t sound like they are in danger of selling out right away, however. At least not according to the bartender: “People come in around Christmas time and buy a bottle as a gift for family, or for friends who stopped in 20 years ago.”

Scenes from the Manhattan Cocktail Classic – Sunday

At this point, I’ve been asked a few times how I make it through booze-soaked events like the MCC without becoming utterly sozzled. My response is a simple one:  Receive a drink. Take 3 sips. PUT THE DRINK DOWN, and move away. If I continue to hold the drink, I’ll continue to sip it while I’m chatting with someone.

This was a valuable strategy yesterday, since I believe I went through easily 2 dozen cocktails and spirits pours in this manner. Rather than list every drink, here are a few highlights.

The cocktail I most wanted to finish (but didn’t): Brompton Cocktail (Tito’s Vodka, Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas Bitters, Licor 43, Lillet Rouge, lemon twist)

Most intriguing and maddening spirit:  At a tasting held at Amor y Amargo, I sampled the intriguing Sir Walt’s, an oddly savory liqueur with caraway and anise notes, and a gin-like finish. Maddening because the rep insisted it had ginger notes, and I didn’t detect any. Maddening because I want some and it’s not sold in the U.S. (although another rep suggested I could purchase it online from the UK’s Whiskey Exchange).

Best marketing attention-getter:  Patron effortlessly coaxed me over to their flavored tequila corner of the world with whoopie pies infused with their coffee tequila and orange tequila. The enormous branded cell phone charging station also brought lots of people over….who stayed to babysit their precious devices while sipping drinks like the  “Ultimat Breakfast” (Patron XO Cafe, Ultimat vodka, Hershey’s chocolate syrup, heavy cream, dusting of cayenne pepper).

Wildest bartender technique:  Chad Solomon used a Cryovac to infuse an orange slice with curry spices, which he used to garnish a drink at last night’s Campari event. I foolishly did not capture a photo of the drink, but here’s a shot of another curried Campari drink. This photo shows suave Italian bartender Francesco LaFranconi finishing a Campari drink (dosed with a teaspoon of curry powder) with coconut foam.

Scenes from the Manhattan Cocktail Classic – Friday/Saturday

It’s been a crazy couple of days here at the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, so I’ll let the photos do the talking:

 

Friday Night  – Gala

I couldn’t fit a camera in my teeny vintage purse. The following 3 photos are courtesy of belathee.com.

MCC  signage inside the New York Public Library 

 

This shot-sized drink was made with gin, chamomile tea, and raspberries, and was garnished with a rose petal.

 

 

  Adam Seger, looking fab as usual.  

Saturday: MCC Seminars

For me, the big highlight of the day was my “Whiskey Is The New Black” seminar. I was pretty much consumed with making sure all went well behind the scenes, so I didn’t take many photos. (I’ll save my tales about panic over the whiskey that almost didn’t show, transporting 15 pounds of cheese for whiskey/cheese pairings, and the supreme awesomeness of my panelists – Michter’s distiller Willie Pratt and mixologist Jason Asher – for another day). The couple of snaps I managed were taken “backstage” in the kitchen area, and were taken hastily with my cellphone. I’m a little embarrassed to have them on the same page as professional-quality photos, but they do more or less reflect the hurried quality of my day.

Oranges roasting on the stovetop – I think these were intended for the Italian Aperitivi seminar, as Negroni garnishes.

 

 The amazing sideboard of ingredients for the volunteer mixologists to use in batching the hundreds (thousands?) of drinks being served in seminars.

What is a cocktail recipe?

Most food writers, recipe developers, and cookbook authors will agree that a recipe contains a few basic elements:

1. The full list of ingredients.

2. The advised proportions for said ingredients.

3. Instructions for combining and preparing the ingredients, including cooking instructions and suggested tools to use.

4. Instructions for presenting and serving the finished product, i.e. “ladle into a bowl,” or “garnish with mint sprigs.”

If I’d been hired to create a recipe (food or drink), and omitted any of the above elements, I’d be fired, and deservedly so. Anyone who has tried to successfully make a recipe with any of the above elements missing will also likely agree that all of these are critical elements — and the leading reasons that otherwise good recipes fail is because the instructions are unclear, incomplete, or key ingredients have been omitted.

It puzzles me that lately, when I’ve requested drink recipes from PR pros representing bars or restaurants, what I’ve received has been a description hurriedly skimmed from an online menu. For example (and I’m deliberately excising the name of the bar and the drink’s name, since it’s not the bar’s fault), the following to my request for a punch recipe:

Pisco, Lemon-grass Syrup, Fresh Lime Juice, Ginger Juice, and egg white. Dusted with Chai Green Tea and Angostura Bitters

This is not a recipe.

I suppose I could take this as a compliment, a suggestion that surely, I’m such an insider I’ll know how to piece this list together into a cocktail recipe.

No. Not even close. There’s a big difference between 1 ounce and 1 1/2 ounces of spirit, shaken or stirred or something else altogether. Do the first two ingredients need to be combined together first before the third is added? What of those ingredients commonly omitted from menu descriptions, but critical to a successful finished dish? In the food world, you’ll rarely see olive oil or seasonings listed on the menu, for example; in the drink world, that often applies to acid/citrus and sweeteners. In this case, lime is specified, but this is not always the case. Is that simple syrup a 1:1 or 1:2 sugar to water ratio? What type of sugar is used? And a common thorn in the side of drink recipe writers (and followers) is those custom-made ingredients, such as “house-made” bitters, tinctures, etc. Tell me how to make ginger juice and lemongrass syrup.

That doesn’t mean that every drink recipe has to be standardized to the point of boring. The earliest cocktail receipt writers were masters of descriptive language. More recently, I love Dave Wondrich’s drink descriptions, in which drinks are shaken “viciously” rather than merely shaken. It’s no coincidence that Wondrich has probably logged more time immersed in early drink recipes than any other living writer. But even the oldest and floweriest recipes still contained all the needed elements for a reader to successfully replicate the drinks. For example, consider the following, from Jerry Thomas:

Glasgow Punch

(From a recipe in the possession of Dr. Shelton Mackenzie.)

Melt lump-sugar in cold water, with the juice of a couple of lemons, passed through a fine hair-strainer. This is sherbet, and must be well mingled. Then add old Jamaica rum—one part of rum to five of sherbet. Cut a couple of limes in two, and run each section rapidly around the edge of the jug or bowl, and gently squeezing in some of the delicate acid. This done, the punch is made. Imbibe.

Is this a recipe? YES. It’s not the format we commonly use today, but it tells the reader about the ingredients, how much to use, and how to prepare and serve it (jug or bowl). And extra points to Mr. Thomas for giving credit to Dr. Shelton Mackenzie, rather than simply stealing the recipe, as so many would-be recipe writers do today.

Now here’s a second, more modern, and unorthodox format, a tweeted recipe. The source here is the Mixoloseum, an online chat board populated by amateur and professional cocktail geeks, who invariably know more about cocktails than I do. Okay, this punch recipe required two tweets, which I’m conflating, but still, it shows what can be accomplished in a streamlined format:

New Zealand Rum Punch: 1oz Coruba, 1oz Oronoco, 1oz grapefruit juice, 1oz Don’s Spices, .5oz lime juice, shake with ice and dump into a pint glass, top with soda water, garnish with a lime spiral (@cocktailnerd) 

Is this a recipe? YES.  Ingredients and proportions? check, check. Suggested prep? check. Presentation? check. And all in 140 characters or less (times two).

So once again, I’ll present the response I received to my request for a drink recipe:

Pisco, Lemon-grass Syrup, Fresh Lime Juice, Ginger Juice, and egg white. Dusted with Chai Green Tea and Angostura Bitters

and I’ll ask:  Is this a recipe?

I”d love to hear your thoughts.

Historic Hotel Bar Cheat Sheet

I’ve always had an attraction to hotel bars with history.  It’s almost like going to a museum, with cocktails. In addition to great drinks, the best places (like Peacock Alley inside the Waldorf Astoria) also have great architecture and well-preserved details like a chiming clock in the center of the lobby — and fabulously old-school bartenders who can spin a tale as well as shake a drink.  With all those elements in place, it’s practically a time machine.

Those are the bars I sought out when setting the agenda for my Historic Hotel Bars & Restaurants walking tour, which I’m doing again next week for the 92nd St. Y Tribeca. (It may be full now, I’m not sure.) 

For fun, I pulled together a “cheat sheet” of hotel bars I tried out for the tour (see image below – click on it and it should open up to full, easy-reading size). Anything that didn’t rate a triple ‘YES”  (if not a “HELL YES!”) wasn’t even considered for the walking tour. And of course, some tri-Y’s were sadly out of walking distance.

A disclaimer:  this is something I created for (my) entertainment purposes, and represents my opinions and sometimes cloudy and/or boozy recollections. It’s not even close to a complete list of all historic bars in the city.  Take this as gospel at your own risk. 

And an invitation:  if you have other historic or semi-historic hotel bars to suggest adding to this list, I’m happy to give  ‘em a go and if I have enough to add, I’ll post an update to this list. Enjoy!

Tales of the Cocktail Preview: Fern Bars

Wait, we’ve barely finished detoxing from the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, and already I’m talking about Tales of the Cocktail? You betcha. Already I’m looking forward to attending The Smooth and Creamy History of the Fern Bar, to be led by tiki tastemaker Martin Cate.  In a nutshell, Cate traces a line from “fern bars” to frozen-Margarita-slushie-abomination chains like TGI Friday’s and Bennigan’s, as well as the Regal Beagle of Three’s Company fame.

Cates’s tiki-themed Spirited Dinners are always one of the highlights of Tales, so I couldn’t resist the opportunity to inquire what polyester-attired mischief he’s up to this time.

Kara:  Tell us about the Fern Bar concept you have planned for Tales.

Martin Cate:  The event started as a conversation between me and Jeff Berry, we were talking about this forgotten and despised era in history. It came up recently because I became interested in Norman Hobday – his name is mentioned in Tony Abou-Ganim’s book as a legendary cocktail figure. I did some research and started to learn more about him. His bar, Henry Africa’s in San Francisco, was considered by most to be the first Fern Bar. Hobday was an esoteric character. He wore safari suits and was a larger-than-life figure. He had the idea to do this bar, more like your grandmother’s sitting room vs. a dark, dungeon-y space. It attracted professionals, girls, and changed the bar into a more relaxed, familial atmosphere.

It’s widely thought that he invented the Lemon Drop. He was something of a crazed character. He invented a chain, went out of business, came back later, started another. He’s a cocktail impresario of the era…but unlike Don the Beachcomber or Jerry Thomas, he’s alive.

Is he coming to Tales?

No, he won’t be there, but I’ll be interviewing him for the event. Has a place in San Francisco. He has this cat – a Katrina rescue cat, named Mr. Higgins. He’s huge – he has to be the biggest cat I’ve ever seen. He sleeps on the bar. It has to be one of those strange, only-in-San-Francisco stories. It’s a story of the era, the style, the look and feel of the era.

We’ll be talking about what made these places popular, what was their appeal, their draw. The cocktails – universally hated now, these ice cream, syrupy drinks. But people were crazy about them. I don’t think the trend will go back. But when you look at the drinks you can say – what were the inspirations? What were the flavors? That you can apply to current mixology. Sure you can dismiss the ingredients as high fat, etc. But what was it that people got a kick out of with these drinks? Tastes change, but there’s something to be learned.

It will be fun, a lively affair, with music and entertaining apparel. We’ll keep it light and breezy, like a top AM hit.

 

The Regal Beagle - the ultimate Fern Bar

So a Fern Bar is…what exactly? 

The look and feel is Victorian looking. It’s got brass rails and Tiffany lamps and lots of things like lots of ferns and potted palms. You can see that example in films. It’s a place for yuppies – the 70s into the 80s. Great example:  The Regal Beagle in Three’s Company is the archetypal fern bar – California yuppies with feathered hair enjoying ice cream drinks in a Victorian parlor-esque setting.  It started in very early 70s, popular through the 70s, and petered out in mid 80s.

You’re going to single-handedly revive this, aren’t you?

I hope not!  But it’s a change of pace from tiki. I just thought it was uncovered territory. People want to shove it under the mat. I hope people get a kick out of it.

What drinks are you planning to serve up?

We’re putting the final touches on it now. I don’t want to spoil it by telling too much. They’re going to be frozen. They’ll be the lesser-known ones from the era, rather than go to the Lemon Drop, Harvey Wallbangers, wine spritzers, Fuzzy Navels, Pina Coladas.

Wanna share one?

No. I’m afraid if I share one people will stay away. My descriptions will challenge your concept of “good.”

One thing I can tell you is that we’re devoting the latter part of it to a singles mixer – we’ll put on mellow 70s tunes and say hello to all the pretty ladies.

It’s like that Saturday Night Live skit with Steve Martin –

Two Wild & Crazy Guys? It’s not entirely unrelated.

Scenes from the Manhattan Cocktail Classic (#MCC)

Greetings from Hangover Central the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, a multi-day fete celebrating cocktail culture.  The event is only at the halfway point, but already I’ve got some photos and stories to share.

For me, the main event was “The Spirited Whey,” yesterday’s seminar on Monk-Inspired Cocktails & Cheeses, which I co-presented with cheese expert Diana Pittet. I’ll have more on this soon, but I’m happy to report that the room was filled to capacity, all the spirits and cheeses arrived (plus some last-minute surprise add-ons), and we’ve been getting lovely feedback that the audience had a good time. (whew!)  

But a quick story:  For ”The Spirited Whey,” we had hunted for a great cocktail that showcased two particular liqueurs with monastic heritage:  Benedictine and Chartreuse. We found one in the Monte Cassino, Damon Dyer’s award-winning drink crafted for Benedictine’s recent 500th anniversary event.  It’s a lovely drink made with rye, Benedictine, yellow chartreuse, and loads of lemon. And yesterday, minutes before our presentation, I spotted it on the bar menu at Astor Center, ground zero for most of the MCC events.

So I ordered one and introduced myself, (yep, it was Damon behind the bar!) and explained that we were about to feature his drink. What impressed him most:  Diana had done the research to figure out the meaning of the drink’s name (it’s a the name of a monastery).  He later popped into our seminar to talk about how he came up with the drink.

Damon Dyer in action, making a Monte Cassino

The finished Monte Cassino

Other highlights:  The “Hotel Bars” panel hosted by Elayne Duke.

Charlotte Voisey demonstrates how to "throw" a drink.

My favorite drink from the session: The Black Cherry Sling, from Bemelmans Bar (The Carlyle)

And of course, you know I woudn’t miss Tad Carducci’s seminar on Spice:  The Fennel Frontier.

The drink with the hottest profile was the Little Market, made with tequila, guajillo chile syrup pineaple, Yucateca green habanero sauce, and a pico piquin (chile salt mixture) rim for “extra depth and heat.”

Hot Stuff! The "Little Market" cocktail

But my personal favorite was the Masalarinha (a riff on the caipiriha), made with cachaca, fresh lime, Garam Masala syrup, and garnished with a cinnamon-dusted wedge of pineapple. (I need to add this to my list of curry-spiked cocktails.)

The Masalarinha

Diana relaxes with a full line-up of drinks from the Spice seminar (ok, they're not ALL hers!)

6 ways to fast-track from bartender to mixologist

I’m not a mixologist, but I have access to insight from some of the best and brightest in the biz. This shortlist is based on intel gathered from conversations with those mixologists and other experts, as well as what I’ve observed first hand.

And yes, I know some people bristle at “mixologist” used as a fancy-pants term for bartender, but in this case I mean it to reflect someone who has achieved professional success in the field, sort of an as-chef-is-to-cook analogy.  From what I’ve seen and been told, success follows those who take some or all of the following steps:

1. Enroll in BarSmarts. A disclaimer up front:  I’ve not personally taken this course. But I’ve heard from smart people I trust that it’s a worthwhile educational program, and a far cry from crappy “Bartender School” programs that teach you to mix Apple-Tinis. The introductory “Wired” course opens for registration on July 1, and it’s a prerequisite for the more advanced programs that follow.

2. Join the US Bartenders Guild, or better still, a local chapter. The point is to get involved, build contacts, avail yourself of educational opportunities….and cocktail competition opportunities! Winning a few cocktail contests builds your visibility fast and makes you highly marketable.

3. Apply for the Cocktail Apprentice Program at Tales of the Cocktail.  It’s competitive, but it’as also a networking hot-button. Personally, I think the term “apprentice” is misleading — it implies that the individual is a newbie who is “apprenticing” him or herself to the masters. Most of the CAPs, as they’re known at Tales, are up-and-comers who already have considerable skill and experience.  A year from now, they’ll all be celebrities in the mixology world, so if you’re at Tales this year and meet someone in the CAP program, be nice to them. (Besides, they’re doing menial labor and making your drinks and likely nursing a wicked hangover, all of which is reason enough to be nice to them anyway!)

4. Build a website or write a blog. Or better still, do both. One of the big differences between a “bartender” and a “mixologist” is the marketing. The world is now online, so put yourself out there and build a presence and a platform for yourself. (If you’re looking for an online resource to help you get started, I recommend ProBlogger.)  Which takes me to my next tip…

5. Write a book. You know you have expertise and great drink recipes to share. Plus, a book gives you a product to promote besides yourself , and can help catapult you to the next position. (If you have an idea, but don’t have the time or inclination to write,  email me, and let’s talk. This is what I do!)

6. Practice your craft. Wait, did you think the headline promised 6 EASY ways to fast-track? There’s still no substitute for knowing what you are doing. Even if you don’t consider yourself a master yet, get out there and be the best bartender you can be, at any level. Take a leadership role if you can. Learn about your ingredients, practice great hospitality, and just plain make amazing drinks.  Tips 1 through 5 above might help you add to your knowledge, personal network, and visibility, but only you can make yourself into a great mixologist.