Deciding which cocktails to batch is a balancing act between efficiency in the well while making drinks and efficiency in prep. Not every cocktail can-or should-be batched. I can batch the three shelf stable ingredients-gin, Cointreau, and Lillet Blanc-and add the lemon juice to order (I add the absinthe as a rinse to order as well). Cocktails can be batched in their entirety, or, for those cocktails that include citrus or cream, the shelf stable ingredients can be batched together and the mixers can be added to order. I’ll include syrups that contain fruit (such as our house-made grenadine) if the overall ABV of the final batch is over 30%*. I’ll include fortified wines in batches if the overall ABV of the final batch will be over 24% (which is usually the case). In my bar, I limit my definition of shelf-stable ingredients to commercially bottled spirits and liqueurs, bitters, and syrups that do not contain fruit. When we talk about batching cocktails what we are describing is the process of combining the shelf stable ingredients in a given recipe together in a large mixing vessel, usually in large volumes and in fixed proportions that mirror those of the original cocktail. Read on to find out why batching makes sense and how you can use it to increase guest satisfaction, lower costs, and drive profits. Whether or not that’s true, its a pretty stupid reason for not using batches in your bar. They had various justifications for their stance but basically the animus was centered on the idea that it removes the technical expertise required of bartenders. It was interesting that all three of the panelists who answered were against pre-batching cocktails. A young man from the audience asked what roll, if any, batched cocktails should play in a bar program. One question, in particular, sticks out in my mind even today. There were some legitimately good questions asked by my peers in the industry, many of which no doubt would have been addressed already had the seminar contained any meaningful content. One of the not completely useless moments in the day was a question and answer session with the assembled panel. Very little of the seminar is devoted to practical learning, it’s mostly just a vehicle for the old timers to tell a few war stories of their time behind the stick and a way for Pernod Ricard to fleece you out of $75. My experience with BarSmarts Advanced was very disappointing.
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#BAR SMARTS SERIES#
For those who graduate from the online course, Pernod offers a physical, traveling seminar series called BarSmarts Advanced in which industry veterans like Dale Degroff and David Wondrich travel from city to city and (supposedly) offer practical pointers on running a bar, advanced spirit identification and tasting techniques, and more in-depth content than that offered by the online course. I found it worth my time, even if I was a bit turned off by the obvious branding bias for Pernod Ricard products (Pernod created and runs the program). BarSmarts is a decent primer on distillation, spirits, and basic bartending techniques. A few years ago, when I just getting into craft cocktails, I enrolled in an online bartender training program called BarSmarts.