7 Tips For Being An Awesome Bartender

As you may know, I’ve been a Bartender for some 20 years now…

I have dedicated my life to it. A few weeks ago, I read somewhere that the industry average is just 30 months…2 and a half years!!  Wow.  But do you know what, I get it. I do. There’s a massive combination of factors contribute to people jacking it in after such a short period of time.  The biggest one, being the unsociable hours and that can put a huge strain on family life.

The other excuse I hear quite often, is money. Well yeah, being an employee will never make you a millionaire. But the same can be said for a whole host of other careers. So I won’t take that one.

My theory is that it actually takes a rare breed to make it behind the stick.  Whenever I have to fill in a form to say which sector I personally fall in, I always put Skilled.  (There is never a perfect fit for Catering).  This gets greeted with all kinds of laughs and derogatory comments. Even this weekend, on 2 separate occasions I was on the receiving end of “So what do you do through the week?” As in, a Bartender is just a part time weekend gig! This used to rile me up, but now I just laugh at them. The way I look at it, I can retrain to do what you’re doing…but to do what I’m doing, yeah 97% of you just couldn’t cut it.

So below are my 7 Big Tips for being an Awesome Bartender and making a career out of it…and getting paid pretty well for it!

Steve the Barman in action

 

1 – Personality

This is vital to being successful. If you don’t smile. If you huff and puff at 10:55pm when a group of 7 come in. If you don’t engage with the customer. If you just suck the life out of the customer when all they want to see is a smile and a friendly face. Then you might as well jack it in now.

Enjoy what you do. Take pride in what you do. Put guests needs before your own.   You can’t learn this. Either you have a personality, or you don’t. This is the biggest crucial factor in a Bartending Career.

 

2 – Looking the Part

No one wants a scruffy Bartender.  Good grooming is essential.  Doesn’t matter what your look is, but you need to have ‘a look’.  Mine now has developed into my Brand. I’m known for my collection of colourful shirts. Not quite Hawaiian, but loud none the less.

Other essentials are washing your hair, having a shave unless your look is the beard…there is a difference between unshaven and rugged though. Washing your hands and cut your nails! And a decent aftershave. No one wants to be served by a sweaty, smelly mess with dirty finger nails.

 

3 – A Great Memory

This is something you can learn. It can develop over time, however speaking to a lot of the old timers, its something we’ve always been good at, right from the early days. The pros, can serve 2 different rounds at the same time. We can spot the regular guest and make their drink while serving someone else so they feel special. But also, more importantly know the prices so you don’t spend 5 minutes at the till. Think about want your customers want; swift, friendly service!

 

4 – Good Knowledge

A customer comes up to the Bar and asks; “What’s that? What does that taste like? What would you mix that with?” You can go from hero to zero in seconds if you fluff your lines here. Know your products. Have suggestions for new drinks. And know what you stock! The amount of Bartenders I meet, that haven’t got the foggiest what they actually stock. Also keep up to date with trade websites and reading magazines, always be keen to learn.

 

5 – Speed

It takes 5 minutes to pour a Gin and Tonic, a Pint and “sorry, what was the last drink?!” Seriously…A Bartenders sole remit is to make the guest feel happy and comfortable and give them a drink as quick as you can! Develop methods and routines. If a customer is trying to find that elusive £20 note to pay for their drink, instead of being all huffy, turn to the next person and get their order. Instead of waiting for another a Bartender to finish with the Peroni Tap, go off and make the Vodka & Tonic.  Speed is king.

 

6 – Good Mental Arithmetic

So, its a busy shift what if the boss says you must ring everything through the till. You’ve got 3 bartenders fighting over one till! What are you gonna do?! Simple, do your maths. Know your prices add it up in your head. As long as the money goes in the till, who cares if it goes in then, or 5 minutes later. Again your first priority is the customer, not making sure that Long Island Iced Tea gets logged at 9:37pm.

 

7 – Being Unique

If you truly want a career in Bartending, you need to bring something else to the party. You need to find your identity and what makes you tick. Mines always been about the party and about the fun.  Now I’ve added to that with my shirts. You obviously need the skills otherwise you’re going nowhere, but having that uniqueness, it just sets you apart.

 

 

Steve the Barman owns and runs Thirst First Ltd, a Mobile Cocktail Bar company that provides the WOW effect for your events. If you have an event coming up, Business or Pleasure, give us a shout and we’ll do our damnedest to help out. Check out; thirstfirst.co.uk

 

 

Keeping Barman Appy (Part 2)

Continuing on from last week, I just wanted to share the rest of the Apps that help me each and every day to run my business; Thirst First Mobile Cocktail Bars.

Apps to me are vital.  Without them, working on the move like I do would be impossible.  Last time I mentioned things like Outlook 365, Xero, Tiny Scan, IFTTT and the awesome Task Task. Have a read here; Keeping Barman Appy (Part 1). In Part 2 I’m going  to share another 7 Apps that I love.

PayPal Here Contactless

Dropbox

I must of admit, I was a late converter to Dropbox.  Because of O365 I used One Drive for Business.  However I found the “For Business” App annoying lacking in functionality.  The normal One Drive is great, but the one that comes as part of the O365 family doesn’t do the job.

Dropbox on the other hand gives me 1TB of storage.  Yes a lot of other cloud storage does too, but Dropbox advantage is that it links seamlessly into everything I use. My iPhone, O365, Outlook on my iPhone and even Tinyscan for my receipts. Its the definite winning platform in my books!

 

LinkedIn

Not the desktop site, but the App!  As a business person I am getting loads of value out of LinkedIn.  Much more than Facebook, but the 2 are completely different.  LinkedIn is all about staying in touch and if used right, i.e.. actually talking to people and not just connecting, so much can happen.  Plus there’s also Connected, Slideshare and Pulse…other LinkedIn apps that keep you in touch with what’s going on.  The best bit for me, is that if you add a new contact to your address book, the next time you open the LinkedIn app it’ll match that person and ask you if you want to connect.  Brilliant!!  Just remember to send them a message when connecting and not just randomly click the connect button. Introduce yourself and be friendly!

 

PayPal Here

This has revolutionised the way I can take money at events.  Its brilliant for any small shops, market stalls, pop ups, mobile food vans, authors and public speakers who have events they’re promoting, etc etc.  A £50 investment in a Contactless Card Reader and a quick download of the app and you’re away!! Yes the fee’s are slightly higher than a proper PDQ machine, however you don’t have the line rental or monthly fees.  I can take anywhere between £200-£1000 on this a month…at this level its cheaper for me to go down this route.

The advantage of PayPal Here over Payleven, iZettle, Worldpay etc is that funds are transferred instantly! Not 3 days later like the rest, but the very second after payment is taken which is brilliant for the cash flow of a small business like mine.  Charges are also taken instantly, so no monthly bills to factor in.

The other cool feature is that if you download PayPal Here on an iPad and you’ve got a fully functional EPOS till system…for FREE.

 

Crowdfire & Publish

2 great Apps for tracking Twitter and Insta interactions.  Crowdfire shows you who’s followed/unfollowed. People who are inactive. It gives you your competitors Stats. It can show any Tweets that have been posted nearby. It has the ability to copy your friends/competitors followers.  Its also available on the desktop too.  Its enabled me to really trim the people I follow to genuine people with interesting stuff to say!

Publish, developed by the same dudes, is for scheduling Tweets and Insta Posts. You can let it publish at recommended times, or set the times yourself. For me, its the best thing I’ve found for the iPhone!

 

FrameMagic – Picture editing app

 

 

FrameMagic

This is all down to personal taste, but for me, FrameMagic is hands down THE BEST app I’ve found for Picture creation for Social Media.  There’s loads of Frames to chose from. Every little detail of the pic can be edited, including background colours, frame sizes, grid layouts. It also has the ability to overlay your logo which is Ace.  But, even better than that, if like me, you use custom Fonts, you can upload them to the App so the Text matches your brand on every platform! In my opinion, its way better and easier to use than Canva et al.

 

iMovie

Apples native Video Editor. It does everything you’ll ever need and unless you’re a real pro, negates the need to spend £80/£250/£1000 on Video Editing software!  Adding effects. Cropping. Stitching 2 or 20 videos together to upload as 1 video. Overlaying Logos. Adding Text. Adding music.  Choosing the Ratio and finished size of film. In fact, for little old me, there is nothing that I can’t do with it.

 

So that’s me done.  I hoped that’s helped in some small way?! Of course, there are other Apps that I LOVE.  Even things like Spotify which helps me with my focus during the day.  All the Facebook Apps are Vital. Twitter. Kindle for Bed time reading.  Tom Tom which takes me directly to someone’s front door (its take me wrong 3 times in 3 years) and because its downloaded to your phone, you never need to worry about data, or a phone signal!  Apple’s Passbook is brilliant for Apple Pay and my Starbucks card!

There are also some apps that EVERYBODY I know uses that I just don’t really have the need for or that over complicates matters.  ToDoist is great, but not necessary for me. The same with Evernote.  At the end of the day, its about what can help you and make your life easier.

If you have other Apps that I’ve not mentioned that you think I’d like, please do mention them below. Sharing is caring…

Until the next time
StB x

 

Steve the Barman owns and runs Thirst First Ltd, a Mobile Cocktail Bar company that provides the WOW effect for your events. If you have an event coming up, Business or Pleasure, give us a shout and we’ll do our damnedest to help out. Check out; thirstfirst.co.uk

 

Wrapping up the Limes

Helloooo there! Replacing the Cocktail Recipe on Friday for the next few weeks is just a ‘normal’ blog.

In my last Blog, I said that after reading Dee Blick’s Marketing book, I was going to concentrate on a few things.  One of those things is Email Marketing and I’m booked into a course where I can learn more about it, courtesy of the lovely ladies at Smart Messenger. I’m hoping to pick up loads of hints and tricks to really get those Cocktail Recipes and my Mailshots rocking.  So in the meantime, I’m just going to bore you with my random musings.

I thought as it’s Friday, I’d share a another funny.  Another Barman wind up!  Although this one is not exclusive to me – I’ve heard this go down many a time – I certainly do enjoy dishing it out.

Spending the bulk of my working career around Cocktails and Spirits, you can imagine that I’ve always used a lot of fresh fruit.  At the moment at Thirsty get through a good box of Limes and punnet’s and punnet’s of Raspberries and Strawberries each week.  Well what happens to all the left overs at the end of the night?  You know, you can never wedge up exactly the right number of Limes can you? So what happens with the leftovers?  Well we can’t waste them…can we?! 😉

I’ve only managed…or even thought to pull this off a couple of times, but it does provide many hours of ridicule after the event. This only really works in the first few shifts of a newbies career behind the stick. You have to get in there quick otherwise you lose the opportunity…

Wrapping up the Limes…

So…

The end of the night comes around and you have plenty of Lime Wedges left over that will naturally just go in the Bin. Well no, not tonight they don’t. Arm your newbie with a nice roll of Cling Film and get them to individually wrap each Lime Wedge to preserve it for use the next shift. “They have to be individually wrapped because if you just cover them in a bowl, the air will get to them and turn them brown”. You can amuse yourself for at least 20 minutes!

For extra value…make sure the Newbie is on the following morning, so they have the pleasure of unwrapping teach Lime Wedge…right before you bin them and get them to chop up fresh limes…

Cruel, but oh so funny!

 

Steve the Barman owns and runs Thirst First Ltd, a Mobile Cocktail Bar company that provides the WOW effect for your events. If you have an event coming up, Business or Pleasure, give us a shout and we’ll do our damnedest to help out. Check out; thirstfirst.co.uk

 

 

Marketing, IFTTT and Refocusing

I won’t lie, August was a great month for me.  I decided back in early July, that August was going to be the month I stepped back a little to take time out and relax. To kind of refocus on a few things.  Business has been going great for me in 2015. Turnover on the previous year has already doubled, yet I found I was still coasting along.  I’d lost direction and a little enthusiasm to be creative and grow Thirst First even more.

So after Bradcamp in Norfolk…

the first thing I decided was to hand over the Cambridgeshire 4N Area Leader role to someone new.  I’d felt that I’d accomplished all I could do for a while, Cambs is absolutely Buzzing and it was time for a new challenge.  But also this would free up a huge amount of time to refocus on my Business.

The second thing I decided was that I was going to have my first Holiday in over 3 years!! Actually getting on a plane and jetting off somewhere!  Even if you’d asked me 4 months ago, I still thought that wouldn’t be achievable this year.

And the third thing was that I was going to use August to plan an Autumn assault ready for my new financial year on the 1st November.

You see, when you’re just coasting along and you’re on your own in the business, you don’t often get a chance to refocus and plan the next stages.  You just continue to do what you’ve been doing successfully for the last 6 months!

Along with the 4N Area Leadership, I also wanted to take a “Sabbatical” from meetings too. 5 weeks out completely. Well, I didn’t do too badly, I only attended 2 meetings.  Come on, its 4N. Its 50% social after all. Its not just about Business, a lot of these guys are my friends too. Going a month without seeing them would be hard!

Roll forward to the 1st of September and what have I achieved?

Well, quite a lot actually.  I have so many plans and so many changes to make. So many adjustments and lots of new things to concentrate on.  The majority of this is down to Dee Blick of The Marketing Gym. I must confess that I’ve still not properly read her 15 Essential Marketing Masterclasses book yet, however I downloaded The Ultimate Small Business Marketing Book on my Kindle App and read the whole thing Cover to Cover in 4 days…and made soooooooo many notes!  This book is brilliant to get you firing again.

The second thing I achieved which is coupled to above, is to achieve a new Working day Focus regime. Inspired by Richard Eaton’s Blog about going offline while on holiday, I wanted to achieve something similar.  I wanted to create habits where I was not constantly going to grab my phone, or respond to emails.  This was going to be a massive ask as after all, it is just me in my Biz.  I can’t afford to ignore enquiries for a whole week. However, I did mange to go 95% off comm’s quite easily actually…and after being back for 3 days, I’m still in the same mindset.

Firstly, I have turned off ALL the notifications off my phone except for Calls and Texts. Everything! Not even leaving the Badge App Icons on to show how many notifications I have on Facebook.  I even turned off my Email Notifications…and they are staying off too!  I will now being responding to emails in the evenings only.  But this is where the cool new tech comes in that allowed me to stay online for 5% of the time.

During a 4Sight at Ely 4N (that I wasn’t supposed to be at), Mark Noel mentioned a service called IFTTT (If This, Then That). I’d heard of it before, but never explored the possibilities. Well, I have to say its completely changed my world.  As I mentioned, I can’t afford to leave enquiries, I’m in a competitive market and I need to be first off the mark as much as I can.

What I managed to set up with IFTTT is amazing.  I now have it forwarding Enquiries via my various Webforms from my Outlook Email Inbox, to me as an SMS Text.  This lets me see Enquiries immediately, without seeing and being tempted by the 30-40 other emails all vying for my attention in my Inbox.

The other cool bit, is that I have auto-text saved on my iPhone, so I can send a quote out immediately and even attach PDFs in a matter of minutes. While I was away in Italy, this actually got me 2 bookings for 2016…and I still had no idea of the other emails in my inbox until I returned home.

IFTTT has so many other possibilities too with a shed load of platforms. Check it out for yourself.

 

So now instead of just aimlessly sitting down at my desk every morning at 7am I have a whole new regime.

On non 4N days, my Alarm is now set for 7am and I’m straight up and out for a Walk. Then I’ll have brekkie and try to do something that Ian Dickson is always banging on about. Eating That Frog for Breakfast.  For me, its my Follow Ups after enquiries, they take me so much time and i never look forward to them.  So now I have them all done by 10am, which now leaves me the rest of the day to concentrate on Dee Blick’s Marketing Regime…

I have my Outlook calender fully scheduled for the next 8 weeks. I have created 27 new Marketing tasks to achieve in those 8 weeks.  I really want to build the corporate side of Thirst First Mobile Cocktail Bars. I’m adamant now that I don’t want to build biz where we’re taking 2/3 events on Saturday. That’s not what I’m about. I want to use my spare capacity through the week for now. That’s what I’m concentrating on. Dee Blicks book is going to help me massively with this.

If you own your own business and you want to grow, I really strongly urge you to go out and buy it, download it and have a good read…and have a Notepad or Evernote ready!  Its given me so much new inspiration.

 

 

 

Rum Punch

So here it is, my first proper weekly Cocktail Recipe, direct to your inbox!!  I’m gonna start rolling these out Every Friday with the specific intention of making them easy enough for you to understand and make at home. And for you to be able to source all the ingredients at the same time as your weekly shop from your local Supermarket. No more need to default to the Pimms and Lemonade for your Saturday afternoon BBQs!

The Rum Punch is the ultimate Party Drink. And one of my favourites as I love all things Tiki. Kind of fits with my personality and shirt collection! Tropical, Sweet, Colourful and instantly puts a smile on your face.

At a young Bartending age, I was taught this very simple Formula that you can use to make any kind of Punch! Whether that’s Rum, Vodka, Brandy or Whiskey!

Its the 1, 2, 3, 4 Rule

If you break your Cocktail up into 10 parts, you can follow the simple formula and I guarantee you can make an amazing Punch every time…whether that’s individual punches, in a jug, or in a giant fish bowl to create that central masterpiece at your next party. But how does it work?

• 1, is 1 part Sour. So Lemon, Lime, Grapefruit etc
• 2, is 2 parts Sweet. Mainly your Sugar Syrups in the booze aisle (Grenadine, Sugar) or syrups like Vanilla, Almond/Orgeat, Caramel in the Coffee aisle. Or even posh cordials like Elderflower and Ginger in the drinks aisle.
• 3, is 3 parts Strong. Your Rums, Vodka’s etc
• 4. is 4 parts Weak. Juices, Lemonade, Ginger Beer etc

You also have what I call ‘Crossover’ Spirits…Liqueurs. Supermarkets now sell fruity liqueurs like Strawberry, Raspberry, Cassis…heck even Peach, Banana & Lychee these days! Plus there’s liqueurs Llike Passoa, Midori, Tia Maria, Archers etc. They’re not as strong (about 15-25% abv).  So you could in fact use 2 parts Rum and 1 part Banana!

Now you’ve got the inside track, here’s my tried and tested Rum Punch Recipe…

StBs Rum Punch!

Steve the Barman’s Rum Punch

 

3x nice and juicy Lime Wedges
15ml Grenadine
15ml Orgeat Syrup
50ml Kraken Black Spiced Rum
25ml Strawberry Liqueur
50ml Tropicana Orange Juice
50ml Tropicana Pineapple Juice

Just a side note to this, firstly on Thirsty’s Bars, I use Old J Spiced Rum. I love it.  It’s the old Sailor Jerry we all use to love back in 2009 before they changed the recipe. And as for the Juices, I use a Brand called Eager. The important thing to take away is, don’t compromise! I purposely listed Tropicana as they are the best 100% pressed and squeezed juices you can get from a supermarket. DON’T SKIMP. Don’t go down the Concentrate Juice route as most Bars would do, just to save a few pennies. You have to appreciate, if you want to drink something, you want it to taste as good as it can do. So spend that extra 50p/£1 on real juice. I promise you, you will taste the difference.

So there you have it.  Thats my own personal recipe. But the combinations are endless. Just follow that 1,2,3,4 formula and get cracking!

 

Tell you what I’ll also do.  There’s a FREE Cocktail Kit up for Grabs!

To win, upload a piccy of yourself enjoying your own Punch creation, to either Facebook or Twitter and use the Hashtag #StBRumPunch. You have until 8pm on August 31st, 2015.

Win our very own Cocktail Kit

 

 

 

 

 

Can a Cocktail Recipe be wrong?!

A few weeks ago, I published my recipe for MY version of the Porn Star Martini.  Its a tried and tested recipe that I’ve used for the last 3 years, simply because you guys love it.  As in Absolutely LOVE it.

Steve the Barman’s Porn Star Martini

However it drew some amusing comments from other bartenders and bars about how it wasn’t the proper recipe…

Now granted, its not exactly the same recipe that legend Douglas Ankrah created way back in 2002. However when you read his recipe, it is in essence just a Vanilla and Passion Fruit Martini served with a shot of Prosecco. When you look at my recipe, my take on the Porn Star Martini is again, a Vanilla and Passion Fruit Martini…and in actual fact, not wildly different at all.

So this begs the question;
Can a Cocktail Recipe be wrong?

As most of you reading this know, I’ve been behind the Bar for 20 years now.  I’d say that’s a shed load of experience.

But am I the best Bartender out there? Am I the Authority on Cocktails?
No.

I can’t claim to be, as I never really got involved in Cocktail Competitions during my youth. Nor do I wish to be. I never had the ego to want to be the best.  Instead, I chose a different route. I dedicated my career to making the tastiest drinks I could possibly make, that my type of customers would actually order and want to drink….not just once to try it, but over, and over….and over again!

You see in Bartending, there is no right or wrong recipe. There is no one individual or organisation who can say that’s right or wrong.  Take the humble Sex on the Beach for example. A quick Google search results in 3 equally as tasty recipes, all from 3 leading UK Bar Chains. Which one of them has the correct recipe?  And is the correct recipe tastier than the other 2?  Also the amazing Espresso Martini has a different recipe in every bar you walk in to. The ONLY people that can judge that, are the actual customers buying the drinks.

The same can be said the same about Cooking. When researching this Blog post, in 2 minutes I found 6 different Roast Chicken recipes and 3 different Lasagne recipes. Which one of those is correct?!

Over my 20 years or Bartending…16 of which have been out and out Cocktails…I’ve recreated a lot of popular Recipes and put my own twist on them, using the ingredients I could easily get from my Suppliers.

Over the last 2 years though, I’ve discovered a new passion, a new USP.  I love to share recipes that you guys can make at home, by using ingredients that are readily available from your local Supermarket.

And while Thirst First’s Cocktail menu for Events is a tad different…there’s lots of weird and wonderful using some really cool brands…Steve the Barman’s personal Menu is all about the Supermarkets, simply because you guys don’t have access to a hell of a lot of products that us pros do.  I want you guys to be able to go away and make tasty drinks for yourselves. I want you guys to have more imagination than just defaulting to Pimms and Lemonade at your Saturday Afternoon BBQs. By taking great Cocktails and flipping up the recipes to make them more accessible to you guys, well, there’s nothing wrong with that…is there?!

Starting this Friday (14th August), I will be sharing amazing recipes each week, that you guys can make for yourselves at home.  Everything from very simple serves, right through to the more in-depth Cocktails. However, they will always have the common theme and will use ingredients that you can purchase from the big 3… Tesco’s, Sainsburys and Waitrose.

 

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Thirsty Social Club; the Aftermath

Thirsty Social Club @ The Red Lion, Whittlesford – 6th August 2015

What a night! It had everything. Cocktails, gorgeous people, giggles, networking, drunkenness, wedding prep…and some crazy arse Killer Rum!

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t the largest party I’d ever put on. But in 4N terms, it was a Flagship meeting…and the 50% Social bit! I was really happy, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and we even ended up planning a 4N Wedding!

It all kicked off with the Old J crew.  They were on duty early doors dishing out tasters of their superb Old J Spiced Rum, which was quickly followed up by their Tiki Fire, weighing in at 75%.  Yeah that got the party started.

Our playlist for the night included 2 brands.  Obviously the Old J Spiced Rum, a smooth Vanilla & Lime Rum, closely resembling the Sailor Jerry that everyone knew and loved before SJ changed the recipe back in 2009/10.  And the brand new Jim Beam Apple variant which now sits alongside their Maple, Honey and Red Stag range.

I won’t go in to too many details about the Cocktail List, but the big favvies of the night were a Rhubarb Spiced & Stormy which was delish!!  Our Rum Punch, which is the ultimate Party Drink. An Apple Mojito with the Jim Beam and then a surprise candidate…an Espresso Martini made with Old J and Hazelnut Liqueur, which will definitely make it on to Thirsty’s next Cocktail List!!

I also hired an AMAZING photographer to try an capture the night.  Jean-Luc Benazet (check his www out) did a brilliant job.  This is just one of my favvies, but if you click this link, or the photo, you can see the rest of the Album.  There’s about 150 in it!!

Thirsty Social Club @ The Red Lion, Whittlesford – 6th August 2015

 

Plans are already being hatched for the next Thirsty Social Club.  We’re looking at a Friday in October.  The location is open to debate too.  There’s been lots of interest in Essex, in Hertfordshire and in Birmingham.  For now, I’m going to keep the next one closer to my neck of the woods, but hey who knows in the future.  If you want a Pop-Up Cocktail Party in your area, give me a shout.  Alls I need is a Venue that will let me do my thing!!

If you’d like to hear about the next Thirsty Social Club, or you would like regular updates…including Cocktail Recipes, then fill in this form below!

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What is a Passion Fruit?!

Passion fruits are one of life’s mysteries. The simplest of fruit causes so much intrigue. Just recently, I’ve genuinely seen it referred to as a Baby Pomegranate!!

Those that know me…even only slightly, know that I’m a wicked wind up merchant. When my laugh doesn’t get the better of me, I’m the best of the best. I’ve perfected the skill over 20 odd years of working behind a Bar.

This story stems back from my Restaurant days…

One day, one of my ever so innocent, blonde (Stereotypical I know) waitresses came up to me behind the Bar and asked me the following question. I would like to point out that at the time, it wasn’t the quietest of shifts which makes this story even better.

“Stevie, what goes into an Orange and Passion Fruit J2O?”

My initial reaction was just going to be “Ice”, but my nose smelt out a deeper routed question. So instead I asked what she meant.

“Well you know, Apple and Mango J2O obviously has Apple and Mango in it. So what does Orange and Passion Fruit have in it?! What goes into to making Passion Fruit?”

So, in front of a Bar full of people and Staff, as cool as you like I replied with “it’s a mixture of Mango, Pineapple and Peach, but they can never fit that on the Labels, so it’s universally known as Passion Fruit”

How I kept a straight face, I will never know.  How the customers were instantly so in tune with the wind up, I will never know.  It was just one of those magical moments where everyone was on the same page.

Nearly 2 whole weeks I got away with that until one day Chef brought a dessert out for us to try…which had a Passion Fruit Wedge as a garnish. Well you can imagine the question that followed. Let’s just say my quick thinking and a 5ft Bar saved me that day!

Just to let you in to another quick story.  The same Waitress “lost” the Bottle Chiller doors one day.  The slidy ones come out with ease.  So after she cleaned them too well then set them aside, it took her 3 whole minutes to see that they were right beside her left leg, the exact same place she put them…

Clean Barrels

This is a story about a wind up that I’ve actually managed to pull of 3 times now and it will never get old…

As well as Cocktails, I’ve always had a heavy passion for Real Ale. Cocktails and Real Ales has a nice ring to it don’t you think!? Well, anyway. Every Bar I’ve run, I’ve always managed to have 5+ Real Ale lines in and been fortunate to have a high throughput through them. My empty barrels a week would range between 10/12 up to 30. That’s a lot of cellar work.

At one particular Bar I ran had a cellar that was outside and down some steps. We had to bring all the empties up the night before delivery day as they’d just be in the way otherwise. The first time I ever managed to pull this wind up off was the week after Fresher Week in Cambridge Uni many years ago. It was a very busy week and we had about 20 barrels to bring up. At that time of year as well, I also had a few new guys just starting out behind the Bar. I always preferred to hire inexperienced people as I could train them up to what I wanted, as opposed to inheriting Bad traits from poor Chain Pubs.

One fresh faced youngster I employed was always super keen to impress. He’d read up on Cocktail recipes. He’d be the first one in and the last one out. He’d be the first one to jump in front of guests as they came up to the Bar. To be fair, he was a legend. One of my finest protégés. But like all super keen people, they tend to be the most gullible.

One night while it was quiet he offered to help me bring up all the barrels. So we set about getting all the empties out of the Cellar and carrying them around to where the Deliveries got dropped off. Brilliant. A 15/20 minute job cut down to 5. However, after we’d finished, he innocently asked if he could help with anything else, to which my eyes lit up like Christmas trees…

Yeah I replied, they all need washing out.
Really?! He asked.
Yeah, of course. They won’t take them back dirty, they have to refill them with Beer!!

Well, never in a million years did I expect him to believe me, but he did!! Hook, line, sinker!! There he was 45 minutes later with a bucket of Hot soapy water, a deck scrubber and a hose pipe to rinse them out afterwards. I have never seen Barrels so clean before! I never did have the heart to tell him, I just made sure that he never worked a Wednesday night again…

Thirsty Social Club

Thirsty Social Club is a brand new Pop-Up Cocktail Party courtesy of the Thirsty Crew. I’ve wanted to create my own events for a while, however the long standing issue I’ve had, is finding somewhere that’ll (a) let me take my own booze and (b) that people can get to easily without having to drive!

Well, finally I’ve found success in the form of the Red Lion at Whittlesford Bridge, which is bang on the main Cambridge – Liverpool Street Train Line and last trains to London, Cambridge, Ely, Kings Lynn are at 11pm. Perfect!!

 

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You are Invited!
Thursday 6th August – 7 till 11pm
@ the Red Lion, Whittlesford Bridge
£20

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What is the “Thirsty Social Club”?

The idea behind the Pop-Up is mainly to create my brand of fun, mixed with really tasty drinks! My love is creating drinks that average Joe public can replicate at home, using ingredients that can easily be found in a local supermarket or from my favvy online drinks supplier. I love to give you ideas and Drinkspiration, but I also love to be different. So no, I’m not about the Pimms and Lemonade. I’m about the stuff you’re maybe too scared to try out.

The event is open to EVERYONE. Everyone that has a sense of Fun and a Smile!
Dress code is “Dress to Impress”

 

Each Pop-Up will showcase 2 different Brands!

At the moment, this is just a one off. But I’d love for it to go well, so we can run these regularly. Maybe every 6 weeks or so. The limit will always be 50-60 people…kind of exclusive.

The 2 brands I’ve chosen for the first ever Thirsty Social Club are the brand new Jim Beam Apple and Old J Spiced Rum.

We’ll create a small, but perfectly formed Cocktail list, that’ll cater for all tastes, that will best show off these amazing Spirits. Included in the ticket price will be 2 Cocktails and Canapés, but the Venue is also allowing us to sell our Cocktails on the night too. Their Bar will also be open for Beers, Wines and Softies.

 

So come on, get yourself booked in;

bit.ly/thirstysocialclub

Register your interest by filling out the Form. We’re doing this as cheaply as possible and circumnavigating Eventbrite’s fees and giving you the option to pay by BACS if you want to. All invoices will be sent out from Xero, and yes of course we can take Cards, but there will be a 3.8% fee.

 

Alls that’s left to say is, I look forward to seeing you there!!