Archive for October, 2013

Last call before Halloween: A Zombie Tini that will bring you back from death

Monday, October 28th, 2013

Keeping on top of the ever-changing market is a challenge for the best of bartenders. Many establishments have come up with a list of tantalizing cocktails, fashionably served up in a stylish martini glasses with beautiful fresh fruit garnishes. For the bartender who can serve up these creations with efficiency and style, the sky’s the limit.

After the summer cocktail frenzy is over, cocktail savvy party goers will find that everything old is new again. This implies a resurgence of classic cocktails, like the Manhattan that can be found everywhere, from your local Irish pubs to ultra swanky lounges.  This gives you unlimited options to experiment with some of the classics, add your personal touch and cement your place in history with your creations.

This being said, today we are gonna put together a basic cocktail to welcome the Halloween. This marks the beginning of a whole new season for cocktail makers, summer is gone and long cold months lay ahead. So, unless you are among the 1% of Canadians who can escape from this coming snowy panorama in a ocean view villa in Florida or Mexico we suggest you grab your bartender kit, stop by the liqueur store and provide yourself with the ingredients to prepare our renowed Zombie-tini and start the cold season on the right foot (after drinking this if you can start this season in your feet at all you are on the right path )

Try it, enjoy it and more importantly yet: share it with the world

See you behind the bar!

 

Zombie-tini

– 3/4 oz. Dark Rum

– 3/4 oz. Vanilla Rum

– 1/2 oz. Grand Marnier

– 2 oz.     Orange Juice

– 1 oz.     Pineapple Juice

– 1 oz.     Lime Juice

 

– Combine Dark Rum, Light Rum, Grand Marnier, Orange Juice, Pineapple Juice, Lime Juice with ice to your cocktail shaker.

– Shake vigorously for five seconds.

– Serve in a martini glass.

– Garnish with a skewered cherry and an orange slice

 

 

Qui se cache derrière BartenderOne Montréal?

Sunday, October 27th, 2013

(An English version follows.)

Cette série d’article est destinée à vous informer sur les membres de l’équipe de BartenderOne Montréal. Cette semaine, rencontrez un de vos instructeurs, Antoine Galdes, mieux connu sous le nom de Tony.

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Si on avait à trouver un mot pour décrire Tony, intensité serait le bon. Qu’on parle de sport, d’étude ou de jeux vidéo, il se lance sans retenue dans tout ce qu’il entreprend. C’est donc avec sa passion habituelle qu’il a pénétré le monde du bar pour la première fois en 2009. Il a depuis travaillé comme barback, barman et gérant dans 5 bars à cocktail et 2 compagnies de bartending événementiel. Il a aussi participé à plus d’une dizaine de compétitions de bartending à travers le Canada, où plus d’une fois il a su prendre place sur le podium.

Il en est aujourd’hui à jongler entre la fin de ses études universitaires, la gestion de sa propre école de bar et de son bar le B1. Ses talents pour le flair y sont peut-être pour quelque chose!

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Who’s hiding behind Montreal’s BartenderOne? Get to know our team through this series of articles. This week, meet one of your instructors, Antoine Galdes, better known as Tony.

If we had to find one word to describe Antoine, intensity would be it. Whether we’re talking about sports, studies or video games, he jumps with both feet into everything he does without thinking twice. So in 2009, he entered the world of bars with his usual passion. He has worked since then as a barback, barman and manager in 5 different cocktail bars and 2 events bartending companies. He has also participated in numerous bartending competitions throughout Canada and climbed on the podium more than once.

He is now juggling between the end of his university degree, the management of his own bar school and his bar, the B1. Maybe his flair talents have something to do with it?!

The Zombie Cocktail, powerful and deadly!

Friday, October 25th, 2013

 

Certain cocktails are not meant but for those with a strong heart and purpose to experience the effects of alcohol. This one in particular is rumoured to have  the power to bring people back from the dead.

The reason?

3 types of rum, 2 types of brandy combined with delicious fresh juice. Ladies and gentlemen, this will make a memorable Halloween experience for you: The Cocktail Zombie.

Created by the ultra famous bartender Ernest Raymond a.k.a Don Beach in the 30’s , this cocktail gained a reputation for being devastating to the point where its consumption was limited to a maximum of two glasses per person.

The original recipe died with Don Beach but here we humbly present you with our Zombie Cocktail recipe, try it and let us know how you liked it (if you survive)

Ingredients:

–          Ice

–          1 ounce white rum

–          1 ounce dark rum

–          1 ounce aged rum

–          ½ ounce apricot brandy

–          ½ ounce cherry brandy

–          2 ounces orange juice

–          ½ ounce lime juice

Recipe:

–          Add in the following order: – Lime juice, liqueurs and juice.

–          Shake

–          Pour in a Highball glass

–          Garnish with a slice of fresh fruit

Glassware:

–          Highball

 

Enjoy!!!

Halloween cocktails: The Zombie Punch

Thursday, October 24th, 2013

halloween-punch-recipe

 

As you know, bartending offers you multiple options to get tipsy throughout the year and Halloween couldn’t be an exception.  There is nothing to celebrate Halloween like sipping a cocktail with enough alcohol to get you in a Zombie state.  
Get your hands on your bartending kit and your credit card ready to hit the liquor store and enjoy the Halloween Punch, a creation courtesy of our friends at the BBC (brits know how to pour alcohol btw)

PS: Remember to consume responsibly or at least keep the emergency services phone handy. Enjoy!!!

Ingredients

  • 10 tbsp dark brown sugar
  • 10½ oz lemon juice
  • 10½ oz white rum
  • 10½oz gold rum
  • 10½ oz demerara rum (preferably 151 proof)
  • 10½ oz pineapple juice
  • 10½ oz lime juice
  • 10½ oz passion fruit syrup
  • 8-10 dashes bitters
  • 1 pineapple

Serve with

  • 1 large pumpkin, top removed and flesh and seeds carved out and discarded, optional
  • 1 lemon, cut into eight pieces
  • 1 lime, cut into eight pieces

Preparing it:

 

  • Brown sugar and lemon juice into a jug. Stir
  • Add the white rum, the gold rum, the demerara rum, the pineapple juice, the lime juice and the passion fruit syrup to the lemon mixture and stir well
  • Pour into the hollowed-out pumpkin.  Add the lemon and lime pieces.
  • Serve

 

Original Source

Zombie punch. BBC Food Recipes. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/zombiepunch_84334

The best bartender in the world destroys five myths about bartending

Tuesday, October 22nd, 2013

After being chosen as the best among  10 of the finest Canadian bartenders for his bartending knowledge, skills and showmanship behind the bar, BartenderOne graduate and DIAGEO World Class Canada Bartender of the Year, Jenner Cormier gave an interview to the Toronto Star where he shared his perspective on some of the myths that surround the bartending profession.

Check the five myths around bartending Jenner wants to destroy here:

1- Bartenders do it for money

“Depending on your job and the location of your bar, there is certainly money to be made in the service industry. However, most cocktail bartenders do it for the love and passion of the craft, not the paycheque. Most cocktail bartenders will work multiple jobs on the side to supplement their passion for bartending.”

2- Bartenders have short, glamorous shifts.

“The part of cocktail bartending that no one sees is the preparation that happens before the doors open. Most times, tasks like pressing fresh juices, and making syrups, shrubs and bitters are shared among staff, but it can vary. Big cocktail bars will go through dozens of liters of fresh citrus in a week and that juice has to come from somewhere. …Once all the smoke settles and last call has happened, it is time to clean up and break down the bar. We’re still cleaning up long after our customers have gone to sleep.”

3- Bartenders are dropouts

“Unfortunately, there is an assumption that most service industry staff are high school or university dropouts. Over the past few years however, I’ve had the pleasure of working with many brilliant people, most of whom completed post-secondary education.”

4- Bartenders are lazy

“Sleeping until noon does not make bartenders lazy — especially when they were working at full tilt until four in the morning! We simply work on a shifted schedule than those working nine to five. But we work just as hard. Also, think about shaking a shake weight for eight hours a night. Depending on the volume that your bar is pumping out, bar shifts can be mentally and physically exhausting. Especially in a cocktail setting when each drink has three to six ingredients and you are putting out 200-plus cocktails in a night. It is critical to stay mentally sharp for very long periods of time.”

5- All bartenders do”flair”

“Tom Cruise has put an image in the public’s mind about what bartenders do at work. I personally do not know how to flip a bottle and I don’t think many of my colleagues do either. Now don’t get me wrong, there is a small amount of ‘working flair’ that is involved in keeping your guests interested in what is going on behind the bar, but it is nowhere close to what is depicted in the media”

 

Original Source:

Toronto Star Online. Life, Food & Wine Section. Five bartending myths from the best in the business. Available at: http://www.thestar.com/life/food_wine/2013/06/21/five_bartending_myths_from_the_best_in_the_business.html

When every drop matters…

Sunday, October 20th, 2013

Despite the common thought, size actually matters and when you are in the bartending world size and amount are the difference between great and poor-illegal service.

The American state of Michigan knows this, after a few years of resenting the effects of the economic crisis with a loss of industry and decaying urban centers at the very least Michiganders expect to receive every precious drop of the cold beer they are paying for.

In order to protect his thirsty voters, Democratic State Reps.David Knezek and Brandon Dillon have made their mission  to make sure that when patrons order a pint of beer, they get a pint a beer with a proposed amendment  to Michigan’s Liquor Control Act that prohibits advertising or selling “any glass of beer as a pint in this state unless that glass contains at least 16 ounces of beer.” This is a step forward in an effective protection of costumers as well as a blow for those places used to promote as a pint any glass containing beer.

As in many other bartending related regulations, the british are a step ahead in making sure a pint is a pint, in England  the Imperial Pint has been the law of the land for centuries. Bars in England are required to use official Imperial Pint glasses that accommodate a full 19.2 U.S. ounces, plus a little room for foam.

This regulation surfaces after numerous reports  about“cheater pints” — pint glasses that mimic the profile of the 16-ounce standbys, but feature a thick glass bottom that cuts the volume to 14 ounces. There is a general complaint that many Michigan bars use the downsized glassware and could be faced with the pricey prospect of replacing them if the partial-pint prohibition passes.

The lesson is if the glass is not 16 ounces then DO NOT CALL IT A PINT, save the taxpayers some money and avoid going to jail by calling things by their names because when talking about a pint… size matters

 

See you behind the bar!

 

Original Source:

Michigan lawmakers seek to return honesty to bartending

http://blogs.lawyers.com/2013/10/michigan-honest-pint-law/

B1 Style Midterms / Mi-session, style B1

Friday, October 18th, 2013

(Voir plus bas pour le texte en français.)

And another class comes to an end at BartenderOne Montreal. While midterm madness takes up most of College students’ time, BartenderOne students were going through a whole different experience learning, making, and tasting cocktails.

Flair 101

On Monday, the week started off strongly with 7 super energetic students. Their first day went well, and far from being discouraged from their first long day with us, they stayed at night to cheer for their instructor Luke at the qualifiers for the Made With Love bartending competition. The event was a great success. B1 Bar was completely packed with some of Montreal’s best bartenders. These guys created tens of crazy cocktails during a challenge that evaluated their speed, technique, originality, presentation and taste.

On Tuesday morning, despite a slight general hangover (but it’s part of the job, isn’t it?), our soon-to-be bartenders’ motivation was at its highest and they got to practice their layering techniques, as well as taste different kinds of wine.

By Wednesday, our students were already at their ease behind the bar while they learned all about martinis and got to land their first flair tricks.

Thursday came fast and we got to watch our students’ great determination during their speed rounds. They scored impressive times!

The week is now coming to and end. At this exact time, they are going through their final evaluation. The whole BartenderOne team would like to wish them the best of lucks. We all had a memorable week and we can’t wait to work again with each of them, whether it be at one of our events, or in a more advanced class. To all of you graduates and future students, we say Cheers!

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Et voilà qu’une autre semaine de cours s’achève chez BartenderOne Montréal. Alors que la frénésie des examens de mi session occupait beaucoup d’étudiants universitaires et collégiens, les étudiants BartenderOne vivaient une semaine hors du commun, intense en préparation de cocktails, flair, et dégustations.

Dès lundi, la semaine a commencé en force avec 7 étudiants énergiques au rendez-vous. Loin d’être découragés de leur première longue journée de cours, les étudiants sont venus encourager leur instructeur Luke aux qualifications pour la compétition de bartending Made With Love durant la soirée. L’événement fût d’ailleurs un succès. Le Bar B1 était plein à craquer des bartenders les plus reconnus de Montréal. Ces derniers ont su créer des dizaines de cocktails les plus ingénieux les uns que les autres lors d’un challenge où la vitesse, la technique, l’originalité, la présentation et le goût déterminaient les 15 meilleurs compétiteurs de la soirée.

Mardi matin, malgré un léger lendemain de veille général (métier oblige!), nos apprentis bartenders avaient tout pour entretenir leur motivation durant leur Masterclass. Ils ont alors pu pratiquer leurs techniques de layering et déguster différents types de vin.

Dès mercredi, nos étudiants se sentaient déjà plus à l’aise derrière le bar, alors qu’ils apprenaient tout des martinis et effectuaient leurs premiers mouvements de flair.

Jeudi, nous avons clairement pu voir leur épatante détermination à devenir de bons bartenders, alors qu’ils pratiquaient leur speed round et marquaient des temps de services impressionnants.

La semaine tire maintenant à sa fin. Et puisqu’à cette heure précise, ils en sont à leur évaluation finale, toute l’équipe tient à leur souhaiter la meilleure des chances. Grâce à eux, nous avons passé une semaine mémorable et nous avons déjà hâte de travailler à nouveau avec chacun d’entre eux, que ce soit lors d’un de nos événements ou bien dans une autre formation plus avancée. À eux tous et aux autres futurs apprentis bartenders, nous vous disons: Santé!

Taking a cocktail to a new level…. Wait a moment, Pizza Cocktail? This sounds interesting

Tuesday, October 15th, 2013

pizzacocktail

As you may know, when you are talking about creativity for cocktails,sky is the limit.  Usually you can eat your pizza, now, thanks to the folks from Trattoria Neapolis, an Italian Bistro in California you can drink it too. The restaurant recently unveiled a pizza inspired cocktail that just makes you say mama mia!

This creation is made with tomato water, basil-infused vodka, ghost-pepper infused vodka, porcini powder, muddled basil and topped with a Parmesan and mozzarella foam.

Before expressing any judgement on such an odd combination, just remember that most cocktails these days follow this trend. With that in mind, we think this cocktails deserves you taking your bartending kit and bringing it to life, then you can let us know how it tastes.

But does it really taste like pizza? According to L.A. Weekly’s food blog, Squid Ink, it’s a “scarily accurate drink” that tastes as if your slice jumped into a Vitamix with a bottle of vodka.”

See you behind the bar!

 

Original Source: 

The Huffington Post Online. Pizza Cocktail At Trattoria Neapolis Might Actually Be Awesome

Available at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/15/pizza-cocktail_n_4100512.html

Bartender stories… Finding Toronto’s new talents: Henry Orkin

Thursday, October 10th, 2013

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When you meet Henry Orkin, the first thing that comes to mind is that Henry is a really, really nice guy. With a big smile,  quiet attitude and a unique hat that makes you think of a cheerful Slash, Henry stands out from other mixologists precisely because he doesn’t stand out, he is quiet and smooth and lets his passion and creations do the talking.

With a passion for non-urban venues, Henry is perfecting his skills before jumping in his venue of choice, be it a fishing/skiing/hunting lodge, rural pub, or perhaps a cruise ship – any place where he can blend his new found bartending abilities with his career path in outdoor recreation and eco-tourism.

Henry is among the elite of bartenders in Canada that have taken the path of perfect their skills by a continuous education. Since graduating from the Bartenderone MasterClass, he has enhanced his knowledge with one specialized workshop after another: from Bourbon to Mezcal, Henry has learnt from some of the industry’s brightest minds. The International BarChef Certification (IBC) thus, was a logical step to take his bartending abilities to totally new levels.

As a proud disciple of Torontonian Master Mixologist Gavin Macmillan, Henry’s spirit of choice is Gin, which he finds to be the most pleasant spirit to work with as there are so many wildly different flavour profiles and aromas to choose from – meaning almost endless possibilities for any palate.

For Henry, the biggest surprise IBC revealed to him was the sheer amount of flavours, liqueurs, bitters, and other drink additives that you have at your disposal. Coming from a background of limited flavour experience, for Henry, this course was an eye opener to the incredible diversity in the world of flavours.
In Henry’s own words for those considering taking the IBC:

“Be confident in yourself  and keep an open mind. Even if you are inexperienced and unemployed, taking the class with experienced professional bartenders and perhaps your previous instructors, everyone is there because they have something to learn. Everyone is creative in their own way, and we are all in a constant learning process”
Here is Henry’s final creation to obtain his IBC diploma. Judge it by yourself and remember to enjoy it!

Apricot Slam by Henry Orkin:

  • 1.5oz Brandy
  • .75oz Apricot Liqueur (Bohls Apricot Brandy works quite well)
  • .75oz Cynar
  • Stirred with ice (as you would a Negroni) and strained over fresh ice into a rocks glass

Do you dream of travelling the world as a bartender,making money working overseas while meeting sexy people every night?

Then the IBC is for you. Check it here: http://ow.ly/pGMuX

 

See you behind the bar!

Who’s hiding behind BartenderOne Montreal? / Qui se cache derrière BartenderOne Montréal?

Wednesday, October 9th, 2013

Cette série d’articles est destinée à vous informer sur les membres de l’équipe de BartenderOne Montreal. Cette semaine, rencontrez un de nos instructeurs, Jonathan Homier.

Jonathan Homier

Gradué de l’ITHQ en gestion de restauration, Jonathan est un mordu de l’industrie des bars où il dit avoir trouvé un équilibre parfait entre la création et le conseil client. Derrière son bar, il est déterminé à intégrer ses connaissances gastronomiques pour faire sortir de l’ombre la culture cocktail encore peu connue du public. Sa passion l’a donc transporté de restaurants en bars à cocktails et compétitions de bartending. Il a travaillé notamment pour le Ritz Carlton, la Distillerie, le restaurant les 400 coups et le Lab, pour n’en nommer que quelques uns. Toutes ces expériences l’ont mené jusqu’à l’ouverture de son propre bar en avril 2013, le B1. Il y est aujourd’hui barman, co-propriétaire et gérant, en plus de transmettre sa passion et ses connaissances à travers BartenderOne Montréal!

Get to know our team through this series of articles. This week, meet our instructor Jonathan Homier.

Jonathan is an ITHQ graduate in restaurant management, and a passionate actor in the bar industry where he has found the perfect balance between creativity and customer service. Behind his bar, he is determined to use his gastronomic knowledge to take the cocktail culture to a next level. His passion has led him from restaurants and cocktail bars to bartending competitions. He has worked for Ritz Carlton, La Distillerie, Les 400 coups and Lab Cocktail Bar, to name only a few. All of this has led him to the opening of his own bar, the B1, in April 2013. There, he now acts as a barman, co-owner and manager, while teaching his knowledge and passion at BartenderOne!