Kohai

Interesting. Thank you!

Sam, why do you say that Plymouth is not actually a London dry? Just curious - I haven't heard that before.

Glasswashers have been much on my mind. Like many others here, I've used a lot of different types at various bars. I feel the slowest, hottest and cleanest was a little Hobart undercounter steam washer: one bar I worked at used it as their dedicated wineglass washer (really minimal streaks). This was great but only did like one load a minute (two at most) so it wouldn't be good for higher volume... plus the glasses come out so hot they need to be cooled for about five minutes before they're usable. Then there are those assorted rotary washers. I've had bad and good experiences with these, but really mostly bad. Useful, yes, but they always seem to be breaking down, malfunctioning, or just sending back glasses half-dirty. Not sure if they're worth the hassle + expense. In the end I keep wondering if maybe the old three-sinks (plus ablebodied barbacks) is the way. I hate the sinks but they're cheap as hell, they don't break down, and they get glasses as clean or cleaner than some malfunctioning rotary washer. Or maybe I've just had bad luck with glasswashers.

Was Audrey Saunders's Dreamy Dorini instrumental in propagating the Scotch-rinsed martini? That's an idea that seems to be darn near universally-known these days. Was anyone drinking this before Audrey came up with it?

Thank you, Sam. That was excellent.

What about larger bars designed for use by two or more bartenders? Two immediate questions occur to me: number of ice wells and backbar layout. I guess my initial feeling is that the service well (if there's only one) should have a dedicated ice well. Beyond that, there should be one ice well to every two bartenders. If possible the backbar should probably be symmetrical (assuming a long bar versus an island setup). There could be ice wells on either side, and the commonly-used bottles would be at the edges, nearest the ice wells. Less-reached-for bottles could live in the middle. Sliding doors for fridges, where possible, because hinged doors act like a big fan blade sucking cold air out? No soda gun, but if possible a good still/charged water gun would be nice. Edited to add: I'm told there was a Tales speaker this summer who discussed just this subject (Philip Duff?). Did anyone catch this?

Um, is anyone else suffering from a sudden chronic shortage of Angostura? My rep tells me the problem is on the producer side; there won't be any in Minneapolis until February at the earliest. Horrors! While I'm here, what thoughts about the Angostura Orange? On its own it seems more interesting than Fee's to me, but I haven't mixed with it extensively so I don't know how well it plays with others.

Height issues are definitely tricky to resolve, aren't they? Tall folks have to stoop to use low work surfaces, wash sinks (if there's no glasswasher) and, like you mention, ice wells. Shorter bartenders have difficulty with high shelves and backbars. I used to work with a very short bartender who needed a milk crate close at hand to get to the wine glasses and higher bottles. I kept tripping on the damn thing because it was black and almost invisible in the dark. A colleague of mine suggested a novel non-intrusive solution: space the back fridges about the width of a large shoe, then put a narrow wooden box, or a step of some kind, between them. Then you could just put your foot between the fridges and use it as a stepstool, but it wouldn't be constantly in the way. I've always wanted a work station like cooks use on the line: a lowboy or two with a narrow cutting board on top, and refrigerated trays behind that for fruit, juices, and anything else that needs to be kept chilled. I hate sinks cluttered with squirt bottles and whatnot. It seems to me that the place behind a bar where ergonomics are of the most importance is the service well. Ideally the service well would be designed like some kind of cockpit, built for speed. A lot of bars I've worked at have the ice well directly beneath the work area at the service well. I'm not sure that's necessary; keep it to the side so that if the bartender spills it is less likely to drip into the ice well. If the well is built into a corner then the bartender could have ice well and speed rails on one side and the aforementioned work station with juices, garnishes and other condiments directly in front of them. What about one of those water-swirlers that baristas use? I'm not sure what they're called: those little sinks with a spout that keeps a constant flow of water circulating. It could be used for barspoons, muddlers, knives (OK, maybe not knives). A boy can dream.......

Every bar I've worked in has been designed by an architect, not a bartender. That usually means that the finish of the bartop is lovely but maddening layout decisions have been made that hinder the bartender during service. You probably know well the kind of thing I'm referring to: small or distant fridges, foolish use of space, back-breakingly low work surfaces, etc. Once these decisions are made, most of them are permanent. If that ice well is too far away, or if you forgot to leave a space for a trash can, you're going to have to live with that forever. If you were to design a commercial bar from the ground up, what are some things you would be sure to do? What guidelines should be followed to create a bar that can turn out high-quality drinks quickly and efficiently? What equipment is important and what's a waste of time? Do you have any radical ideas that would change the way we think about bar layout? What would you avoid at all costs?

(I know we're pretty off-topic here so forgive me for continuing the detour.) I've always felt that a major advantage of jiggering was the separation of two different steps of the process: call them perhaps the "measuring" step and the "adding" step. When freepouring, one measures a volume while simultaneously adding that ingredient to the mix. This is both impossible to check (if, for example, you have this nagging feeling you hit the lemon juice a little too hard but aren't sure) and irreversible (you can't take it back out). With jiggers the measuring is completed before the ingredient is added to the mix. If there's any uncertainty about the measurement, it can be easily assessed before it is added to the mix or, if it's off, adjusted. (Since this is a Japanese Cocktail Culture topic, it may be worth observing that most Japanese bars don't use pourspouts but instead pour straight from the bottle. It's harder than a simple four count, or whatever, but I believe it allows for more accuracy and control. But I guess we've already talked about that.)

Just so we're clear, I have never posited that the the quality of Uyeda's was solely due to the Hard Shake. I don't know that. Was it his proportions? Ice? Really good limes and sugar? The truth is that I have no idea what he's doing right... but I do believe that he's onto something. I did not buy into anything. I was quite skeptical when I walked in to Tender and ordered a drink, expecting to get just another Japanese-style cocktail. (See note below.) ......I see what you're saying here, and I understand the points you're raising. But there are some things that just don't compute for me. I don't have any good explanations, but I am keeping my mind open. So far my experiences tell me there's something interesting here. For one thing, I get your point that perception of flavor (hell, perception of anything, probably) can be drastically altered by external factors. Definitely it can. But just because human perception can been influenced doesn't necessarily mean that those drinks weren't as good as they seemed. And it doesn't explain the fact that I have never had a similar reaction in any bar in the world that I've been to, despite the fact that Tender is pretty unremarkable in most ways. If anything, the suggestion of such a powerful, overriding subliminal influence on my sense of taste - and the idea that Uyeda could master this power of influence on a consistent basis to become the most renowned bartender in Japan - seems more mystical than the Hard Shake. So that's one thing that doesn't really compute in my head. I don't know much about science myself, but even to me there is something abstract about some of these ideas that seem pretty unscientific. Some of it, at least. Aeration can be measured, but how does one measure the blending and unifying of flavor? Does agitating liquids = mixing, or is the process harder than that, as Uyeda believes? Because I know so little about science, I'm willing to accept that there may be things it can't explain. To someone with a little more background, that might be unsatisfactory. Janet, To clarify the timeline: I mentored with Uyeda for six months while I was tending in Tokyo. This was the spring and summer of 2008. During that time I drank at Tender several times and was very impressed, but was on the fence about the methods involved - for reasons that Sam and others bring up. (To my mind, it might have been like giving a wine novice a bottle of really good Bordeaux, or what-have-you. They'd think it was nice, but not have the context to really appreciate it.) I returned to the US in March of 2009 and throughout that summer went to New York, London, Scotland and Chicago to check out some of the bars I had been reading so much about when I was living in Japan. I made it a practice to order something basic and classic for my first drink from each bartender, so that I had at least some kind of frame of reference. When I went back to Tokyo in November, I had pretty much decided that Japanese bartending was cool and all, but that New York and London both seemed like better for cocktails. I had a bunch of experiences in various cocktail bars throughout Tokyo that seemed to verify this impression, but when I visited Tender again it completely blew my mind. (I could only attribute it to time spent over the past 9 months "researching": tasting other bartenders Sidecars, Gimlets, Manhattans.) I was astonished because I did not remember the drinks being anywhere near as good as they were, but truly - I have never had anything like them. I believe that there are other bartenders somewhere in the world who are capable of making equally good drinks - without needing the Hard Shake - but I believe them to be few. I have never met another.

1. We're not talking about a controlled environment where two bartenders use "the exact same ingredients and amounts and a reasonably similar technique." Why would we be? We're talking about ordering a drink from two different bartenders and seeing who makes it better. 2. I can assure you I am in no way dazzled by either Uyeda or Tender. Tender looks like an airport bar and Uyeda is far less of a "performer" than many Japanese bartenders (none of whom can make a drink half as good as Uyeda's). If anything, New York's bars win in terms of atmosphere and show, but apparently those influences weren't strong enough. 3. A wine expert might be fooled by dyeing white wine red, but he wouldn't be fooled by cherry Kool-Aid. There was an enormous difference between Uyeda's drinks and any other drink I've had. I get the skepticism - honestly, I do - but it's a little silly to tell me that my perceptive faculties were clouded by the show I just witnessed, or to make vague allusions to "well-understood" psychological factors, or whatever you're getting at. How would you really know enough to tell me I didn't taste what I think I tasted? Believe me, or don't. Perhaps. But what specific "mysticism" are you referring to? What do you really know about the Hard Shake? Can you find anything other than a bad internet translation or some Eben Freemen video? You are criticizing things that I doubt you have taken much time to learn about.

I can totally understand skepticism because I was skeptical too, initially. However, I feel 100% confident that I would be able to pick Uyeda's drinks in a blind taste test because I've never tasted anything like them. It was almost like they would taste in a really good dream. They were so vivid, evocative, polished, balanced, lush... I can't really describe them except in abstract terms. Which, unfortunately, does not help the illusion of mysticism. Japanese "flair" is quite unlike TGIF's flair because every action has a purpose. The "theater" of Japanese bartending hides an extremely deliberate, considered process in which almost every step materially improves the quality of the drink. There is a rationale behind everything. You take the cap off a bottle with a certain grip so that you can easily clasp it against your palm and still hold the jigger in the same hand. You pour in a certain way so that your wrist can move freely and so that the label of the bottle doesn't get dirtied by the occasional stray drip. You turn the labels forward for the same reason that you pour wine label-forward. (The Japanese aren't the only ones with esoteric ways of doing things, it seems.) These processes, when smoothly executed, look graceful and reassure guests that they are in the capable hands of someone who has dedicated years to improving their game. This is the theater of Ginza bartending, but it is minimalist theater indeed. There is no wasted movement, no juggling, no pomp and circumstance (except for the three-piece suits). In addition to DeGroff, as you mentioned, Chris, David Embury vouches for freepouring. I have seen astonishing feats of discipline in Tokyo, and not just in Ginza. A bartender in a (busy!) Roppongi dive club blew my mind by freepouring (no spouts, mind you) into a single shaker, shaking, and serving three gimlets perfectly level with the rims of the glasses, not a drop to spare. And this was just some guy getting paid about $9 an hour to sling cassis-oranges to drunk clubbers. Ginza bartenders, the longtime pros, don't use jiggers - they don't need to. I have seen enough free-pours hit the rim dead-on when they are finished straining into the glass to believe in "feel". But not everyone has the feel, or maybe not everyone has spent a decade acquiring it. Something Uyeda pointed out to me is that even when using jiggers, we still rely on feel. If I have a 1.5/.75 oz. jigger and I want to measure a perfect ounce, I am going to have to eyeball the level of the liquid in the 1.5 oz. cup and estimate when it's 2/3 full. Even an even shot can be poured a little scant or brimming a little too full. Jiggers are useful for a lot of reasons. I'm not anti-jigger by any means. But I do practice freepouring, too. I guess this has strayed a bit from the subject of the Hard Shake itself...

I feel I should probably jump in here. I lived in Tokyo until last March (for a year and a half) and mentored with Uyeda for six months, and also with Noriyuki Iguchi of Gaslight, Director of Training for the Nippon Bartending Association - the bartender you see in the video that you've linked to, Chris. I also worked as a bartender in Tokyo for a year. It's worth mentioning that the Hard Shake is a technique developed by Uyeda over the four decades he has spent bartending. It is not "the Japanese shake" - every Japanese bartender has a different style of shaking. Mr. Iguchi, for instance, practices what he calls a "soft" shake. No other bartender in the world has mastered the Hard Shake, though some claim to have. I was in Tokyo again a few weeks ago and took the opportunity to meet with Uyeda a few times and once again visit his bar, Tender. I had a Manhattan (some unknown bottling of Wild Turkey Rye, Cinzano, no bitters) a Sidecar (Hennessy XO, fresh lemon, Cointreau) and a Gimlet (plain old Gordon's, fresh lime, simple syrup). These three drinks were so far beyond anything I'd ever tasted that I was stunned. Since returning from Tokyo I have visited as many bars as I could in New York and the UK, and also revisited the Violet Hour in Chicago. I had some fantastic drinks at these bars (especially D&Co, Pegu, London's M&H and TVH). Yet I walked out of Tender shaking my head in astonishment. It was like when I visited Alinea and kept saying, "I didn't know food could taste this good." I walked out of Tender saying the same thing about cocktails. I don't know if it is *because* of the Hard Shake, or that his proportions (which he freepours straight from the bottle) were just perfect, or.... But I've never experienced flavors like Uyeda coaxed out of his ingredients. Whatever he's doing, he's doing it right. Mr. Uyeda is not a representative of Japanese bartending because he is simply better than any other Japanese bartender.

Thanks for the tips, everyone. I've been experimenting with using mint unpicked, on-stem, in deference to the Alchemist's suggestion that there is as much or more flavor in the stems themselves. Accordingly, I've tried keeping whole sprigs of mint, generally in shakers full of water with or without ice. Looks like a little mint tree - we've named it Mustafa. But it seems hard to stop Mustafa from wilting within a few hours. It's not mojito season right now (goddam foofy mojito drinks!) so we don't use as much as we do in the summer. I've just bunged them in a deli with a few damp cocktail napkins at the bottom and keep that closed in the fridge. I'll have to find a better solution in the summer so we don't have to run to the fridge and unpack a few sprigs every five seconds.

That sounds really interesting. Can you share a more detailed explanation/recipe for using citric acid and baking soda in such an application?

Done a search but I can't find this except in more kitchen-related applications. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to store mint for higher-volume service environments? I've tried keeping it in shakers with/without ice, in ice baths, etc., but nothing seems quite as good as just keeping it sealed in the fridge. We get hit pretty hard sometimes, and I'd like to be able to keep it somewhere convenient within reach - preferably on the bartop. Any advice would be welcome. Thanks.

Not sure why it would be either, but it seems to be the case from my experience. I've tried several methods now including near-boiling, warm and lukewarm water, with and without detergent. The warm water + detergent combination seems to work best for me; the fruit doesn't turn brown. When I try very hot water it usually results in fruit that has started to brown before the end of the night. The flesh itself is fine, but the skin seems to brown easier. Perhaps some kind of shock to the system, at least at the surface, from the sudden heat?

Is it possible that even the brief immersion in boiling water contributes to the browning as much or more than the lack of a wax coating? Sam, even when using tepid water does your fruit brown within a short time as well?

Tokyo Toddy 2 oz. lemon zest-infused barley shochu 4 oz. boiling water 1/2 oz. honey 1 whole dried jasmine flower In a wineglass, steep the dried jasmine flower in hot water for about 20 seconds, allowing it to begin blooming. Add honey and shochu. Consume while hot. This works, though I keep thinking it could use a little something extra.

Ignite? Can you be more specific about the methods you're employing here? I have contemplated the purchase - strictly for cocktail purposes, mind you - of a six-foot bong, filling it with alcohol and rigging the top with a pump to draw, say, cedar smoke through it. It is conceivable that one could create a smoked bourbon or something along those lines. It's also conceivable that one would just end up with a huge, tragic bourbon bomb. Sounds like you've had some experiences along those lines? Ultimately a better way would probably just be to load hotel pans filled with a shallow layer of liquid into a smoker, like Eben Freemen did at Tailor with his smoked cola. <Edited for typo.>

That might be true. And yet... I'm not sure I've ever noticed that my orange juice/milk/soda ever "tasted like plastic" before. If I was pressed, I probably couldn't describe the flavor of plastic. Isn't it pretty neutral? Still, I'm not sure there's a wide arena of applications for this idea. In any drink where you might want to infuse alcohol with, say, soy sauce, it would probably be more effective to just use a barspoon of soy sauce in the mix.

I had an idea for a flavoring technique that, for lack of a better term, I've been referring to as "dry infusing". It's a bit half-baked, but I thought I'd throw it out and see if anyone came back with a good application for it. The idea is this: Take a porous container like a plastic jug. Fill it with a strongly scented or flavored liquid - say, hot cinnamon tea, vinegar, liquid smoke, A1, soy sauce, gasoline (yuck), whatever. Rest it for several days so that the plastic takes on the scent - and maybe flavor? - of the liquid. Then empty the container and fill it with an alcohol. The alcohol will take on flavor/scent characteristics of the liquid without actually coming into contact with the liquid. This could be good if you, say, don't want to lower the proof of the alcohol, or don't want to mix the liquid with the alcohol directly. Problems with this technique: 1.) I'm not sure that plastic would absorb a very wide flavor/scent spectrum. It might just pick up certain notes, and therefore only impart a limited amount to the alcohol. 2.) I'm not sure I can think of a reason why this technique is better than just infusing, say, cinnamon sticks directly into alcohol. As I was writing this I realized that vinegar or soy sauce infusions might have their uses, but then again see 1). Just thought I'd throw this one out there to see if it got anyone's imagination going.

The way this treasurer fellow explained it to me, the volunteer-based nature of the USBG - they all have day jobs - means that they are not always prompt about returning emails (or indeed doing anything else). He also mentioned that getting a large distributor or producer onboard (he mentioned Pernod-Ricard in his particular situation) can help to get their attention. If you have any luck, I would be interested in hearing about it.

Actually, I've been trying to get hold of people myself to start a local chapter. I got a few names from the treasurer of a different chapter, but the organization has proved difficult to get hold of. Can you recommend any contact info for someone who might actually return my emails? Please feel free to PM me if you can help. I'd be in your debt. Thanks.