Cocktail night in non-cocktail bar

[Forest]

A friend has a bar (actually a pub) and wants me to do a cocktail night for him next month. Now, it’s a pub, so it’s mainly a beer/wine crowd. The bar has a drinks menu with some fruit/vodka drinks on it and some various shots.

I am trying to come up with 1 – 3 cocktails for this evening, so I can tell them what ingredients, etc to buy. I should also note: I live in Paris – so that will affect in some cases what I can and can’t get.

This crowd is NOT seeking out sophisticated cocktails. The goal here is not necessarily to turn beer drinkers into cocktail lovers. The goal is to have a successful cocktail evening, i.e. everyone enjoys the cocktails and buys lots of them - and possibly gets a new appreciation for them.

Glassware: long glasses are probably better because they don’t have a lot of martini glasses….but I like martini glasses. So, I’m open to either.

I like classic cocktails (but that’s just me…I like classic food, drinks, etc) So, I would prefer something tired and true…but, again, I could go either way.

So…..first question: Just one cocktail or a couple of different ones?

Second question: Which one(s)?

I’ve been following the post on cocktails for beginners – and liked the idea of a sidecar (I particularly like sidecars) But here’s the problem I have when I make things like that at home for friends. They always say “wow…you’re heavy-handed with the booze!” But, I’m not. It’s a well made drink – appropriately measured. Here, cocktails are not a big thing in most bars and what you get is usually something with a lot of mixer. So people are used to non-booze-tasting drinks and think the purpose of a cocktail is simply to hide the flavor of a lot of alcohol. So, I’m thinking no whiskey based drinks, etc.

What I am thinking (and again, it’s because I really like them) are blue moons. Creme de violette is easy to get here. People like the color of the drink (yes, the taste is more important….but customers do like these kinds of things) But maybe it should be something more complicated? I don’t know….the floor is yours, give me some ideas…

[the queneau]

Out of curiosity, what bar is it?

Or at least, what is the clientele like? I'm guessing it's an ex-pat bar of sorts?

I used to work in a variety of bars in Paris for a number of years, so know them all pretty well.

BUT: the type of drinks that we made in Fubar were very different to those we made in The Hideout (if you know those bars), because it was entirely dependent on the customers' expectations.

Let me know, and I'm sure we can knock together a few simple ideas.

Q

[jsmeeker]

I too like the idea of a Sidecar. I've personally found that this drink is approachable by people who aren't cocktail drinkers or are used to drinking sweet vodka based stuff. It's a really good example of a whole category of cocktails (sours)

For a second cocktail, go with gin based. The long glasses.. Are these stemmed glasses? Like a champagne flute? You could make a French 75. Do you have access to fresh mint? You could make "fizz" version of a Southside.

[jmfangio]

Since it's easy to get Creme de Violette, and I'll assume you can get Maraschino as well, make Aviations. It never fails - whenever I make one for someone for the first time, they immediately declare it their new favorite cocktail.