Tapas Bar Libations

[battlepanda]

I still can't believe it...I've just taken a job to be a bartender at a Tapas restaurant in Taipei. I've never worked a day in the food industry before. Eep!

Any good ideas out there for spanish-themed cocktails? They probably have Sangria already, but if anyone have a good "gold standard" recipe, I'd love to see it.

[johnnyd]

Order some good sherry - a lot. Make sure some are expensive so you earn some street credit and ensure decent tips.

Get some good shoes - you'll need them.

It'll be fun - looking forward to your success.

[Bill Poster]

Eep! 

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How do you say that in Taiwanese?

[battlepanda]

I think "eep!" is "eep!" whereever you go. Though the Taiwanese also uses "Aiya!" for good measure.

I just opened the attachment the owner sent me of the drinks menu..."Marqueritas", "wodka -- tonic"...no sangria, no sherry. I've got my work cut out ahead of me. Their menu selections are quite sorry too...we're talking "spanish-style fried rice" "parma-ham plate" "beef in tomato sauce...clams in tomato sauce...shrimp in tomato sauce...squid in tomato sauce..." No wonder the owner complains that the place is barely breaking even! She's had to put money into the restaurant from her day job in recent months too

Oh well, we all have to make our start somewhere. The funny thing is, though I'm upfront about the fact that I've no experience, the owner somehow got this idea that I'm going to really help her liquor sales pick up. This might be because the current bartender is a sullen young man who talks in monosyllables.

[gethin]

Any good ideas out there for spanish-themed cocktails? They probably have Sangria already, but if anyone have a good "gold standard" recipe, I'd love to see it.

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Not cocktails as such , but here is the drinks menu at La Tasca ( a mid range Tapas chain in the UK) .

The Soberano Libre and the Rebujito La Gitana are nice sangria alternatives and may be ideas worth pinching. Have you thought of offering Kalimotxo . Not something you'd normally see being drunk in bars in Spain, but a very popular (if disgusting) drink. Queimada (aguardiente , sugar and coffe beans, set on fire) can provide a bit of spectacle.

You should certainly try to stock:

A few spanish brandies - Cardenal Mendoza is one of my favorites but all the big names (magno, veterano, soberano , bobadiillo Gran Capitan ) are extremely drinkable though generally a lot sweeter and more full bodies than french brandies )

Pacharan ( slightly aniseedy, sloe flavoured - drunk with lemonade as a pre dinner drink or neat (and very cold) after dinner.

Ponche (osborne or caballero)

Anis

a plain Aguardiente and a flavoured one (Martin Codax are a good mass market maker)

Licor 43/ Calisay/Torres orange (all sweetish, orangy liqueurs

Crema Catalana ( very popular, a bit like Baileys but not as nasty)

Xoringer gin

With these and some spanish vermouth and a variety of sherry (from very dry to very sweet) , you should be able to come up with spanish variations on quite a range of classic cocktails.

Orange , chocolate and cinammon would be obvious Spanish flavours to try to work in.

I once bought a bottle of a liqueur made from Acorns in Madrid - it was truly vile though.

I guess you won't have have access to N20, but if you did the Epicure, Cigar foam here looks interesting.

Gethin

[KatieLoeb]

Try an Andalusian Sidecar:

2 oz. Spanish Brandy

1 oz. Torres Gran Orange

1 oz. fresh Lemon juice

Shake and strain into a sugar rimmed cocktail glass.

[gethin]

check out cocktail db for recepies for the seville, the cadiz, the spanish fly , the sherry cocktail and various vartations.

check here for a photograph taken down a microscope of a "Kahlua Toreador".

Why university scientists take microscope photo's of cocktails and post them on a website is beyond me, but the pictures are pretty (and not remotely like a picture of a cocktail).

Gethin