Message 10440 of 22774 in Behind the Bar

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To be fair you should only really taste cocktails in which you are unsure of. 
If you are making a new cocktail recipe then you should taste it, but once you 
have perfected the recipe what exactly is the point?

If you use the same recipes and the same ingredients everyday then you should 
be remembering the recipes, and thus be making them without tasting them. 

If you make ten Long Islands, what is the point of tasting all ten of them?

If you work in a bar where a head bartender or manager has clearly specified 
the recipes you should be using then all you have to do is memorise them. If 
you are overpouring or underpouring on different ingredients then you need to 
practice free-pouring at home until you get it right.

My only quibble with certain head bartenders or managers is that they are 
sometimes incapable of writting down the exact recipe they used. If that is 
the case then you need to ask them to clarify their recipe, and if necessary 
re-print it so that all the bartenders are using and making exactly the same 
recipe for each customer, each time.

It really "grinds my gears" when bartenders I have worked with have felt it is 
they right to alter recipes to their liking. This kind of attitude leads to 
customers having favourites amongst the bartenders in a particular bar. "Oh! 
so-and-so makes the best drinks", well if their recipe is indeed better than 
the bar standard then they should ask the head bartender or manager for 
permission to alter the recipe for everyone to use. There is nothing worse 
than a bar with no set standard.


Cheers!

George S.


 Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
- Whatever is said in Latin sounds profound.