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Subject: Re: Has Bartending Evolved?
From: Spellbinder
Posted: Tue Dec 19. 2006, 09:16 UTC
Followup to: "Has Bartending Evolved?"  by Bippo  (Tue Dec 19. 2006, 06:24 UTC)
> As the subject suggests, has it?

Has it?  Of course...
Will it continue?  Pretty sure...
Anytime soon?  Not a bloody chance :)

> What i mean by evolved is, have we seen all the major improvements, 
> products, methods that we will see?

As is true of any craft, there will always be something new, just a little 
different than before.

> What new products can we really create, or do we expect to be able to 
> use?
> 
> Are there really that many random fruit/nut/herb & spice ingredients 
> we havent already used in liquor?

Three great questions, all kinda the same thing though.  The problem is that 
we've pretty much used up the grand scheme of variations with what's out there 
now.  The only semi-good and successful product that's been introduced in 
quite a while was the heavy push of flavored vodkas, which is hardly new or 
even interesting.  I think there's a lot that can be gained from the ideal of 
flavored tequila and gin, but those both remain to be seen on any successful 
scale.

The problem as I see it, we aren't going to see a lot of change until we see a 
new type of spirit hit the market.  The world of bartending is stuck on Rum, 
Whiskey, Tequila, Vodka, and Gin...with Brandy playing the proverbial 
red-headed step-child.  Maybe it's just me, but I think we're just about out 
of reasonable ingredient combinations without adding new stuff to the barrel.

> Are we merely waiting now for another gastly mix from producers (see 
> Hypnotiq)

Hpnotiq was only a bad product because it was done badly, not because the idea 
is bad.  I think the near future holds a LOT of products like that (we've seen 
plenty of people peddling them on here).

> What is a new item that we will "have to have" behind the bar?

I'd like to see the industry learn from what happened with POM...it was big 
for a summer, then it was brushed off very quickly.  The "must have" trend is 
repeatedly proving itself to cause potentially good elements of mixology 
disappear as they are used improperly or simply overused.

> I am genuinly interested in what you all have to say as it seems like 
> the major advancements have been really minimal.

One point that hits me...look at history.  Previously it took between 50 and 
100 years just for another monk to invent something that the rest of the world 
would eventually latch onto.  By comparison, we get something acceptable at 
least every 5-10 years.

> Maybe all we will see is the dive bars slowly become a little better, 
> and the top notch ones a little less impressive as they become more 
> mainstream.
> Maybe all the bars will slowly divide (as some are already) into 
> bartending methods, ie; fast service no cocktails, slushy machine 
> cocktails, tiki bars, mass produced pre-mixs etc. . 

The profession of bartending is one thing that I don't see changing, but I 
think it will continue to rise in stature socially.  My one concern about the 
future of bartending is that it seems more bars are becoming corporate.

Of course, I'm still young to the industry.  Maybe I've got no idea what I'm 
saying.

-- 
Cody


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