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Subject: Re: Has Bartending Evolved?
From: Bippo
Posted: Tue Dec 19. 2006, 22:41 UTC
Followup to: "Re: Has Bartending Evolved?"  by Spellbinder  (Tue Dec 19. 2006, 09:16 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.

Yeah i know things will be a little different, but what about major changes? 
Like when the new 100% blue agave tequilas were the it thing. Or cachaca was 
suddenly available globally.

> 
> > 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.

Yeah i agree. As i ahve said in previous posts, it is hard to imagine a new 
ingredient that will suddenly hit and become a "must have". There are a lot of 
indigenous ingredients available to many countries yet to be sourced and used, 
but i dont think anything massive will come of it.

> 
> 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).

But thats just it, it is bad, surely they know that, so why didnt they hold 
back till something better came to their minds? And it really isnt a major 
breakthrough of flavours they used.

> 
> > 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.

POM?

> 
> > 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.

Has technology sped up the evolution of flavour and production distribution so 
much so that new things are now just blending in lot faster due to this?

> 
> > 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.

Corporate bars in my experience break things down into 3 things. Money, time, 
basics. They want basic cocktails, time saving ingredients ie; pre-mixed 
ingredients (sour mix), and it needs to be cheap.

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

Maybe ;)


-- 
Happy Pourin'
Bippo


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