Surprise party lessons.

On April 25 my fiancé and I bartended a surprise birthday party in Huntington Beach.  It was a fun party.

During the night we made some observations to try and make things better while bartending.

• We used the Oversized Spout I purchased in the 1.75L bottles.   They worked great.  We put them in bottles of Absolute, Jose Cuervo, Jack Daniels, Bacardi Silver Rum.   These large size bottles always have those plastic thingy's in them.  So I used a corkscrew to threaded into the plastic to pull them out.  Then just inserted the Oversized Spout into them.  Another useful item of the night was the cranberry juice container pour spout.  This made pouring so much easier.

 

Cranberry juice container pour spout.                                 Oversized bottle pour spouts.

• Since there were two of us, I really should have set up a large sized bar mat on both ends of the bar so both of us had a place to put our stuff to drain.   I only had one but now working with  a second bartender, realize I need two.   

Going to purchase a second bar mat to add to the other side of the table.

• When making cocktails there is usually a variety of drinks needing to be made.  So I used one of my trays the bar as a rinsing dunk tub to clean shakers, glasses, and jiggers.   Using this for cleaning sounds good, but the practice needed some refining for me.  I cleaned my tins I used for a berry cocktail that uses raspberries.   The seeds contaminated the water and actually was sticking to other tins when cleaning them.   I'm thinking to only use the dunk cleaner for non debris causing drinks.   Angila, my fiancé suggested to find a water pump method to clean tins. A hand pump to squire water into the tins and glasses, then dump out into the trash can.   The pump can be attached to the bar  somehow.

• I have a 6 compartment Condiment Holder that is great for holding all the lemon, lime, and berries, however I have to place it on one side of the bar or the other.  This makes it hard for both bartenders to access the garnishes.  One is always reaching around the other.   So the idea now is to find a way of setting the garnishes in the center of the bar, under the top shelf so both bartenders can access them.   

I'd like to add a Condiment Holder  under that top bar in the from opening just above that busser bin somehow.  

Last point was the temperature.  The bar was set up outside, it was windy and cold most of the night.  One thing we thought of was to bring along those little camping Hand Warmers bags.  The kind you squeeze, shake and they get warm.   Then we could thaw out our hands.  Brrrrrrrrr.  

So now the search is on for a garnish mounting system and a tin/glass rinse system to go with the flair portable bar.   My ideas for a cleaning method is to find pieces for camping wash stations.  Connect the pump to the bottom of the ice bucket in the bar to reuse the water from melting ice.  

Do you have any thoughts or suggestions.  Email Vince@bartenervince.com

Be sure to subscribe to my youtube channel.  www.bartendervinceonyoutube.com

Private bartending tip - absorbing floor mats

One of the things I have come up against was a way to protect floors from damage from spills and dropping items.

A solution I'm using are absorbent, rubber backed floor pads.  I actually get these from the local auto parts store.  They are used for putting under cars to catch and absorb automotive fluids to prevent the liquid from damaging the home driveway.  

I use two ABSORBANT MAT to cover the square footage of the bar area.  It covers the floor under my portable bar and the area to walk around.  These are great.  Once they are too worn and soaked to save, you can dispose of them and replace them.  

These are very beneficial when the client has rented a venue with wooden floors.  When I showed them to a client I bartended their wedding, they were very appreciative that I was considerate of the venue.  If the venue was damaged the client wouldn't get their deposit back.

Something I have noticed, when you use these ABSORBANT MAT on concrete surfaces, the underside of the mat will be damp.  This is due to the moisture in the concrete surface being trapped by the mat and the moisture then condenses on the rubber backing of the mat.  It is NOT due to the mats leaking.

Just one more tip I discovered over the years of private party mobile bartender for hire business I have.  

You can get them here 

Glass and Garnish -Back of house business equipment - iPad and keyboard

So in trying to work out my business processes I came to the decision that I want to keep my info on hand and readily available anywhere I go.  Since I'm a mobile bartender, all my information needs to be mobile too.  After doing some research I decided to go with an IPad and my iPhone.

With the right apps it is really a life saver to have everything

Here is my basic "office".

Ipad- it is an older version Ipad but I don't need the latest and greatest for my business needs, yet.   The camera is great, the processor is fast, and it is a solid machine.  I type up menus, shopping lists, calculate ingredient quantities, create estimates, process payments all with this little tablet.  Modern technology is awesome to run a home business.

My go to apps for business - Pages, Numbers, Evernote, Penultimate, Adobe reader, Dropbox, iMovie, Mint.com, Units Plus, Paypal Here, and my new FAVORITE app is Simple Mind +.

I use a wireless keyboard / protective case with my Ipad.  The SHARKK® iPad Keyboard unit is pretty cool.   It rotates 360 degrees, folds clam shell style, and feels great to the touch.  The keys have a good tactile response.   My V key popped off one day and Amazon ask me to send it back to them for a full refund.   So I just reordered another one after the refund came through. It's on the way as I type.  Typing is faster with a keyboard and this one is great for my usage.

I like that the Keyboard will turn off by itself after some time of inactivity.  The pairing is simple easy.  I havent had any trouble with it at all.   I really love that the connector arm that hold and pivots the ipad to the keyboard is fully detatchable and can be used as a stand alone stand. This has been really helpfull to use as a stand without needed the keyboard itself.  I needed to displaya cocktail menu at an event but only had one printed and framed.   So I just pulled out my tablet, removed the stand from the keyboard and set it out  to display the menu.  It was a great think on the fly solution.

A point that is a little awkward is the right hand shift key.  It is placed undere the return key and next tothe up arrow key.  This takes some time to get used too.  I keep hitting the arrow up key and have to catch myself and correct it before I get to far along typing.

I have put a Youtube unboxing video here.
Unboxing video

     

Ipad                                                         Portable Keyboard

Video: making a Bitter Cuban cocktail

 I decided to build a spin on a rum and Coke.  I really enjoy a rum and Coke however I felt that it could have a little more dynamic to it.  So I decided to combine some other ingredients that I really enjoy.

First was bitters.  I really enjoy old the drinks that contain bitters.  To me they bring back the days of old when bartending was such a dedicated craft.

Next was Grand Marnier.  I really enjoy the flavor of Grand Marnier alone and mixed another drinks.  

After some experimenting I came up with a better Cuban cocktail.  Better coming from the bitters portion of the drink and Cuban coming from the Cuba libre portion of the drink.  

Ingredients

Rum

Grand Marnier

Angostura bitters

Coke

Buildi in a glass with ice.

Add an ounce and a half of rum, a half ounce of Grand Marnier, two dashes of bitters and top with Coke.

Give it a stir with a straw and serve with no garnish

You can view the video on my you tube channel here.:  Bitter Cuban Cocktail

Do you have a question about private bartending?  Email vince@bartendervince.com

Interested in having Vince at your event?  Go to BartenderVince.com

Apartment happy hour event in Hollywood

 I was invited to Vida apartments in Hollywood.  Vida Hollywood Apts   The apartment buildings look nice and well kept outside.  I liked the paint scheme.  The management staff ladies were so incredibly cool.  Shanique, Alma, and Jo were friendly and fun down to earth people.  Helpful and friendly.

It was so much fun.  The tenants that came by were all so cool and friendly.   Each was unique and there were a variety of backgrounds.  People from Morraco, to I believe Honduras.   It was cool to see such a diverse crowd hanging out and mingling.   I was able to share my story with a few people.  It was nice to see how interested people were in how I got into this.  

Lesson learned from.   Be prepared and have back ups.  I printed a menu with the cocktails, beer and wine.  However when I arrived I discovered there would be no beer and wine, just the cocktails.  So I couldn't use the printed menu.  I pulled out my  Tablet (iPad) and updated the menu on it, the placed it on my stand.   It worked great.  I almost always bring my iPad in case clients want to make changes to the estimate or to send invoices on the spot.    Using it for a menu made me nervous.  I've had guest knock over my framed menu and break it so I was watching my iPad closely.  This is my business machine and didn't want all my documentation lost.   Fortunately no one was intoxicated and no one knocked over anything.   I will make it standard to my iPad all the time for these types of situations.