BARS

 

BARS

Types of Bar

There are various types of bar, known by different names but all used to serve alcoholic drinks. The possible range is almost endless. There may be bars serving alcohol in a hotel’s garden, by the pool (even in the pool!), in a room full of poker machines, in a corporate box at some sporting event, or in a licensed café and so on. However the most common names for bar are:

 

Public or front bars – The least expensive and basic type of hotel (or pub) bar is usually called the public bar or front bar.

Lounge or saloon bars – These bars are more comfortably furnished (and more expensive) than the public bar.

Foyer bars – Superior residential hotels often serve drinks in the foyer. There is usually table service of drinks available even if there is no bar as such in the hotel’s foyer.

Cocktail bars – Cocktail bars, found most commonly in international hotels, are the most luxuriously furnished and lavishly equipped. As the name implies, cocktail bars specialize in mixed drinks and cocktails, and therefore bartenders working in them need special cocktail-mixing skills. They sometimes open only in the evening and they usually offer tray service as well as bar service.

Club Bars – Club bars, found in some taverns and hotels, are suitable for use by clubs or special interest groups and are sometimes reserved for their meetings. Do not confuse a hotel’s ‘club bar’ with the bars in registered clubs which are a different matter altogether. A big club often has several bars, for example, a members’ bar (with or without poker machines), or ‘sportsman’s bar’ with pool tables.

Nightclub bars – Nightclub bars are found in nightclubs and discos. They serve cocktails and mixed drinks as well as a range of beers, both local and imported. Often they offer both tray and bar service, and they are open until the early hours of the morning.

Dispense bars – another type of bar is called the dispense bar. It is a bar which is used for the preparation of the drinks for staff who then delivers them to customers elsewhere, for example at table in a restaurant. It is likely to be less lavishly equipped than a full scale public or cocktail bar. In many hotels, of course, there is no need for a dispense bar as drinks can easily be served to the eating areas from the ordinary (fully-equipped) bar.

Wine bars – Wine bars offer a wide range of wines, some of which are available by the glass. Usually a limited range of beers and spirits will be available also. Often a wine bar will be combined with a smart casual restaurant. Wine bar staff must, of course, be well informed about wine.

Minibars – Minibars are found in hotel bedrooms where a range of miniature bottles of spirits, half bottles of wine, a few beers, mixers, nuts etc. are available for the guests’ convenience. Items taken for the minibar must be added to the guests’ accounts to be paid for when they check out.

Banquet bar – This is a temporary setup in the banquet halls to serve alcoholic drinks during a specific function. The type and quality of drinks to be served are generally pre-determined at the time of booking the function. The drinks may either be bought by those who wish to drink or paid by the host for all the drinks consumed by his/her guests during the function. The banquet bar collects the required stock either from the main bar or the cellar. Sometimes, the guest would bring their own liquor bottles in which case ‘corkage’ charges are levied.

Bottle shops – The bottle shop attached to a hotel is, of course, not really a bar, because customers do not drink there. However, hotel bar attendants are frequently called upon to serve at the bottle shop as well as in bars.

Design of the bar

 

The design of the bars is controlled by laws of various kinds, mostly intended to ensure hygiene and safety. Apart from the need to keep within the law, good bar design is important for the efficient running of the bar. Bars vary enormously and the design of the bar is not something over which the average bar attendant can expect to have any control. The ideal bar will rarely be found except in newly-renovated hotels. In an ideal situation there will be a separate work station for each bar attendant. Each of these work stations should have enough, but not too much, space and all the equipment you are likely to need.

Each work station should be plentifully supplied with running hot and cold water. It should have an ice trough (with a hole so that melted ice can drain away), a wash-up sink and drainage area, sufficient space for glasses and equipment and a container for empty bottles. There should be a firm working surface below the level of the bar counter for preparing drinks and garnishes. Many pieces of bar equipment, like cash registers and blenders, require electricity. Electric plugs should be above the working surface but well away from water.

 

The standard drinks and glasses should be within easy reach. Ideally it should not be necessary for you often to have to go behind your colleagues to get some drink or piece of equipment. To serve the most common drinks it should not be necessary to have to turn your back on your customers. Every work station cannot be ideal and bar attendants at more than one work station may have to share equipment. However, a fundamental of satisfactory bar design is that bar tenders should have to cross each other’s paths to reach shared facilities such as glass washing machines. If their paths cross, collisions will occur.

 

If your work station is not ideal you must, of course, make the best of what you have. It may be that some re-organisation can improve its efficiency. If you have the significant ideas for re-arranging things, get your proposals approved by your supervisor before putting them into action. What suits you may not suit others using the same work station.

 

Major Bar Equipments

 

The Beer Panel

The beer panel is the dispensing point from which beer is served or ‘pulled’. It usually consists of three main components: (1) taps, (2) instantaneous cooler or ‘temprite’, (3) driptray. The taps are either mounted on the side face of the panel or they are mounted on ‘fonts’ above the panel. The instantaneous beer cooler (IBS) machine or Temprite is used to bring draught beer to the correct ‘in glass’ temperature. Some establishments use a continuous ‘chilled water’ system in which case you may find a flat chiller plate under the bar instead of a Temprite instantaneous cooler. The drip tray is used to catch waste beer. The drip tray must have soluble oil or dye added so that the waste beer is not re-used.

 Sinks

There must be a sink with hot running water in the bar and there should also be a basin for hand-washing either in the bar itself or in its immediate vicinity. Sinks must be kept clear and clean. Keep a colander or strainer in the sink to catch the bits and pieces from the garnishes used with mixed drinks.

 

 

The Post-Mix

Post-Mix or multi-mix machines are used to ‘make’ and dispense soft drinks, especially carbonated drinks, for which there is heavy demand. They filter water, carbonate it if necessary, and mix it with the required soft drink syrup. The drinks are then dispensed through taps or ‘guns’ at the bar.

The Refrigerator

The contents of refrigerators or refrigerated cabinets must be kept fresh. This is done by rotating the stock (FIFO method) and by checking to make sure that you do not open new containers of cream, fruit juice and similar products without first making sure that there are not opened containers already inside the cabinet.  Refrigerators must be kept very clean – any spillage must be wiped up immediately.

The Ice Machine

Ice machines are often not kept in the bar itself but elsewhere on the premises as their motors can be noisy and generate heat. It is important that the ice machine should be cleaned regularly inside and out, following the manufacturer’s instruction. Wipe the outside of the machine frequently, and ensure that the air outlet is kept clear. Ice storage wells or bins and their lids also need regular cleaning.

The Glass-washer

Not all glass-washing machines are the same. Most importantly some of them have a hot rise and others have a final cold rinse. Health regulations govern the temperature at which glasses must be washed. Glasses must be washed with great care. Use a recommended non-foaming detergent. All detergent must be removed; therefore adequate rinsing is very important. Glass-machines with a hot last rinse give the best results as they are less likely to leave the glasses with streaky marks. If glasses have been used for milk, cream, sticky liqueurs or if they have lipstick smudges on them, wash them quickly in the sink before putting them in the glass-washer.

The Cash Register

Cash registers are important pieces of fixed equipment. There is a great variety of models now available. The cash register or till is a tool which helps you in one of the most important duties of the bar attendant – the careful and accurate handling of money. Do not treat the cash register as a threat. It is there as a protection – not only for the establishment, but for you and your customers as well. The register is reliable; it does not make mistakes. Only the people operating it make mistakes. Different establishments will have different kinds of cash registers, and there will be different rules for handling of money. There are different kinds of cash register namely: Manual Registers, Electromechanical Registers, and Electronic Cash Registers.

Spirit Dispensers

There is a huge range of spirit dispensers, some of which are large items of equipment. Their use depends on how frequently the spirit in question is required. The simplest spirit dispenser is the hand held spirit dispenser, which dispenses a standard/small/half measure of 30 ml or a double/large measure of 60 ml. Optic measures and the Posi-pour spirit measures are examples. Some measures are fixed to bottles permanently held upside down by the bar, the required measure being released when the glass is pushed up to the dispenser from below.

In very busy bars automatic dispensing machines are used for the various house spirits in most demand. They work on the same principle as the post-mix machines, with the spirits held in bulk containers and propelled to the dispensers from the below the bar or from the cellar through lines. Usually there are batteries of automatic dispensers, each serving a different house spirit. Some automatic systems have a sensor which releases a measure of spirit automatically when a glass is placed correctly under a dispenser; it is not necessary for the glass to be pressed against any trigger. The Barmatic spirit dispenser is a popular automatic system of this kind.

Bar Accessories/Utensils

Apart from the major pieces of machinery a work station is equipped with smaller movable tools and equipment. The bare essentials are:

1.      A plastic cutting board

2.      An ice scoop/shovel

3.      Swizzle sticks

4.      Spirit measures (Peg Measure)

5.      A bottle opener

6.      A water jug

7.      A waiter’s friend

8.      Tongs for garnishes and ice

9.      Long and short bladed knives

10.   Straws

11.   Coasters

12.   A range of suitable glasses

13.   A lime/lemon juice squeezer

14.   Ashtrays (if smoking is permitted)

15.   Monkey dish/Dip bowls for complimentary snacks (e.g. peanuts, wafers).

A better equipped bar, which regularly serves cocktails, will have a cocktail shaker (Boston shaker), a blender, a Hawthorne strainer, a mixing jug and muddler, cocktail napkins, bar spoons, citrus peelers and zester and melon ballers.

Consumable Supplies

 

A bar is also equipped with consumable supplies. Most obviously, of course, there are the beers, wines, spirits and liqueurs, but there are also soft drinks, syrups, mixers (such as tonic water and dry ginger ale), nuts and wafers and the fruit used in garnishes.

Ice is essential in the bar because it is required in most mixed drinks and cocktails. Crushed ice is used for cocktails, frappes and also for the ice buckets which are sometimes used to chill wine. Ice is made in an ice machine. If the ice machine is not in the bar itself plenty of ice must be stored in a container or storage bin in the bar, preferably a sink with a drainage hole so that the water from the melted ice can drain away. The container must, of course, be refilled frequently from the ice machine so that plenty of fresh ice is always available.

When taking ice from the ice-machine or from the container you must always use an ice scoop (or tongs or a slotted spoon). Never use a glass or your fingers. Do not leave the scoop in the ice so that it can slip down into the ice and get buried. Leave it on top of the machine or standing in the corner with the handle up. Do not cool or store bottles by putting them in ice which is intended for use in drinks.

 

 

 

GLASSWARE

 

It is very important that the right glass is should be used for the right drink and that all glassware should be kept absolutely clean and sparkling. The reasons for using particular glasses for particular drinks are partly practical and partly psychological. To some extent the choice of glass is a simple question of selecting a glass of the right size – you need a smaller glass for a liqueur than for a lager – but the shape of the glass can also be important. A champagne flute, for example, is slender and has a narrow mouth because a glass of that shape retains the sparkle or mousse of the sparkling wine and concentrates its bouquet. Similarly, the brandy balloon/snifter, used for Cognac, Armagnac fits the shape of the hand so that the brandy is naturally warmed to the right temperature and the narrow mouth concentrates its aroma.

But, beyond these purely practical considerations, there is also the important matter of psychology. The perfect drink should appeal to the eye as well to the senses of smell and taste, and it should be right for the occasion. The use of exactly the right glass adds to the enjoyment of the drink; it is part of the fine art of serving drinks.

Types of Glasses

The different types of beer glasses commonly used include beer glasses, wine glasses, Champagne glasses, Sherry Glasses, Cocktail glasses, Brandy glasses, Liqueur Glasses.

Storage & Handling of Glasses

Glasses must be handled with care. Do not touch any part of the glass which may be in contact with the customer’s lips. Hold glasses by their stems if they had them. If a glass is chipped or cracked it must not be used, but noted and thrown away. Glasses should be stored upside down. If they are in a cabinet they should stand upside down on clean bar towels. Do not store them with their rims in direct contact with the wood, metal or other minerals as their smells can be transferred to the glasses. Glasses may also be stored upside down in special holders above the bar within convenient reach of the bartender.