Ask A Bartender: What Is The Cheapest Ingredient In A Cocktail?
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Friday, June 26, 2015
Kai Soderberg, GoLocalPDX Contributor
Don't mistake fear for cowardice. Don't mistake confronting fears for conquering them.
Don’t be afraid of fear. Though new age types like to vilify it as somehow opposed to love, fear is a crucial part of the creative process when it comes to making art and living our lives. Specifically when it comes to making cocktails, the fear of loss should be our driving motive. The purpose of any bar should be to make the finest product available at a reasonable value. Due to the almost infinite variety of ways things can go wrong, we need to make informed decisions before we mess up. We need to take advantage of the people before us that experimented. However much I detest the proverb: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” (mostly because of the incorrect grammar) it still makes much more sense than the more recent and prevalent: “Why ask why?” There are a myriad of reasons why we should ask why. Especially when precious product is at risk.
This doesn’t mean don’t try new things. When you do try new things, question everything. Ask why you think this will work before you try it out. Conceptualize it. Categorize every ingredient you plan to use and ask why they will compliment each other. Don’t just blindly pour booze into a mixing tin and hope for a miracle. An experienced bartender will create something passable almost every time. But passable isn’t a good enough excuse to waste booze. Be frugal and question everything. Including your motives. Visualize how the drink will taste before you make it.
Use a jigger, a notepad and a pencil. Then take tasting notes. Speed and flair our important in a service but if somebody wants you to do something new, you need to put those attributes in the backseat. Apprehension and doubt may not be the sexiest qualities in a bartender, but they are necessary. This is applicable when cutting off service to a belligerent costumer and it’s applicable to experimentation. This takes finesse. Finesse is infinitely more important than flair. It always has been and it always will be.
I took a month off drinking (starting just a couple days ago) and in my head I have been thinking about nothing but cocktails. I’ve been mulling over one particular drink for the past couple days and the more I visualize it, the more real it becomes. Aside from the alcohol, there are three ingredients: juice of lime, the juice from brandied cherries and ice. I haven’t decided if the ice is going to be crushed yet or if the drink will be served up, but I’m leaning towards crushed. I have a whole 28 days to think about it and perfect the drink in my head.
This may seem like overkill, and maybe the drink will turn out as just a slightly improved variation of a classic. But a slight improvement is still an improvement. I look forward to trying it but I also enjoy thinking about it. The build up may not be the fun part but it will magnify the experience of making it and tasting it.
The truth is, I’m afraid to try it, especially now that I’m writing about it. What if it’s not as good as I think it will be? That’s why I have to think more about it. That’s why I have to make the drink in my head over and over again before I do it physically.
I’m terrified of a lot of things – just about everything. And the more I think about them, the more terrified I become. I’ll never avoid doing something I want to do because I’m terrified. Instead, I’ll stew over how to do it right. Or how I think I can do it right. The idea that fear should be taken out of the equation for trying something new is ludicrous. Fear goes hand in hand with experimentation. It’s more important to do things properly than it is to try new things.
When making a cocktail, start with the least expensive ingredient and gradually work up in cost. The cheapest ingredient, even before the lime and the cherry juice, is your own fear and apprehension. Use it liberally.
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