Flair Bartending

Icebar Orlando has been practicing our Flair. We have had Devin from Rockstar Bartenders show us some cool tricks, and we have made up a few of our own. A couple of weeks ago Devin filmed another episode of his bar-tending lessons at Icebar and we wanted to share it with you. He is amazing, has a great smile and I can swear that no liquor comes out when he slings those bottles.

I have almost mastered one small trick, and we are all working on doing what is called "working flair" That means you do it while still pouring drinks for a crowd without slowing down. We have also been practicing good bar-tending skills.

For me, never having been behind a bar until we owned one, it has been a lot of fun learning how to craft drinks. My most recent was a very Classic Martini.

I can truly say I have never had a classic martini, and I LOVE them! Wow, what a difference the skill to pour the right way makes. Here's the recipe, and the technique to do it at home.

Properly chill a stemmed martini glass (that means fill it with ice and water and let it get very cold) then pour out the water.

Put 1/2 ounce of dry vermouth in the glass and swirl it around to coat the inside of the glass, dump it out.

Fill a shaker 1/2 full of crushed ice and add 3-4 ounces of Bombay Sapphire Gin. (I use a pretty large martini glass) Stir for one minute to dilute some of the ice and make the gin very cold. Don't shake!

Strain gin into glass. Take a lemon peel and twist it over the gin to allow some of the oil to fall down on top of the gin. Throw peel away.

Add two olives on a pick. Just two, don't be greedy!!!!

That's it!. The perfume of the lemon oil, the tiny bite of the vermouth and the chill of the Bombay - Awesome!

Note: If you use vodka, it is a gibson, not a martini. The only martini is made with gin!

Now watch Devin make a cosmo - You can do this at home, too. We'll do more classic cocktails this week. Icebar is making a new menu for those of us who don't drink drinks just to be blind drunk - we are reviving the Civilized Cocktail Hour at Icebar. Come join us, especially on Sunday for cool jazz as we "wine" down the week.

Here's the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aBnzUwYbWU