Making cocktails is both art and engineering
Attending a National Bartenders competition held recently at a 5-star hotel, I had to hastily change my seat once the contest commenced. Although it was a 5,000 mile view of the performing contestants’, I realised no sooner the first competing bartender began shaking the cocktail side-to-side over his shoulder that I was in the line of fire. To be fair, it was no fault of the contestant. It had more to do with the curved theatre-style seating arrangements in the hall.
Hats off and no marks to the judge though, who was brave (or ignorant?) enough to sit where he shouldn’t have. Because in the event the shaker cap came loose he would have received the contents flush on his face – rather than drinking it. But then again, it could be the fun part of the show… albeit the risk of getting hit by the metal cap.
The next time you sit at a bar, observe if the bartender, when shaking a cocktail, is he / she doing it properly, i.e. is the shaker top pointed away from the patrons seated at the bar. If so, well and good –it’s a safety measure apart from other reasons to shake, shake, and shake…
Shaking a cocktail brings in that element of showmanship. But that’s not all. It is done for a number of other reasons. For chilling and blending ingredients – even to vigorously mix the trapped air to give it a frothy finish. Put simply, the purpose of shaking a cocktail comes down to creating a uniform chill that complements a blend of nuanced flavors.
Peter Suderman is a mixology expert. Asked, does shaking the cocktail have any impact on its quality, he said that shaking a cocktail is part form and part function and that there is a right way and a wrong way to properly execute the shake. He went on to add “That means choosing the right tools and the right ice, and learning to execute the motion properly and consistently, so that every time you make a drink it tastes the same."
While everyone may agree to what he says, there is still a lingering debate on the question of direction - shake it up and down or side to side? A series of experiments conducted in 2009 to establish which direction matters most - revealed that it made no difference, thus putting to end any controversy. Surprisingly, what it also proved was that regardless of shake style or direction; all drinks reach approximately the same degree of balance and dilution at about the 12-second mark.
I know my bourbon from a brandy and perhaps what goes into a Negroni or martini and yet, I prefer to stick to the classics. I’m neither an expert nor a great lover of cocktails, but I do realise that making cocktails is an art where bartenders appear to engineer magic with liquids – to produce a drink that caters to all five senses, sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.
Getting back to the competition itself, I found it great that contestants’ were producing cocktails using spirits made in this country, something that would have been impossible a few years ago. There are now so many Sri Lankan products emerging on the market and that’s an encouraging trend.
Ilzaf Keefahs is a freelance writer who enjoys focusing on hospitality related matters that he is passionate about, and likes to share his views with hoteliers and customers alike. He delves into the heart of hospitality to figure out both customer service and consumer trends that impact the industry.
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