Stocking the bar

Last time I ran over beers. There are more pages on beers than I have room for. But today we will discuss spirits, or alcohol, not paranormal. spirits come in either light or dark. This list will not include wines. These are distilled alcohols.

Light: Light alcohols are just that. They are usually clear, some can have a slight color to them. Gin, vodkas, some rums, tequila are light. Light doesn't mean that they have fewer calories.

Dark: Dark alcohols are obviously darker, or have color. Rums especially spiced rums, brandy, cognac, bourbon, whiskey and scotch.

Spirits:
Whiskey (Scotch or Irish)
Gin
Vodka
Rum light and dark
Brandy
Cognac
Tequila
Bourbon

On future pages I will get into the differences between Scotch and Irish whiskey, what is bourbon. and so on. Again as with the equipment, you may not want or need all of these alcohols. Remember it is your bar, but if you have someone coming over often you should have what they like.

Each one of these can be mixed with other ingredients to make cocktails. all of them can stand on their own as a drink as well. This is where you will hear the terms: straight up, on the rocks, neat, chaser,boiler maker, single, double and triple. No those last three are not referring to baseball. You may hear them in combination with one another. The following is a break down.

Straight up / neat: When someone tells you this they want a drink of what every type with out ice. Plain and simple.

On the rocks: This order is a drink that has ice in it, usually ice cubes not crushed.

A chaser: Is a two drink order, usually something like this. "I'll have a beer with a whiskey chaser." It can be said the other way around. It depends on the person ordering it.

A boiler maker: /this is an order of beer with a shot added to it. Most times the beer is served in a glass and the shot is served on the side. This way the customer can drink them separate, drop the shot (glass and all) into the beer, or pour the shot into the beer.

Single, double and triple: This tells the bartender that the person want 1(1 oz.), 2(2 oz.), or 3(3 oz.) shots in on glass.

If your serving just a single alcohol as a drink, don't skimp. The more expensive spirits tend to taste better than the cheaper ones. If your going to be sipping scotch with some friends, you would be embarrassed to find out what they think of you. A good alcohol has a much better quality for sipping or drinking straight. Also use a good quality spirit for simple mixes. A good gin will make a good gin and tonic.

That being said. If you have purchased some of the less expensive products save them for mixing. Cheaper spirits may have an off taste that wont be as noticeable when you mix them with other ingredients. But make sure your not just mixing it with one other ingredient if it is that strong. If your mixing a cheap gin or vodka for a dry martini it will throw off the martini. But if your building a Mai Tai that has a few more ingredients those other ingredients will help to mask the off one. Otherwise use it for cooking or making drinks for your self.

Once you get to know the differences between a good alcohol and a bad one, you wont have to worry about the quality of your bar. Unless, that is, someone shows up with a third string player for your line up. But be kind, cause this usually means the offender probably doesn't realize what they have done.

Make mine a Dirty Martini. As Poison sang "Talk dirty to"

Till next time,
Cheers:
Steven Aniolowski / Spicy