Bartending might be all about the final product - the drink itself- but it’s also about creating a fun experience for your customers, by entertaining them with a few bartender tricks.

And it doesn’t need to just be to rake in the tips, it’s also a way of showing your passion for bartending and proving that you’re on top of your game.

Here are the best ways to add that little something extra to your drink service.

Flair bartending

EBS-Berlin-flair-area

Performing bartender tricks, or flair bartending is something that needs to be done effortlessly.

As top New York bartender Chris Cardone explains, while ‘exhibition flair’ is for competitions, ‘working flair’ is more practical, ideal for those working in busy bars as it shouldn’t take any more time to get that cocktail to your customer.

But there are a few things to remember before starting out with the cool bartending tricks. Practice is key: This means honing your balance, flips and spins at home to avoid any unprofessional spillages or breakages.

It’s also a good idea to use your own tools so that you can adjust to their weight, shape and size.

Another thing to keep in mind is that in the bar, antics with bottles and shakers should always be a safe distance from your audience. 

 

Napkins

A simple flourish, but one that tells the bartenders apart from the bar staff, with practice napkins can be spun horizontally onto the bar, for a glass to be placed upon.

With more practice, the napkin can be spun in the air and caught with the back of a hand, then placed on the bar when the hand is turned over.

The next stage is to spin a napkin onto an elbow, before being bumped onto the hand, then the bar.

The stall

This basic trick involves catching and balancing a bottle on the back of your hand, with the bottle upright. When the bottle lands, the hand need to cushion its fall to allow it to balance. There are endless variations of this trick using different parts of the body for balancing the bottle, such as an elbow, a forearm or even a head. From the stall position, the bottle can be flipped vertically, before returning to the stall, or the bottleneck can be caught by the hand, ready to pour into a glass.

Multi pouring 

Bartender-multi-pouring-a-cocktail-and-4-martini-glasses

This is a great way to avoid repetition and showcase your talent at the same time.

When shakers contain drinks and ice, they can be stacked on top of the next, with a strainer placed on the one at the top. Provided the glasses are at the right distance apart, the stacked shakers can be raised in a horizontal curving arch above the glasses, such that the drinks are poured from the gaps between the shakers into the glasses.

This can be done with any number of drinks – if you have enough spare shakers!

Juggling and passing

Bartenders will always impress with their practiced ability to throw and catch ice cubes in glasses, spin and flip bottles, or the ‘shadow pass’ of throwing and catching a bottle behind the back (with a forehand to backhand option). Once throwing and catching spinning bottles is a mastered skill, the next stage is to do more than one bottle simultaneously, i.e. juggling. First, make sure you’re comfortable with catching a bottle with one or two others already in your hand, before working up to throwing and catching multiple bottles at the same time.

bartender-performing-flair-with-shaker

Pyrotechnics

Fire is the ultimate crowd-pleaser, but it's also the most dangerous of the bartending tricks, so be sure you know what you’re doing before you attempt anything live.

With a cocktail such as the Blue Blazer, you can really put on a show by igniting rum and boiling water then long-pouring it from one metal glass to another, before finishing it off with a puff of smoke caused by pouring the drink into a separate glass.  

Pretty spectacular...

Bartender-performing-flair-tricks-with-fire

The chin stack

This is one to work up to, and while it doesn’t really have any everyday application, it is a good way of polishing your balancing dexterity.

Start by balancing an upside down bottle with the bottle’s mouth on your chin. The next step is to see how many more you can balance on the base of that bottle – another bottle on its side, and then glasses containing drinks. This part is the ‘stack’, and it can be as high as you can make it.

There is the option to put wet napkins between the bottles and glasses to make the stack steadier. This is a real circus feat, so take it one step at a time.

If you’re looking to improve your bartending basics or even learn flare skills, then why not learn from the masters? We offer a flair bartending course here at EBS.