Nightclub Bar Show Las Vegas 2016 Wrap Up

-Brian Weber

The Nightclub & Bar Show is the trade show run by Jon Taffer’s company.

This week we take the show on the road to Las Vegas where we met lots of interesting people, saw some cool products and even had a cocktail or two!  We recorded lots of audio in Vegas and we’ll share so great conversations this week on Bartender Journey Podcast number 154.

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Jesse Greenleaf works at the famous Dukes bar on Oaho Hawaii.  He gave a great talk called Aloha Attitude/Mahalo Mentality behind the bar.  I talked with Jesse after his seminar.  Among other things we talked about:

• Introducing guests to each other is a great thing to do to create a great atmosphere in a bar.  Jesse made a great point, “You are hosting a party.  At a party not all the guests are going to know each other at first.  Its up to the host to introduce everybody.”
• Jessie is very focused on remembering his guests’ names.   These are some of his tips for getting to know everybody in your bar:

1. Repeat the name three times in your head
2. Introduce the guest to somebody else, like your bar back or another guest
3. Make sure to enter the first names of everybody in the group into the POS

• Jesse also talked during the seminar about using the power of suggestion, for instance if you take a credit card, nod your head and say “keep it open Jerry?”  Don’t ask “close it out?” because they probably follow your lead.
• Also using power of suggestion when offering another round – his example was if Jerry is drinking a Corona, pull out another from the ice and nod your head and say “another Corona Jerry?"

Our Book of the Week from Jesse Greenleaf & Amie Fujiwara:
The Cocktail Handbook – Cool Drinks From Hawaii’s Hottest Bartenders.

Jesse is a big proponent of shaking hands with his guests.  While I was in Vegas I went to a great Bar called Herbs and Rye.  I walked into that bar & the guy behind the bar went out of his way to come over and look me in the eye and shake my hand as if we were great friends that hadn’t seen each other is 10 years.  I had never been to that bar before and never seen this man in my life, but its was such a genuine welcome and hand shake.  The head bartender and owner of Herbs & Rye, Nectaly Mendoza Won Bartender of the Year at NCBShow this year.

Jason Griffen, who we first met at NCBShow three years ago, owns the Quick Strain Tin Company.  We got a chance to catch up, and talk about his innovative mixing tin with strainer built in.

Free pouring vs. jiggers? We talk with Nick Hauke who did a seminar called Pourning with Speed and Accuracy.  Nick also invented the Flash Pourer which makes a small visible flash every ¼ oz.  It can be great for training and every day use too.  Bar owners liked the Flash Pourer because they can have a visual cue to see how much the bartenders are pouring.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler, author of the great Bar Book gave a talk called Technique Driven Cocktails. The big take away from the seminar was:  question everything.  A lot of misinformation gets passed down from bartender to bartender.  He had a good idea – to talk to the kitchen when you have questions.

You’ve heard this before right? That if you roll a lemon on the bar it’ll give you more juice.  Also, that a room temperature lemon will give more juice.  I always assumed it was true!  Jeffrey decided to do a controlled experiment to see if it was true.  His results were surprising to say the least!  He divided 60 lemons up into 4 categories:

• Refrigerated, Unrolled
  
• Refrigerated, Rolled
• Unrefrigerated, Unrolled
• Unrefrigerated, Rolled

Surprisingly the Refrigerated, Unrolled yielded the most juice.  Not by a huge margin, but according to popular opinion, that should have yielded the least!
You can read more about the experiment in Jeffrey Morgenthaler's Bar Book: Elements of Cocktail Technique.

 Friend of Bartender Journey, Warren Bobrow was at the Nightclub & Bar show representing Mezan Rum and a little about his upcoming book:  Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails, and Tonics: The Art of Spirited Drinks and Buzz-Worthy Libations.  We will have Warren back on the show soon to talk more about this ground-breaking book!

In Vegas I met up with Chris & Julia of the Mixology Talk podcast.  They introduced me to Mellissa Davis-Taylor who was presenting a seminar called Detoxing Your Cocktails. I really think that’s something we going to start seeing a lot more of – healthier ingredients in cocktails.   Mellissa’s web site is is liquorlady.com

Don't forget to sign up for the free online event from Mixology Talk:  The Craft Bartender's Summit.

Toast of the Week:
May all your charms be lucky and your shamrocks be shaked.