Serving with flair and flamboyance

By Lakna Paranamanna

Remember the movies, Cocktail and Coyote Ugly? The bartenders portrayed in those movies are of a different genre than the ones we come across here in Sri Lanka because they operate as entertainers apart from mixing drinks and serving.
Bartenders that operate as entertainers, is not a common duality in Sri Lanka. However, for the first time in Sri Lanka, the Red Bull Barmen’s Association (RBBA) held a workshop for barmen. The Bottom Line met Andre Dos Ramos Guerreiro and Serafino Pericoli a.k.a Kiko, champions of the European Bartender’s Competition last year that graced the event to educate the local bartenders, to get an insight into this interesting mode of entertainment, their contribution to the field so far and their views about the workshop held in Sri Lanka.

Usually it is us journalists that shoot the question first to the aspirants. However, things began quite differently with these two gentlemen. As we sat down for our tête-à-tête, Kiko inquired from me, “What does bartending or the job of a bartender mean to you?” Frankly bartending meant nothing more to me than mixing drinks and serving the customers, so I told him of my idea of a bartender. I soon discovered that my impression of a bartender was incorrect in large proportions.
Bartender; the point of reference in a bar
“For an average customer who does not have much of an understanding about this field bartending seem like a very easy job that does not mean much work other than the late working hours. However, if you venture deep enough, you would realize that this profession includes much more than just the knowledge of mixing drinks and breaking rest,” explained Kiko. He listed out professionalism, excellent communications skills, passion for the job and a fluent understanding of psychology as attributes which a professional bartender should be equipped with.
“While working in a bar you come across different personalities. Therefore you have to have to fairly good understanding of psychology because you have to know how to approach and deal with each customer,” he asserted explaining to me that this approach could begin with mixing the right type of drink that suits each individual, speaking the right word at the right time and even stretch into being ‘a shoulder to cry on’ and a ‘good listener’ for some customers. He further added that a passion for the job is necessary since bartending is a very practical job where upgrading and hunger for knowledge are essential. “One has to constantly upgrade their techniques and conduct research on developing the skills. Once you are provided with the basics of bartending system, one has to know how to develop it.”
Andre explained the role of a bartender in short as the ‘point of reference in a bar.’ “Everything in a bar begins with the bartender and he or she should always begin everything with a smile,” he added.

Andre Dos Ramos Guerreiro and Serafino Pericoli demonstrate their skills

Competitions
There are millions of competitions in various countries in the world for bartenders. “They can be categorized mainly into two groups such as flair competitions and classic competitions.”
Classic competitions
According to Andre this is a competition where the creativity of the bartender in terms of mixing drinks comes into play. Most of these competitions are hosted by various brands and after a lottery draw each country is entitled with a brand. Then, they are given a period of time to come up with a new variety of cocktail through using and developing the brand they are given.
“Some of the brands are tough to work with while with some, you don’t need much time to create some magic,” says Andre. He remarked that researching, tasting and experimenting are the keys to success while creating something interesting even with a tough brand.
Flair competitions
These competitions are focused on evaluating a bartender’s tricks and not on drinks. They are awarded points considering the difficulty levels of the tricks each individual performs, coordination with music, appeal of the crowds and originality. “When you are taught the basics, the rest is up to you. One has to spend time developing their tricks. The wisest thing to do while dealing with performance is to get everything coordinated with the music. That way, even if the crowd is a gathering that does not have any understanding about flaring techniques, they would still enjoy the show because of the music.”
Kiko asserted that mixing drinks is similar to cooking. “Simply put, it is culinary skills practiced with liquids. So just like in food, the taste of the drinks in each country differs even though the bases are similar.” However, he said that even though one might come up with many new varieties of drinks, luck also counts in for the drink to become popular.
RBBA workshop in Sri Lanka
These two champions have been to 55 countries and have been conducting workshops and comparing and sharing information. This is their first visit to Sri Lanka. “For us, it is an experience where not only our audiences, but even we learn. When we travel to various countries we learn their techniques and obtain their feed back. So it is a learning experience for us too.”
They remarked that their workshops in Sri Lanka have been very interesting as the participants were very passionate about learning. “They were interested in knowing what is new and they were looking forward to growing.”
The workshops were held for two groups, one group in Colombo and the other in Down South. They also held several successful flaring shows in some of the most popular night clubs and bars in Colombo such as Sugar, Sopranos, Aphrodisac, Bavarian Bar, Shine and RnB.
“Now that the war is over, Sri Lanka is being steered towards a positive path. Now the night life is catching up as well bartenders’ culture. The workshop was held with the aim of introducing new cultures and techniques of bartending for the local bartenders,” said one of the organizers and added that the workshops were held successfully where nearly 200 bartenders from five star hotels and resorts as well as bars and nightclubs, participated including 100 from Colombo.
The workshop had been held for 3 hours, primarily touching on the basic techniques of bartending as well the new trends and methods that have been added to the culture. “They really enjoyed it. Most of the flaring shows and the new methods were not familiar to them in such close proximity, except seeing them in movies as well as TV. They were amazed and really excited. We believe that it provided them with a lot of helpful new techniques,” the official added.