I’m Not a Bartender, but…

I can pour an ounce and a quarter or an ounce and a half.

A couple of years ago I was searching for ways to really teach bartenders to pour accurate shots and so I ordered some plastic graduated cylinders online .  I simply mark these cylinders at an ounce and a quarter or an ounce and a half.  Which ever is the standard pour size for the particular client of mine.  The bartenders then practice with a bottle filled with water.  It is a very effective method of free pour training, especially if performed continually.

Once the cylinders arrived I wanted to practice myself.  I have done a bit of  bartending but was never given any feedback on the accuracy of my portioning, so I was curious how I would do.  At first I was overpouring nearly every drink that I poured.  However, by about the fifteenth or twentieth practice pour I was starting to get pretty good and was hitting my mark  (or within a tenth of an ounce or so) nearly each time.   It was nice to get the immediate feedback on my actions, and I was patting myself on the back for my accuracy.  Sometimes I still like to practice my pours.  I like to do it when I am preparing dinner at home, to simulate the busy actions going on while a bartender is pouring.  Chopping, water boiling, grill going….order taking, req ticket printer, POS entry.  Really similar actually.

Now, I’m not a bartender, but I can pour an ounce and a half or an ounce and  a quarter.  Don’t let over portioning go unnoticed, and don’t accept excuses when people try to justify it.  Remember, it often times isn’t our best guests who get over portioned.  I hear bartenders complain all the time about so and so, who is in everyday, but never tips and is such a cheap skate and so on and so forth.  No wonder they are not getting tips when they are complaining about this person every time they are in the bar and giving the guest shitty service generally being non service providers.    It is always the best tippers who get over poured.  Family members, friends of the bartender, other bartenders, or a guy dropping a big tip on the first drink, because he knows if he does he’ll get poured deep drinks all night.

I can pour an ounce and a half or an ounce and a quarter.  No excuses no exceptions.