I am about to run off on Family holiday however I need to share this for this months Feature cocktail. I had a great experience with Angus Winchester at Maxxium Canada and some of what I learned is directly related to the August Flairco Ink Feature cocktail.

This months Featured Cocktail includes whipped egg whites. The concept of including eggs in drinks dates back as far as Jerry Thomas including his inclusion of whipped egg whites in a number of recipes in his famous cocktail book the Bon Vivants Companion. I recently accepted an invitaton from the Maxxiums Mixxit trainer Patsy Christie to attend a “Molecular Mixology” training session with a number of Mexico’s elite mixologists at the Maxxium head office in Toronto Canada. Expertly delivered by the incomparable Angus Winchester.

Although I have not had time to experiment with all of the procedures discussed in the program (aside from the smoke cocktail in Julys Flairco Ink) at press time there was one that stood out as extremely important to share in this issue of Flairco Ink. The foam dispensing canister. Fed by a C02 cartridge this canister can prepare ready made whipped egg whites in a nice foam that you can keep in the fridge behind the bar until ready to serve.

Simply separate and stir your fresh egg whites and add them to the canister, A small canister should hold 6 whites or more. Add the CO2 cartridge and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. You are then ready to go. We will share flavored foams with you in a later edition of Flairco Ink once we have had some time to play with new recipes and can offer something original to you.

Prior to this training the Feature cocktail of the month was one of those really neat drinks you might make once in a while. We take pride in being able to share with you the extremes of flair and the cutting edges of mixolgy however when we can deliver them to you in a way that you can use them to create sales and profit behind your bar. Our job is done even more completely

To make this months Feature cocktail a profitable venture behind your bar simply prepare enough Coffee syrup to make the number of cocktails you would like to feature in a night. Remember it is OK to run out of Feature cocktails. Running out of something that you do not offer everyday can increase the demand. Prepare your egg white foam and you can pull this drink together as quickly as any other. Gone are the days of mixing egg whites by hand for 20 minutes before you make a drink.

Are you afraid to sell fresh eggs due to health reasons? Angus concludes that many bars still use fresh eggs based on these principles.

 Alcohol will act as a sterilizing agent and kill off all harm full bacteria. Be sure to always mix a 40% spirit. 

Of the already extremly small numbers of Salmonella poisoning reported each year they primarily effect the very young and very old. Neither of which should be drinking in your bar.  Angus’ delivery of these points is quite funny.

If I can take from the roller coaster industry statistics. You are 5,000,000 times more likely to get injured on the way to the roller coaster than by riding the roller coaster. I am sure there is a similar statistic here.

The foam dispensing canisters are now available (or soon will be) in the Flairco Products pages. Have fun experimenting. We are looking forward to sharing more great recipes with you in the future. I have some very exciting ideas to experiment with.

Off to take the kids fishing and leave my cell phone at home. See you all soon.

D

Hello all.

After a great training week in June and the 1st of two summer vacations finished the summer of 07 is beefing up. With the next Arts and Sciences program on Aug 13 shaping up and the Quest Camp starting to attract a ton of attention August promises to be quite busy. There is also a 90% chance I will be training a major casino in th enext two months as well. I will post it when the deal is closed. Very much looking forward ot this opportunity.

If you are interested in the August Arts and Science Program please contact me asap as spots are filling up. training@flairco.com for more details.

Hope to be back soon. The new August Newsletter is on its way as well.

D

What a great class that just went through the Arts and Sciences 1st degree. I have out lined each day of fun in the below blogs. Now that we have secured a new and absolutely fantastic venue in the Greg Frewin Theatre in Niagara Falls we are looking to jam in as much training as there are people to fill them. Our next Arts and Sciences class is already filling up for Aug 13th - 16th. Call 1-877-863-5247 and speak with Chris or email training@flairco.com .

I am very much looking forward to the Quest Camp as well. Five students will be selected from entrants to the amateur division of the FBA Quest comp in October. This Boot Camp style training is going to be fantastic. Very, very tough, yet fantastic. Anyone graduating from the Flairco Camp will be ready to make the most of their practice time and for the stage.

Have a flair safe July. I am off on family vacation as well training for my own shows.

CYA

D

Paper work paper work paper work.

Test, test, test. This is a tough day for anyone that was not playing along all week. The Flairco Bar Exam is set up with 5 stations including a written test that covers some of the material from the week. Station one is a Speed round, then onto a pour test. (Jay Burrows hits 5 out of 5 pours on the upcoming video of the program and testing.)

Then onto a Flair round with a Showmanship and Magic test as well.

Enter the story of Dale "The Kid" Kerpan. A young and spry bartender. In his own words "Young and Invincible". Perhaps I am an old jaded bartender with too many years behind me. However the aggressive wit of this young man became an issue of entertainment for many of us over the week.

In a room FULL of veteran silver tongued bartenders this young gent attempted to send verbal darts around the room. With myself as the most vocal of targets his attacks were usually in my direction.

My 18 years on the wood and many years of emceeing and doing magic have met with some serious hecklers. I have studied responses and have a very sharp reaction time to such attacks. Dale took it like a champ yet did not ease up on his assault. I think he just wanted to here what I would come up with next to deflect his verbal bullets.

At the end of the Day 4. Dales was the last to do the tests. Through a series of calculated actions, and pre meditated positioning Dale carried out the most astonishing feat of "Burn the Dean" I have ever encountered. In one action Dale summed up all of the fun at his expense that the class was having and delivered one fatal blow to me and all of my sarcastic remarks. He had calculated my response to his French Drop illusion and released a devastating "I got yah" that brought me to the "I'm not worthy" position and the rest of the class to its feet.

I can not accurately replay the moment in this medium however full Kudos out to Dale Kerpan the Flairco Arts and Sciences Pick of the week.   

Please look for more details of the week in the upcoming Flairco Ink and check out next program dates.

 Cheers

D

The Maple Villa

Patsy approached me early in the week and had said she was looking for a way to use Bacon as a garnish. Yup, Bacon. I looked at Jay Burrows who has been drinking my Kentucky Villas for a few years now and our eyes met the same excitement. The Villa.

Today was to be the day that the Maple Villa would finally come into its own.

Let me first set the scene by explaining that Day 3 is about exploring possibilities. We start off the day with our tests and some exhibition flair routines but move the 2nd half of the day to the Field trip to the grocery store and then into the lab at my house to invent. With over 130 bottles and flavours of spirits to chose from the class must invent their own cocktail. 

After a great afternoon of invention Erica now named Flair-ica stood out to be the winner of the Flairco bottle opener of the day with her concoction called India House. Named after the Melon Chutney salsa she used as a secret ingredient.

Then it is a BYOM party. Bring Your Own MEAT. My wife Barb sparks up the BARBIE Q and everyone offers up some kind of meat to cook up for the clan. We throw in some veggies and salad and we enjoy an after noon of flipping in the back yard.

 Another Great day as we head into day 4

My next Blog will detail the evolution of a drink recipe.

C ya then 

Day 2 got started with some more get to know you flair drills and then we marched into a day of lectures  and tasting. We travel around the world discussing Whisk(E)y, We get kicked off the ship at Plymouth rock and we discover the story behind the Real McCoy. Truth, Folklore or myth the stories are fun none the less. The Whiskey tasting provided by Makers Mark is the highlight. From the strong to weak and sweet traveling around the Taste Axis grid is always full of adventure.

We ended this day by touring the Falls. I have some great video of the group at the base of the mighty Niagara. I am pleased my camera still works after surviving the tropical storm like conditions there. A wild ride up the hill had all of the passengers of the 5 mph train doing the wave and screaming with excitement. I give full credit to Patsy for this one.

Dinner at the Sheraton would prove to be a very interesting experience for the crew. Not only was our service inconsistent I was amazed to find out that the table ordered dinner in thirds. This means three people ordered, then three more, then three more. "Does anyone else want to eat dinner?" would have saved this server a lot of work.

I enjoyed watching the group taste the drinks and pass them around. Everything was ,"Good". "This one is OK". I opened up and ridiculed one drink and then the gloves were off. What was once an OK cocktail menu now began to open up some flaws. The students were now able to really appreciate the flavours of the drinks. They could now offer solutions to correcting the tastes as well.

The biggest flaw of all was the menu.

I was told Diageo had created the cocktail menu. This menu is so full of spelling errors and typos it looks like my 6 year old wrote it. Caco liqeuer, Frangelic are just a couple of the over 15 mistakes we encountered. The worst error. The spelling of Sheraton- Shaeraton. The company name was spelled incorrectly.

C ya tomorrow

 D

Day 1

We have a great group from all over the place this round.

Jay is back from Japan for a few months and wants to go back with more.

Troy wants to explore bartending as a career, Dale (THE KID) is looking to become more than young and invincible, Torie and Dana are going to show up the competition in Welland. I am sure Justin will be calling looking for the next program once this dynamic duo show him up on the bar. Patsy and Scott are along for the ride. Scott has never bartended however he works for Flairco and gets a free pass.

Karl is in from Orlando and has the best spin to a pose pour I have ever seen. Fl-Erica (Flairica) has traveled in from California and will go back as a special event bartender that will be sought after by the stars. After she raises her prices!

Dale, Troy, Erica, Kale and myself had some fun running around the Niagara Midway last night. Eats and drinks at Boston pizza were good but my highlight was dancing with Karl. OK . There was this midway thing with an arcade and then well we were dancing and laughing, Erica and Troy we video taping and well then Dale jumped in.... ah this sounds horrible You had to be there.

Looking forward to day 2.

Our long long long awaited newsletter has finally gone out.  This project took a ton of effort from everyone and I am really proud of it. The newsletter comes with great updates to the website as well. The cocktail of the month, the bartender of the month, there is a trick of the month coming in the next issue. Also do not miss the opportunity to join me in Niagara Falls for the Arts and Sciences program. Tons of flipping, tons of tasting and perhaps even a little magic and drinking.

If you did not get the newsletter please sign up today to recieve next months Flairco Ink.

Cheers

D