The Wine Bottle

David Artsmith  -  Bartending is a fun and exciting profession, but it takes skill with both drinks and people. The following tips are fairly common sense guidelines that anyone interested in the profession should know and follow.

1. You should shy away from discussions of religion, or political matters. All it will do is lead to a fight or make people uncomfortable

2. Make sure that the bar stays neat, clean, and tidy. Wipe it down after you serve every drink, and keep the entire environment neat and tidy. Use drink coasters to ensure that the space maintains its luster.

3. Know the trendy drinks. While you don’t have to have the entire drink recipe guide memorized, it helps to be familiar with the more trendy beverages of the day.

4. Do your best to learn about sports, especially local sports. People in bars will often be watching or talking about local sports events. If you understand what they are talking about, you can participate as well.

5. Greet everyone as they come in. Pay attention to people as they come in, especially if they are new to the bar; welcome them with a warm greeting and a smiling face.

6. Always serve a beverage by the base of the glass, and not by the top. Nobody wants to put their lips to a place where your hand just was. As you serve drinks, make sure you hold the glass by the bottom, away from where drinking will actually occur.

7. Personal hygiene is important. Make sure that you look neat and sharp, and that you don’t smell bad. You are part of the ambiance of the bar and so your appearance and personal attributes matter.

8. Pay extra attention to regulars and big tippers. While you should strive to treat everyone equally, someone who is a constant in the tavern, or who is willing to pay extra for extra service, should receive extra special attention from you.

9. Stay alert. In any establishment where drinking occurs, violence can erupt. You should stay alert, watching for trouble so that you can nip it in the bud. If you can diffuse a fight with a few words it’s a lot easier than having to call the bouncer over.

10. You should also do your best to have fun with it. Bartending is a social position. If you look like you are having fun, other people will have more fun as well. Try to relax into the job, and enjoy meeting the people who enter the bar. Be friendly, light, and humorous, and your job will be a lot easier.

David Artsmith  -  Bartending is a fun and challenging career, that allows you to work in an exciting atmosphere, making friends and acquaintances, and joining people during their most celebrated and joyous occasions. However the path to becoming a bartender can be daunting, with hidden challenges lurking in the shadows, and difficulties arising at every turn. However all you need is diligence, skill, and perseverance, and you can attain a profitable and enlightening career serving drinks to appreciative patrons.

It is a common misconception that you have to go to Bartending School and get certified to become a bartender. This is a common misconception. Most bartenders have no formal training at all, and many were simply promoted from lower level jobs such as waiter or bus boy.

However Bartending School and certification can help you on this career path in a variety of ways. First, it will give you some training in mixed drinks, and will help to familiarize yourself with the working of a bar. Second, the certification that you receive, while not worth that much on the job market, will at least show a potential employer that you are knowledgeable and have some basic knowledge of how the profession works, and the various recipes that are requested.

The most important thing that Bartending School can afford you is if they offer some sort of job placement. Many bartending schools will work with restaurants and bars, to help place successful students in entry level positions upon successful completion of the course. This can be a major boost, helping you to break the ice and get that all important first job.

However as stated earlier, it is not at all necessary to get training to become a bartender. The most common path to this goal is to get promoted. That means that you have to get a job working in a restaurant, or a bar. You want to try and find a position which works as close to the bar as you possibly can. This can include being a bar back, or a bartenders assistant.

Once you have a position that is somehow related to the bar, you should work hard to prove yourself to your employers. Be diligent, work hard, and fill in any gaps that other employees may leave open. Help keep the bar clean, pass out drink coasters to patrons, do whatever you can to help. Whenever possible make yourself useful to the bartenders on staff, and try to learn as much from them as possible.

If you are looking for a new position as a bartender, one way to find a job is to do “the walk”. People in the service industry often share this experience. It involves walking up and down the street, in the neighborhood where you live, and popping into every establishment, and simply asking if they need help. You should bring a resume that has any pertinent experience that you may have typed up neatly. Even if the place doesn't need help right away, they can file your resume, and if a position opens up, they may call you.

Another version of “the walk” has you opening up the yellow pages, and cold calling every restaurant or bar listed asking for help. Always be polite, and respectful. When you call, try to speak to the owner or manager, as they are the ones who will make the ultimate decision about your employment possibilities.

Bartending can be a rewarding and lucrative position, allowing you to earn a good living doing something in a fun and active environment. However you have to be diligent, and willing to work your way up, in order to get a good position that will ultimately fulfill your goals.

David Artsmith  -  Alcohol has a varied reputation. On one hand it is the bane of the drunk, the bitter poison that sends genius into madness, and drives success out into the gutters. It is also a way to toast good fortune, celebrate a victory, or enhance the fun and frivolaty of a party or festival.

Of all the different alcoholic beverages that you could choose, wine probably has the most sophisticated demeanor. Beer is often considered base, the draft of the common person, and hard liquor has a well deserved reputation for getting people wasted. However wine is that perfect balance between light and heavy, powerful enough to get you quite tipsy, yet refreshing enough to be taken in little sips.

Wine also has a reputation for having a more sophisticated taste than many of its alcohol counterparts. Wine is often composed of a variety of grapes, which can be mixed and matched, and added to by spices, or fruits, and hints of other flavors. The creation of wine beverages is a complex process, involving a variety of advanced metrics and tools which wineries can use to completely control the chemical process of its development.

Even the consumption of wine is high end, with a variety of accessories being made available to enhance every moment of the experience. From high end marble drink coasters, to vacuume wine stoppers, to accessories designed to release the bouquet of the wine, there are a lot of gadgets that can be employed.

Because of this complex reputation there are a variety of wine contests that are held around the world each year, to determine the best type of wine in any of a multitude of categories. These contests are a big deal, and are often associated with large cash prizes. The winners also get bragging rights, and the ability to claim the superiority of their own wares.

However to some extent the reputation of wine has been created by the vineyards that grow the grapes and make the product. It is important to the bottom line of a lot of companies that make wine to maintain this air of mystique, this classification as the beverage of gentry, and sophistication. The purpose of the contests held each year, of anointing a best and worst wine, is as much to maintain the popular spirit of the product as it is to actually judge the results.

In general wine has a reputation. Slightly nobler than lesser intoxicants, it is a more sophisticated way to get sloshed. This is a reputation which is carefully cultivated by both wine manufacturers, and wine enthusiasts alike.

David Artsmith  -  Sandstone coasters are a relatively new product. They are made from naturally absorbent pieces of sandstone. The sandstone is absorbent because its surface has thousands of tiny, microscopic holes that allow moisture to fall down beneath the face of the material. However these holes are so small that the liquid can’t get all of the way through a piece of stone, and so it becomes trapped within the belly of the material, waiting until it can escape by evaporating into the air.

If you overuse a set of sandstone coasters it is possible that they can become saturated. This means that the stone is so soaked through with water that it can’t absorb anymore. However this is quite rare, unless you are using your coasters out in a rainstorm. If it does somehow happen, you can just leave them out in a warm dry place for a few hours and the liquid should evaporate away on its own.

There are actually a couple of different types of sandstone coasters that are available. The original sandstone coasters were simply squares of stone, honed flat, and made from the absorbent material. These were divided into two types, the coasters made from southwestern American sandstone, and those made from imported Asian sandstone.

In general the imported sandstone was more absorbent, but this also made them more prone to stains. The imported materials were also more colorful and varied. Meanwhile the domestic drink coasters were stronger, and easier to print on, although originally printing destroyed the absorbency of the stone.

Over time a process was developed that allowed manufacturers to print directly on the stone in such a way that it did not interfere with the absorbency of the material. This opened the world up to a whole new collection of sandstone coasters, all in a wide variety of colors, pictures, patterns, and hues.

Today there are literally hundreds of different sandstone coasters available on the market, with almost any image you can imagine printed on them. There are also natural coasters, each with its own unique one of a kind stamp from Mother Nature.