With all the new Brands and flavors of alcohol and liquor coming out every day. We share with you The Shelf brought to you by our friends at Nightclub & Bar.

We will continue to bring you the latest in new Spirit releases in our industry.

Take a look at what is new on The Shelf in January 2011

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Standard Drink Recipe

To run a successful and have a loyal following, it is important that your customers are served consistent drinks. To do so, standard drink recipes must be prepared so as to prepare your bar staff accordingly. A standard drink recipe is made up of the following:

• Exact quantity of each ingredient
• Glass size
• Procedure to make the drink
• Garnish
• Any other special procedures/condiments
• A picture is an option

For each drink served at your place of business, a standard recipe should be written up and kept on file to train new bartenders and make sure older bartenders do not sway from the company standards.

Standardized recipes will also help control your pour cost percentages and a revision on a 6 month basis is suggested. Below, you will see how to document a standard drink recipe.

Whiskies

While countries in Southern Europe made wine, countries in Northern climates like Scotland and Ireland made whisky. Due to the fact grapes did not grow well in these regions, the alternative was grains.

Whisky comes from the word uisgebeatha in Scotland and uisgebaugh in Ireland, a Celtic translation of aqua vitae.

Whisky can be broken down into many different classes. Depending on where and how its created makes all the difference.

• Scotch
• Irish Whiskey
• Bourbon
• Rye
• Blended American
• Light whisky
• Canadian
• Single Malt Whisky

To make whisky, one needs to get the grain to ferment, but to start, the starch of the grain must be converted to sugar. This is done by adding Malt, a sprouted grain, usually barley.

Then, malt, grain and hot water are mixed together until conversion takes place. The liquid then ferments when yeast is added. 

From there, the raw whiskey is then stored in barrels, usually made of oak for at least 2 years. It doesn't stop there fine whisky can be aged for decades to achive optimal taste and flavour. What ever you fancy there is a type of whisky out there for your taste buds. After a long day at the office its hard to beat a Whisky on the rocks to unwind ;)

The relationship between cost and price

 A question we often ask ourselves and our liquor, beer and wine inventory consultants is; what should my pour cost percentage be? The answer can be quite simply calculated if we understand and adopt the proper formula.

To start, we need to establish the net cost of our product and divide this by the selling price of the item in our business. The cost percentage portion pays for the ingredients needed to make the drink and the profit percentage is the gross margin we make when a drink is sold. The cost percentage should be in line with the beverage cost percentage that has been established in our budget. Generally, liquor costs run at 20%-25%, while wine and beer can run anywhere from 32% to 50%. Please keep in mind this may not be the right cost percentages for your business. If your establishment is in a high tourism area and you can sell your drinks at a higher price, your pour cost percentage should be lower. Another factor that will have an impact is your cost of goods sold. If you purchase in higher volumes than your typical bar, hotel or restaurant, you may benefit from reduced pricing which will in turn reduce your pour cost percentage.

Here is an examples on how to make sure our selling price and cost percentages are in line with our budgeted expectations.

Selling Price:  Cost divided by Cost % = sales price

                          1.5 oz vodka cost $0.95/15% = $6.35              

When it comes to price mixed drinks, the easiest and most widely used method is using the cost of the prime ingredient. This of course is not as accurate as costing out the whole recipe, but to arrive to a sound price structure, we must look at each drink by itself to establish a cost/price relationship in line with the overall price structure of our business.

Here is a recent article from TBO. It mentions the Scannabar liquor inventory software and how it is helping hospitality owners save money, without any physical handcuffs put on the staff. With the help of new innovative solutions bar owners are able to keep a tight watch on what is going on in there business.

Here are some of the highlights:

"One year ago, Michaud installed a liquor inventory system called Scanabar that tags each bottle upon arrival. Managers each night then use a special scanner that measures fluid levels on each bottle to a fraction of an ounce."

"The scanner then wirelessly connects to an accounting system that checks the amount of liquor sold from that bottle, flags any bottles that are inexplicably low and assigns each bartender a daily accuracy score."

"Sometimes, the system merely shows bartenders mix differently by habit."

"When we first got the system, we had 20 bartender scores all over, so we tested them and found they all made a margarita differently," Michaud said. "They didn't mean to. But sometimes you hire someone from TGIFridays who always made a drink a certain way."

 To read the rest of the article you can by following the link below:

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/jan/15/auto-pour-systems-take-power-out-bartenders-hands/