flair bartending

is a style of bartending that employs the addition of semi-acrobatic maneuvers or tricks to entertain and impress the guest while making a drink. Moves can range from subtle to flashy and are used almost exclusively during drink preparation. The term is commonly used to encompass all manner of skills not strictly required to construct a drink, from quick hand embellishments or juggling and flipping bottles and tools to the use of open flame.

There are two styles of flair bartending that dominate the field: working flair and exhibition flair. Working flair focuses on the preparation of precise cocktails while engaging the guest with visual panache. While the quality of the cocktail is relatively unimportant with exhibition flair, there is nothing about working flair that is in direct competition with the outcome of the drink. Exhibition flair is what one would expect to see at a flair bartending competition, or at flair-centric bars such as Carnival Court in Las Vegas. During an exhibition flair performance, judges evaluate bartenders less on the quality of the cocktail being prepared than on technical ability, precision, showmanship, and the difficulty of the individual aspects of the routine. Performances are often set to music.Flair bartending can be traced to nineteenth-century American bartender Jerry Thomas, who was well known for his flashy cocktail preparation. As an example, “Professor” Thomas’s original creation the Blue Blazer involved pouring flaming whisky in theatrical gestures repeatedly from one vessel into another. The drink is important in the history of bartending, as the fire has little to no effect on the taste of the cocktail; it is purely done for show. See Blue Blazer, Thomas, Jeremiah P. “Jerry”.

The restaurant chain TGI Friday’s helped popularize and spread flair bartending. Management in the Marina Del Rey, California, store took notice of employee John Mescall’s habit of juggling while making drinks and encouraged other bartenders to adopt the practice, most likely through an in-house competition in 1985. By 1987, the chain had sponsored its first national competition for flair bartending. The competition went global in 1991 and still remains active today. See TGI Friday’s.

Flair bartending hit its zenith in 1988, with the release of the movie Cocktail. In it, Bryan Brown’s character, an older, more experienced bartender, teaches young Tom Cruise the tricks of the trade, most of which center around flair bartending. Incidentally, the two actors were trained by John “J. B.” Bandy, winner of TGI Friday’s 1987 flair bartending competition. The movie, a moderate commercial success, remains synonymous with flair bartending for the majority of the public to this day. See film, spirits, cocktails in.

With the cocktail renaissance beginning in the late 1990s, flair bartending has slowly become relegated to nightclubs and Las Vegas bars, as bartenders and guests began to focus more seriously on fresh ingredients, classic recipes, and culinary techniques and less on theatrics and tricks. At the same time, some prominent modern cocktail bartenders have been using bits of working flair—“throwing” drinks, setting drinks on fire, elaborate styles of shaking—to distinguish themselves from their peers and telegraph their expertise. See cocktail renaissance.

“About.” TGI Friday’s World Bartenders Championship. http://www.worldbtc.com/about (accessed May 5, 2021).

By: Jeffrey Morgenthaler