BARTENDING TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Face it, if you own a bar you’re going to have some basic tools behind it. Muddler, strainer(s), professional Boston Shakers (or shaking tins for.those who don’t know how to not break the glass), bar spoons, ice scoopers, and a knife and cutting board. Those should be the bare basics.
Some of your more advanced skill bartender candidates will have abilities, knowledge, and tool requirements to provide higher quality, better made, much tastier and fresher, more aromatic drinks with crisper garnishes and greater eye appeal. What the image in this post shows is a fairly basic set of tools any long time bartender would assemble for picking and choosing from to add to a work kit to take to work where those tools are missing.
What isn’t in the kit are the OTHER tools, the portable burner for making syrups, the iSi Whippers for making infusions, foam toppings, etc, the caviar flavor ball making equipment, the cocktail smoke infuser, the brulee torch, mandolin, zesters and channel knife, the portable electric muddling blender system devised by Dave Arnold, ice chippers, and crystal clear large ice-ball maker. Those are among the more serious bartenders set of bar chef tools for taking any bar to the next level of service.
Don’t be the bar owner who says not to bring any “personal items” to work. We’re trades people hired to work the same as the contractors who built your bar, with their tools, according to their level of skill. They’ll use your tools if they’re there, but they couldn’t do their jobs properly if that’s all they were limited to.
We build your bar’s drinks, with our trade tools (if you don’t have them) according to our individual levels of skill – so hire carefully to match your bar staff to one another so they’re compatible.
Site Author, David J. Curtis: David Curtis, a seasoned professional with decades of bartending and bar management experience began his career in Midtown Manhattan, NY, tending and managing bars before diving into Manhattan’s bustling nightlife club scene. Over the years, he has mastered high-volume, high-pressure bartending as the lead bartender in iconic Midtown clubs and tended bar briefly in the Wall Street area, generating over $1,350,000.00 annually in personal drink sales. He has since extended his expertise to establishments in Georgia and now Tampa in Exclusive Platinum Service Awards Clubs, Florida. David’s roles as a Bartending Instructor at the American Bartending School in Tampa, while maintaining a second job bartending, and his years experience of managing bars, and working as a Brand Ambassador along with his extensive professional library of over 1,000 bartending books, highlight his dedication to continually refining his craft. He holds a diploma in Bar Management and is BarSmarts certified by Pernod Ricard.
