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MEMBER COUNTRIES / FINLAND
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11th Grand Cocktail Festival The Offerings Of The Cocktail Festival
To The Press 26.8.2004
From the Bartenders of F.B.S.K.
THE OFFERINGS OF THE COCKTAIL FESTIVAL AND THE NEW TIDINGS OF THE FALL
The fall is on its way and with it came the cocktail festival, this
time on the Night Of The Arts, which went along with the theme
perfectly. After all,
we do remember countless artists that have been
associated with cocktails or have even given their names to restaurants.
While the nights get dark and cold we have to leave the tropical fruits
to the background. However, they don’t disappear from the taste variety
altogether because the past summer is always something to remember.
Towards the fall different berries are playing a big role while they
are combined and also used together with herbs and spices.
A Total of 48 drinks had been selected to the Festival, drinks that
represented either the trends of the day or the evergreen,
international classics. From the recipes could be found some very
interesting combinations even of the most traditional of ingredients;
the rum, the vodka, the berries and the sparkling wine. The gin is
coming on strong with the new spiced up versions. In addition to the
traditional spices (juniper berry, cumin etc.) the gin is spiced with
citrus fruit, cucumber and rose petals. The variety of traditional gin
brands is also wide and one’s own taste is the best tool for finding
the perfect experience. The gin will easily make some new friends when
it is mixed properly.
While the winter is coming near it is also time to dig up the warm
drinks. On top the taste and the appearance, it is especially easy to
play with the aroma of these drinks. Many of the alcoholic beverages
give out their delicious scent in a new way when they are warmed up,
the aromatic liqueurs being a good example of this.
 The drinks are also
easy to spice up with the season’s herbs and spices by bringing up
their aroma with flaming. Good herbs for flaming are e.g. Basil and
Rosemary, says the head barman Teijo Rintoo from the Torni American
Bar, who compiled the Festival’s recipes. Some of the spices like
cinnamon, clove and vanilla also add nicely to the aroma when warmed
up. The spice can be added into the drink or in coffee drinks to the
cream float. The spices are best used seasonally to keep the tastes
interesting. This way you can surprise the drinker positively as much
in a restaurant as in the home bar.
STYLE AND SPEED BEHIND THE COUNTER; FLAIRTENDING
A story tells the flairtending to have been born with a sudden drop of
a bottle from the shelf and a bartender catching it straight from the
air in a stylish fashion. The customers on the counter applauded
violently to this accomplishment and the bartender began wondering
about ways to repeat the occurrence intentionally. It wasn’t
necessary to start kicking shelves however, since other intriguing ways
to catch a bottle were soon found. All this dates back some 20 years
and flair bartending has developed drastically along the way.
Its own influence to flairtending has also been given by Hollywood.
After all, who hasn’t broken a bottle or two when inspired by Tom
Cruise and the movie ’Cocktail’. With the growing skills came also the
need to show it all to colleagues and to an audience. Therefore the
flairtending competitions are a popular entertainment as much with the
professionals as with the amateurs. Each year competitions are arranged
on the subject all the way to the world championships.
The popularity of ”flair” all over the world has guaranteed, that there
are real professionals on the field. Some of the virtuosos practice
several hours a day to become better and more confident. Employers have
also noticed the new working method to be bringing the customers closer
to the counter, so in many international chains (e.g. T.G.I. Friday’s)
the employee is even obligated to do flair. Some professionals have
transferred out of the actual bar work and support themselves totally
with flairtending shows.
In Finland the flairtending has been maintained as a tool however. The
bottles, the glasses and the bar equipment are flying around in the
side of actual work. The customer is not obligated to watch
thirsty, how the glass goes on a 2 minute roller coaster before ending
up as a serving vessel. The flair is used as an aid to make working
more beautiful and entertaining. After the bar counters turned non
smoking they were emptied of customers for a while but the interest to
see today’s way of preparing the drinks brought them back.
Even though
the bar can sometimes be a really hectic place to work a professional
enjoys to have a little fun and games with the equipment. When the
right person in the right place does flair, makes it the customer’s day
a better one and takes out the hurry by making the waiting for a drink
on the counter a positive experience.
There are a few flairtending competitions in Finland annually of which
the Finnish Championship is the most appreciated. The competitions
implement the exhibition style. The customer orientation has been
replaced with stylish movements and rhythmical music. The preparation
of a drink is true entertainment from torches to acrobatics. The
competitors have five minutes to prepare three drinks whose taste is
also judged as a separate category. The winner of this year’s
competition represents Finland in the 2005 home event in Helsinki.
XI Grand Cocktail Festival - Image galleries
XI Grand Cocktail Festival 2004
National Flair Tending Competition: Gallery 1 and Gallery 2
3rd Grand Marnier Trophy
7th National Finlandia Vodka Cup
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