SO think you’ve got flair?

Well our girl Fallon definitely does! We’ve decided to pick her brain (the crazy, wonderful, delightful space it is) and have her teach us how to dazzle our friends and dare to flair!

Incase you’re not sure what “flaring” means according to Wikipedia:

“Flair bartending is the practice of bartenders entertaining guests, clientele or audiences with the manipulation of bar tools (e.g.cocktail shakers) and liquor bottles in tricky, dazzling ways. Used occasionally in cocktail bars, the action requires skills commonly associated with jugglers. It has become a sought-after talent among venue owners and marketers to help advertise a liquor product or the opening of a bar establishment. Competitions have been sponsored by liquor brands to attract flair bartenders, and some hospitality training companies hold courses to teach flair techniques.

Sometimes referred to as “extreme bartending”, the word flair became popular among practitioners in the mid 1990s. Also used as a verb (e.g. “to be flairing”), the word refers to any trickery used by a bartender in order to entertain guests while mixing a drink. Flair can include juggling, flipping (bottles, shakers), manipulating flaming liquors or even performing close-up magic tricks (also referred to as “bar-magic”).

Flair is showmanship added to bartending that enhances the overall guest experience. The ideas behind mixology and drink-oriented or service-minded bartending can still be upheld with the correct application of working flair. Recently, there is a noticeable rise in bartenders combining prominent mixology knowledge and working flair skills all over the world. Working flair and Exhibition flair are very similar on the grounds that they both require precision and practice, however the use of exhibition flairhas become a competition oriented style where significantly greater risks are being taken. Working flair, which is much more common, focuses more on delivering drinks to customers while still ensuring visual entertainment.”

Flair bartending was probably most famously represented in a film from the 80′s Cocktail or “Cocktails & Dreams” starring Tom Cruise and Bryan Brown. The boys wowed the crowd with tossing bottles in the air and catching ice cubes behind their backs! While we don’t have Tom Cruise, we do have John and Fallon and some seriously awesome good times!

So we hope that you’ll join us during the week or on the weekend… and we’ll leave you with this poem from Cocktail…

Brian: I am the last barman poet. I see America drinking the fabulous cocktails I make,  Americans getting stinky on something I stir or shake. The sex on the beach, The schnapps made from peach, The velvet hammer, The Alabama slammer!  I make things with juice and froth, The pink squirrel,  The three-toed sloth.  I make drinks so sweet and snazzy,  The iced tea, The kamakazi, The orgasm, The death spasm, The Singapore sling, The dingaling! America you’ve just been devoted to every flavor I got… But if you want to get loaded… Why don’t you just order a shot?  Bar is OPENNNN!!!!