They say, best men are moulded (sic) out of faults,-- William Shakespeare from Measure For Measure
And, for the most, become much more the better
For being a little bad
When you enter a restaurant or bar and you see the bartender using a jigger to measure their drinks, what do you think? Do you think: "Now that is a professional bartender who is taking the time to carefully craft the cocktail." Or, do you think: "That looks stingy / amateurish. My god they measure every drink here? Maybe I should order a beer or a glass of wine."
Everyone seems to have an opinion on the subject because using a jigger has made a comeback and is seen more often than not in many cocktail houses in this country. Go to any establishment that is considered a serious cocktail bar and you will see the bartenders carefully measuring everything from the liquor to the juices and syrups that go into every drink. It has tacitly become understood that serious bartenders use jiggers, and the rest free pour, which is pouring from the bottle through a speed pourer straight into the drink glass or the shaker or mixing glass, and measuring by counting silently to yourself until you've poured the requisite amount. Any argument to date against the idea of jiggering is usually followed by an ad hominem attack on the defender of free pouring and it is to this that I want to draw attention.
In my past posts, I have made references to sloppy or careless bartending and bartenders. I have steadfastly held to the argument that we are getting better cocktails and are in a golden age of bartending. But these new establishments and the consultants that come out of them are holding onto a tenet that says that not using a jigger is just sloppy bartending. I understand how one can derive that measuring with a jigger is more precise, and perhaps more profitable for beverage operations. But, to suggest that making drinks using a jigger is the only way, and that it is more precise, is a completely false notion.
My first job in the restaurant business was working as a barback in 1973. I worked at a place called the Rib Room in the Charterhouse Hotel in Cleveland. The two bartenders there, Slim and George were consummate professionals who knew how to free pour and were proud of their skills. Slim once made me stop what I was doing and showed me how to make a drink properly, and was most proud of his ability to make the drink taste and look the same each time, and to leave absolutely nothing in the shaker. I was made to understand that this particular skill was what separated the best from the others. It was a show, and you were on stage, and it was expected that you knew how to do that. To Slim, using a jigger would have seemed amateurish and seeing it used would have provoked scorn.
Who decided that hand jiggering cocktails was the best way to make a drink? Where did the art of bartending -- which included perfecting one's free pour become a nervous exacting science of "measuring" each and every last drop of whatever goes into a drink. When did we emasculate the great skill set that was expected of any great barman? Measuring isn't wrong, just as using training wheels on a bike when you are first learning how to ride one isn't wrong. Both teach a form of balance, and both create types of muscle memory. To learn anything, it is oftentimes necessary to strip it down to its most basic forms in order to understand it. But as one moves on and becomes more expert, one must begin to intuit things more in order to really gain the essence of what it is to become fluent at free pouring.
I remember the grim era of the computerized bars where a monkey (oh I'm sorry, I meant bartender) simply coded a drink into the computer and it came out from a computerized bar gun into the glass. As fast as the idea came, it left just as quickly. People simply didn't want to have a drink that wasn't coming from the bartender's hand. Like any sane person, patrons didn't trust the "system" and it seemed stingy to have to resort to such a transaction. What were we delivering to them? Was this so complicated that like an anesthesiologist one had to carefully measure each and every drop? No, it was a way for lazy owners to have a system that tracked sales and inventory which sounded great save for the impersonal touch of having something come out of a gun.
I look at recipes as a guide or framework that has to be respected. I don't think that one should make any drink at an establishment differently than any other bartender. I do however, think that a good bartender should know how to pour a ½ oz, or an ounce or three oz's without the crutch of a jigger. This takes practice, and it takes time to learn. That is why I am a fan of using a mixing glass as opposed to making drinks in a shaker because I can see what I'm doing as well as count into the glass as I pour. I've worked in places where there might be two or three different pour spouts or where one of them just pours more slowly, so having the ability to see as well as count is essential when free pouring.
I also think of making drinks like a chef does when they are cooking something. Sure you must know the recipe, but you don't measure almost anything -- you simply add the ingredients as you go. Pastry chefs are different, they do measure, and for good reasons. Theirs is by necessity more exacting. Mixology by my definition is more closely linked with cooking than baking, and it just simply isn't practical to have to measure each and every drop. If one doesn't know how to free pour, get an empty bottle, fill it with water, and put a speed pourer on it and practice until you nail it. You simply don't need to rely on the jigger.
Besides, I can't tell you how many times I've seen these "jiggermen" over- or under-pour into their jigger, booze falling over the sides or not hitting the top of the jigger. It is a sham, and I'm calling it like it is: cow manure. How exact is bad jiggering?
To be exact isn't as important as knowing your proportions and how to measure them. Furthermore, if we are getting so exact, who decided that ½ of this or 1 oz of that is the general pour and not say 3/16th or 5/8 oz etc. I'll tell you why: because it becomes ridiculous to be so exact and therefore to make it simple, drink proportions are rounded off to the ¼ oz. Would that drink be better if it was made with a bit less or a bit more? It is entirely plausible to think so. Drinks to me are proportional creations that rely on an understanding of what you are putting in the glass, and how each ingredient will affect that combination of flavors that result in the overall taste.
Free pouring is a skill that is not only beautiful to watch, but a much quicker and more efficient way of making drinks in a professional setting. If you are not a professional bartender and make drinks at home, by all means use a jigger. But if you are standing behind a bar and calling yourself a bartender, get rid of the jigger, and start relying on your abilities to make an honest and precise drink. Unchain yourself and trust your hand.
"Cuz I'm as free as a bird now"--Lynyrd Skynyrd from Freebird
I'll see you when I see you.
Tracy Howard: The 25 Most Influential Cocktail Personalities of the Past Century
Another thing is that usually we make drinks according to mililiters or centiliters, which differs quite a bit from american ounces, which the japanese jigger are made after.
i am not a hater of jiggers at all, i use mine every day combined with free pouring. especially because i hand squeeze citrus, and that has to be measured, due to (as mentioned before) all fruit vary in size and the amount of juice you get out of it.
that is all for me.
A great barchef/owner ONLY allows freepouring if consistancy is 100%... otherwize freepouring makes NO sense!
Most people were ordering Rum and Coke...which doesn't require much skill. I was taught years ago that a Martini should just be gin 'cause few people wanted the Vermouth.
I am absolutely and 100% behind the notion that jiggering is an important tool in being able to consistantly turn out great cocktails. For one thing, I think its not just a measurement thing, but an attitude thing. For another, there are some ingredients, which being off by even 1/4 ounce will destroy a drink, and 1/4 is far too easy to over/under pour.
That said, do I think freepouring is evil? No.
Do I think it is impossible to freepour a good drink? No.
Do I think only sloppy bartenders freepour? No.
Do I think proper jiggering is a sign of a good bartender? Often.
While I'll agree that some bartenders can freepour great drinks, I feel that the "notion" of freepouring as skill is too commonly used as an argument, so much so that sloppy bartenders jump too quickly into that pool, and wear it as a badge of accomplishment. Freepouring is fine for club bars, where a finely tuned cocktail is not the objective, but if you are a craft bartender, then you absolutely must perfect your skill with a jigger, before even considering going off-road.
If your concern is about customers thinking you are stingy, then perhaps you could freepour the base spirit, but measure all of the modifiers. Typically, the base spirit can be over/under poured without overtly impacting the final product.
-Robert
I hope you have your asbestos underwear on! To some of this crowd your comments- rather than being balanced and conciliatory- will be inflammatory in the extreme!!! Either that or someone will accuse you of just being Andrew & me and Jimmy Hoffa under a different screen name.
Keith
Mr. Herpin,
Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention. Please be aware that the Washington State Bartender's Guild is in no way affiliated with the United States Bartender's Guild. They are not an official USBG Chapter and do not represent the opinions and ideas of the USBG!
We encourage you to learn more about us...
Our Mission Statement
The United States Bartenders’ Guild is a network of beverage service professionals dedicated to the continued refinement of our craft. Such refinement is achieved through advanced product education; interactive seminar participation; original, hand-crafted cocktail competition; and aggressive involvement with other professionals in the beverage industry throughout the United States and the world. It is our intention, desire and main focus to become the most skilled, knowledgeable and professional bartenders in the industry. Above all, the United States Bartenders’ Guild supports and promotes well-informed, responsible consumption of alcoholic beverages.
The USBG is proud to be in the following cities.
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"the guild"? The USBG? Really? That's some explanation for my personal beliefs? Some of my best pals are USBG members, but...then again...they all measure, too...
I would suggest a look at the Washington State Bartender Guild's website if you would like to find out what we're all about, not the USBG.
http://www.wsbg.org
And, who are these "foremost bartenders"?
It's not just about measuring. Most free pourers do so with a pour spout, meaning they're likely just pouring the same, cheap rail bottles all night long. I don't see many places that keep pour spouts in their best bottles on the back bar. It's great that you can eyeball a quarter-ounce of rogut whiskey. Now can you pull a real bottle off the back bar and pour me the same without the spout? Consistently? 21st century bartending has moved on from Bankers Club or Crystal Palace, and one hallmark of good cocktail bars is they have dozens of different kinds of spirits available. A bartender often has to measure without the aid of a pour spout. If he/she can free pour then, great. Most can't.
Additionally, some stuff, like Campari, vermouth, other fortified wines, etc. will spoil if you don't take care of them properly. But Karl's generation never worried about that, which is why, right around the 1980s, no one wanted a real martini with vermouth anymore. Too many bartenders of Karl's generation -- let's just call it the Tom Cruise Era of cocktail-making -- were more concerned with being "beautiful to watch" rather than making a good drink. Which is why most the cocktails from that era have funny names, but taste like crap.
For those interested, in earlier comments below, Karl has addressed the storage of vermouth, the fact that there may be many spirits and not all should be treated equally, among some of the other issues boozecolumnist brings up.
to karl: There is a lengthy discussion regarding your article on fb. Look me up, and I will direct you there, it behooves you to read what the general consensus is about this topic and your writing in general. My name David Herpin, for what it is worth, outside of your qualities that show through your writing, I actually like the article. But, the skills and characteristics of the bartenders mentioned are those that even a relatively new bartender should possess. I should add, that many of America's REAL most foremost bartenders have commented here and have read this and though I understand that you may not have given yourself that title (it has happened to me) if you do not deny it, Myself and everyone else will assume you did.
To jigger lovers: This was discussed in depth on fb, and the verdict is this: Recipes are guidelines, that's it. So what is the point of measuring "about an ounce"?
Now if you are making the argument that you use jiggers for consistency, that's fine, I see no problem with that. But please don't tell me you know the exact proportions of any drink other than one you made up. It is likely it will be forgotten as soon as you are. So i'll stick to my free pouring and drinks that have made the test of time.
I own a bar and we have many different spouts and pourers on our assorted bottles and jars, so your timing varies.
However, if you fill the glass with ice, eye-ball the spirit (say, to the ridge at the midpoint of a Libbey rocks glass) then add your mix (juice, soda, etc.), you cannot go wrong.