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...often copied, never duplicatedBartending BasicsAaaaahhh! The Pour! Pouring drinks, a part of bartending basics, is a subject talked about for endless hours by every bar owner and manager for years. Let's put this to bed once and for all, OK. Let's face it, pouring drinks is where you make your money! A subject not to be taken lightly. But bartending basics are often misunderstood. Hand in hand with the actual pour, is the bartender. I know you all are shaking your heads. First lets take the bartender. 
The bartender is responsible for many things behind the bar. But for this article, we are going to talk about the pour,and bartending basics.
I love when a customer comes to the bar and asks for, let's say a rum and coke. The customer will say "I'll have a rum and coke, and make it a good one". This aggravates me to death. Another cheap skate. Your reply should be one of two answers. First, "All my drinks are good". That usually shuts them up. Or, you say " did you want a double?" Ninety nine times out of a hundred, they will say no. You as a bartender, are not doing the customer a favor by pouring them a strong drink! Let me repeat that. You are not doing the customer a favor by pouring them a strong drink! Not to mention you are stealing from the owner. Yes, stealing!
Many bartenders think that if you pour a stronger drink for a customer, that you will receive a larger tip. WRONG! Generally, a person knows their tolerence for alcohol. And they don't want to choke on the first sip either. If you over pour, that person is going to get drunk faster then they normally do. Who does this benefit??? Pouring a standard drink allows this customer to stay around longer and socialize. Instead of having three drinks, they will be there for five or six. If the customer leaves after the second or third, you lost the sales, and profits, for the other two or three drinks! Nothing like throwing money away. If you don't believe this, you need to get out of the bar business! Pouring drinks is not your strong suit. Neither is common sense! You mission is to make you drinks in accordance with the owners wishes, keep their area clean, and don't make them wait for the next one. Getting them drunk does no one any good. Ideally, finding a good bartending school is the smartest thing to do to learn some bartending basics. Or learn by a seasoned pro. I know a few people who have actually made a good career being a bartender, not to mention a good, consistent living.
Bartending College Online will guide you and teach you how to be a professional bartender. Don't learn from wanna b's and know it all's. Learn from professionals like this. And, if you don't live in their area, they have an online course! So what are you waiting for? Bartending basics need to be taught well, or you will be just an average bartender.
The pour or should I say, pouring drinks, is usually the hardest thing for people to learn. I have had people train to tend bar and have every attribute, except the ability of pouring drinks. I don't know? There is just something about it. Some pick it up right away. Some take a great deal of time. I love to train a new person and teach them about pouring drinks, and bartending basics. Also, they have no bad habits to break, not a know it all, and eager to learn and please. After hiring a new bartender, the best thing to do I have found is to give them an empty bottle of liquor, show them how to hold it by the neck of the bottle, not the base.
This is two sided and comes in different sizes. It may hold a measurement of say, one ounce on one side and half ounce on the other side. But the sizes will vary in accordance of what your needs are. So, the next thing you need to provide is the pourer. The pourer comes many ways of which we will descibe in just a minute. Now, show your new bartender how they should be pouring drinks. Now this is a little hard to explain in words. but basically, if they pracice this at home, they will become fast, won't shake and spill your liquor all over the place, and they will become confident. It's part of bartending basics. Remember, after you pour the liquor in the jigger, you return the jigger upside down on your bar mat so the liquor drains out. No, it doesn't need washed. The only time you will rinse these out will be when you pour a heavy, syrup type alcohol, like Kahlua, or Creme de Menthe, or something like that. 
Now some people use a shot glass when pouring drinks. This is bartending basics taught by inexperienced people. The problem being is the sizes they come in. Some bar owners buy a shot glass for the look. Therefore, a bartender may pour a drink by pouring to the top of the glass where in fact the line on the glass is the measurement. It creates problems. If you only go to the line, customers feel they have been short shotted. Trying to explain they did in fact get a full shot, but it's only to the line, will be like talking to a wall. Beleive me!
You are far better off useing a jigger rather then a shot glass when pouring drinks. This is bartending basics rule number one.
Pouring drinks, in a one ounce jigger, in an eight ounce glass, with ice filled to the top, is an ideal drink. The drink tastes good, just enough liquor, and the customer will drink in just the right amout of time. Now let's talk about the infamous automatic pourer.
And when you use these, it becomes easier to watch your bartenders. You see, you can be talking with someone, and watching the bar(like your supposed to be doing) and if you see a bartender tip that bottle upside down more then once, there are not pouring a standard drink! So when you walk over and the bartender just made a rum and coke and that bottled tipped more then once, they are over pouring. (I call it stealing!) For those of you not familiar with the way the work, it's pretty simple. You tip the bottle to pour and it automaticaly shuts off. In order to get any more loquor out of it, you have to bring the bottle back down, and tip it up again. 
Let's say your bartender over pours a drink that costs you seventy cents a one ounce shot. Let's say they over pour by a quarter of an ounce,(boy, if that's all it was)that means that every time a drink is poured, you lose seventeen and a half cents per drink!
So now let's say that you have a night club that does five hundred people in a night. Say they only drink three drinks each. That's fifteen hundred drinks in the course of the night. So that means the overpouring will cost you two hundred sixty two dollars and fifty cents! Per Night! And that's only if they over pour a quarter of an ounce! What if it was more!!
These automatic pourers work well for pouring drinks and are reliable. But like anything in life, you get what you pay for. If you decide to buy a generic pourer at a third of the price of the major manufacturers, they may not work that well. Spend the money and get the good stuff! After, it's your money! As far as maintenance goes, they are like everthing else in life, including your self, it needs maintained. You need to wash the pourers once a week in warm soapy water, then rinsed. Sure, once in awhile, one will go bad, but not often. And look at the money it saves you. These will pay for themselves from you savings in less then a week. Not bad!
Also, I've added a survey form that I would sure appreciate it if you would take a minute and fill out. It asks some basic questions like, what topics would you like address or go into more detail about, how big is your club, what kind of music do you play, etc. This information helps me to continue to offer the best information in this industry.
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Also, give them a jigger for pouring drinks. For those of you who don't know what that is, I have added this picture. It looks like an hour glass.
You will find many opinions on the subject, but I'm telling you, these are the best things since sliced bread!
Now are you gettin my drift? These pourers are invaluable. Some people will tell you they don't work right, or they are not accurate. Bull____!
As you can see from the example pictures above, they come in a few styles. The ones pictured above are from a company called
