1954 Practical Bar Management by Eddie Clarke

Introduction

Ifall be true thatIdo think. There are jive reasons why men drink.

Good wine, afriend, or being dry. Or lest we should be by-and-by. Or any other reason why. Almostevery year since Cocktails and American Bars were first introduced into this country there have appeared in ever-increasing numbers books and pamphlets on"how to mix drinks but very little has been written about the most important subject of all—Bartending or Bar Management on the whole— or to clarify these titles more fully, information which gives one details about a bar, what one needs for it and what the surround ings should be, also how to serve those wonderful concoctions, commonly known as "Cocktails to the unsuspecting and mostly all-trusting public. It is therefore not really surprising that sometimes one is apt to hear comments of a rather detrimental nature in regard to the service etc., of some bars specializing in cocktails and other mbced drinks. This must be considered a little unfair, because it has been impossible for the staffs of the many thousand Cocktail Bars now established throughout our Isles to receive first-hand practical training from the experts of their calling. One must remember that it was not so long ago that only a few of our big cities boasted of this fashionable type of drinking rendezvous, and that only there could the experienced Bar Manager and Bartender be found. Hence it would have been impossible for them to have given the proper training to the staffs of the many "Bars"of to-day. Furthermore, it is only during these latter years that the Directors and Managements of our catering establishments have become"Bar-Conscious". In the not-too-distant past, it was only an afterthought that led to the installation of a bar, and then sometimes in some odd corner which was no use for anything vii