By Robert Plotkin

Rye whiskey has a long and storied history in the United States. Prior to Prohibition, it was our nation's whiskey of choice. George Washington distilled rye at his home in Mount Vernon, and it was the whiskey at the center of the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791. Until recently, however, rye whiskey's glory days appeared to be over.

Forlorn, Reborn

For more than a century, rye's production centered in and around Pennsylvania and Maryland, areas where large numbers of Scottish and Irish immigrants settled and applied their collective knowledge and expertise in distillation. Following World War II, however, sales of rye whiskeys went into a protracted slump, a decline that reflected the steady rise in popularity of soft blended whiskeys and light mixable spirits. By the 1970s rye whiskeys had all but disappeared from American bars. Fortunately, that trend has reversed itself, and the bold, exuberant flavors of American ryes are attracting a broadbased following again. It's easy to understand why after a sip or two. These are whiskeys with broad shoulders and big personalities.

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By Naren Young

Balance is the fundamental goal of every cocktail, and there are some that absolutely need sugar. For example, how would we counter the tartness of the lime in a fresh daiquiri? And a Tom Collins wouldn't be the classic it is without a little sugar to balance the lemon, right? While simple syrup—refined sugar dissolved in water—may seem like an indispensable ingredient for every bar, there is a world of wonderful alternative sweeteners that perform the same role, often with more interesting and complex results.

Sweeteners' Evolution

Simple syrup, which is used in some way in perhaps every bar on the planet that makes mixed drinks, is like the glue in a cocktail: it binds the ingredients together. But it should be used carefully and sparingly, and let's face it, simple syrup is ... simple.

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By Marnie Old

Modern restaurants have embraced staff training programs as an essential tool of the trade. Ongoing front-of-the-house training can improve sales, smooth service, and raise morale. But opinions vary on the effectiveness of including bar staff in mandatory trainings. Bar schedules pose logistical challenges, and few managers find the performance benefits to be as pronounced among bar staff.

Stiff resistance from bartenders has an influence as well, as trusted senior staff plead years of experience or long hours as rationales for skipping "basic training." The truth is, they have a point. Training sessions designed for servers are not as effective for bartenders; however, that's not a reason to let bartenders off the hook. Rather, it's a solid reason for implementing bar-specific staff training.

By Francesco Lafranconi

In this country, bartending is often considered a transitional job while employees work their way through college or pursue some other career goal. Once, when an arrogant "fill-in" bartender was asked to smile behind the bar by a Morton's executive, the bartender told him that his true career was acting, not bartending. The executive looked him in the eye and said, "Well, then why don't you act like one?" The Morton's manager was right to expect professionalism.

Demanding higher standards of service and professionalism behind the bar is a responsibility of every employer or manager who runs a beverage operation. Providing bar staff with the tools and opportunities it needs to expand its knowledge will result in effective service. And by establishing credibility as professionals, bartenders gain not only the trust of their employers but also the respect and loyalty of their patrons.

By Rob Costantino
Santé Managing Editor

At a handful of restaurant bars around the country, you're likely to find the bartender in the kitchen—well before prime bar time—using a Vita-Prep or a Cryovac. He or she may be taring a laboratory scale to weigh out precise amounts of gelatin or xanthan. Or maybe the bartender is rolling out a liquid-nitrogen tank to perform a spherification or clarification technique for a component of a libation in progress. What's going on here?

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Reuters.com – Americans slightly slowed their consumption of hard liquor last year, a trade group said on Tuesday, proving that spirits are relatively resilient in a recession, but not immune. U.S. revenue for spirits makers in 2009 was flat even though sales volume rose slightly, as many budget-conscious consumers turned to lower-priced drinks, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS). The trade group expects sales growth to rebound as the economy mends, but stopped short of giving a forecast for 2010. "In our view, we can begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel here in the recession, but your guess is as good as ours how long is the length of that tunnel," said DISCUS CEO Peter Cressy. Original Source>>

LATimes.com – If your liquor cabinet contains mostly familiar names such as Chivas Regal, Jack Daniel's or Smirnoff, get ready to make some new acquaintances. Small-scale distilleries making high-quality whiskey, gin, vodka and other spirits are taking off across the country. Boutique booze—formally called artisanal spirits—is a big trend in the bar business. Just as the market for craft beers and wines boomed during the last two decades, the audience has similarly grown for small-scale booze that is high quality and often higher priced. "Why is this better? Because it's not produced for 10 million people; it's produced for 5,000 people," says Bill Owens, president of the American Distilling Institute. He estimates the number of small distilleries at just over 200, and growing by about 20 to 30 a year. They have sprouted up in more than three dozen states in recent years, with Oregon, California, Colorado, Michigan and New York the main players. Original Source>>

Harpers.co.uk – Diageo has won a landmark High Court legal battle with Intercontinental Brands over a vodka-based spirit. The multinational drinks company whose brands include Smirnoff, took the Harrogate based company to court over its brand Vodkat, which it viewed customers were being led to believe they were buying real vodka, even though it contained only 22% abv. Philip Almond, a global marketing director from Diageo said: "We are pleased that the Court has ruled in Diageo's favor and that Intercontinental Brands will no longer be able to sell products under the Vodkat name. "The decision confirms as correct our view that vodka is a protectable category under the law of passing off (in the same way as whisky and Champagne), and that the brand name Vodkat, and the way it has been used, is likely to have resulted in substantial numbers of consumers being misled into thinking Vodkat is vodka, when it is not." Original Source>>

Heraldscotland.com – Thirty years of low growth in the sales volumes of Scotch whisky compared to other spirits has cost Scotland more than 50,000 potential jobs, a former senior industry figure has claimed. In an article for the Sunday Herald, Donald Blair of Polestar Consultants, who worked for three decades in high-profile exporting roles throughout Europe and was a former head of international affairs for a major drinks company, criticised the Scotch industry for "laziness" and "complacency" after recent figures showed that the compound annual growth rate by volume of Scotch whisky was an "awesomely pedestrian" 0.045% since 1978, while the equivalent rate for vodka over the last 20 years was 3.5%. The estimated value of Scotch whisky exports rose from £2 billion to £3.1bn in the 10 largely recession-free years from 1998 to 2008—an increase of 51%. But Mr Blair has argued that the profits of premiumisation without volume growth have not optimised benefits to the Scottish economy. Original Source>>