cocktail menu Uncorkd

The 3 Top Ways to Spice Up Your Cocktail Menu

The recent mixology and cocktail fever sweeping America can be seen as nothing but good fortune for today’s bars and restaurants. However, even good fortune can have its downsides, and the recent cocktail craze has left some in the food and beverage industry scrambling to invent new and exciting drinks to tempt their customers’ palates. Here are the three top tips that you can use to spice up your cocktail menu.

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Hangover-Free Sangria Your Patrons Will Remember (Fondly)

It’s getting pretty hard to believe these days, but summer is, in fact, on the way – and so the time is almost ripe to be thinking about sangria. While it is true that this drink is often treated by many bars as a simple afterthought (not to mention an easy way to use up leftover wine), you probably should think twice before just throwing together a sweet, wine-based concoction that is sure to earn your establishment a reputation as “that place we went to that one time that made me have the worst hangover of my entire life.” While a lot of different ingredients can go into a batch of sangria, quality does, on some level, count – and any batch that’s just packed with cheap liquor and lots of sugar is bound to be a recipe for a painful next day.

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Get More Bar Customers When You Add Vegan Cocktails

The hot trend right now is veganism, and though savvy restaurants are beginning to cater to vegans (it’s one of our 2014 food predictions), bars haven’t yet realized that they’re missing a significant customer base. This article puts your bar in the know about non-vegan and vegan cocktail ingredients, and also recommends ways to get those vegans to notice your bar. Let’s get to it.

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Is Your Spring Drink Menu Too Cold? Too Hot? Or Just Right?

Spring is officially here – and with it comes that warm breeze that you’re probably feeling right about now…

Wait. What I meant to say was, “Brrrr! Someone close that door!”

Actually, spring weather, as we all know, is extremely unpredictable. Given that fact, it’s hard to know just what your patrons will be craving most as it starts getting warmer. (Er, that is, a little warmer. Occasionally warmer?) Well, regardless of how you might best describe spring, to be realistic, it’s probably best to have a wide range of drinks available from which your patrons may choose. Read more

3 Springtime Drinks That Bring Crowds

Springtime is here, and that means that your guests’ drinking tastes have changed to reflect the warmer weather. In the springtime, your customers are clamoring for lighter, fruitier drinks that they can sip while lounging on your newly opened patio. These warm-weather drinks are the kind that inspire your customers to sit for hours in small, informal gatherings and laugh at the college students who walk by in flip-flops, shorts, mini-skirts… and goose bumps. To help you select your new featured drinks for your digital wine menu, I’ve compiled a list of what springtime drinks your customers are wanting right now. Read more

Mezcal and Tequila Tips for Bars and Restaurants

To a tequila novice, the strong, agave-derived liquor (sometimes maligned by the nickname “to kill ya”) may stir up connotations of summer evenings made cooler by salt-rimmed margaritas served on ice (or even images of their frozen, slushy counterpart, churned into a glass with a slice of lime). Certainly, yes, this is one good use for the distinct, flavorful liquor – at least for the less aged variety that carries a sting of flavor many can only tolerate with salt and lime. For that matter, tequila’s smokey relative, mezcal, is starting to make the rounds in cocktails these days, too, with varying degrees of success. However, the truth is that a truly good tequila or mezcal is a soothing liquor that warms the body and is perfect – when unadorned by mixers or garnishes – for sipping slowly on a cold winter’s night, in much the same way one might nurse a fine Scotch.

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Vodka to the Rescue: Back to Basics

How can you help when a patron wants to order a drink but isn’t sure what to get? Customers who like beer or wine may sometimes be in the mood for something new (or just be open for a pairing suggestion), but what about when the patron isn’t a beer or wine drinker and is just in the mood for some kind of cocktail? Face it: most liquors are very much an acquired taste – with their own, unique flavor that not everyone might appreciate. (Just ask anyone who’s ever had a bad night associated with tequila or whisky; they’ll never forget the distinct flavor). Wouldn’t it be nice if there were such a thing as a basic, unflavored alcohol that you could mix with almost anything to suit whatever mood your patron was in?

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The Secret to a Great Martini? Good Communication

Close your eyes and picture the perfect martini. Got it? Okay. What does it look like? Is it crystal clear, awaiting that first sip from within its classic inverted triangle of an “up” glass, garnished with a twist?

No? Well, then, is it in a stout “rocks” glass packed with ice? Are there olives? If so, how many? What does it taste like? Vermouth? Gin? What kind of gin? Or does it taste like vodka? Or does it essentially just taste like the Arctic? Is it “shaken, not stirred”? Or does the mere question fill you with rage? Read more

Bitters: The Secret Ingredient for Profits

When customers come in to your bar or restaurant and nurse a single drink for hours, it can kill your revenues. Not only is the customer a slow turnover, they also aren’t providing any extra business through ordering more drinks. What’s even worse is if the customer has simply ordered a well drink and sips on that forever. Today, we’re going to talk about a way that you can interest your customers in ordering more drinks while also increasing the price of each drink. If you’re looking for a way to increase profits on your well drinks especially, bitters may be your answer. Read more

The Bloody Mary Recipe for Success

The creation of the Bloody Mary recipe was traditionally attributed to Fernand Petiot, a bartender at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris in 1924. He named his invention the “Bucket of Blood,” but the name didn’t catch on (thank goodness). Ninety years later, the world is still crazy for Bloody Marys, and the make-your-own Bloody Mary bar has become a selling point of many brunches. If you’re considering adding a Bloody Mary bar to your restaurant brunch menu, we think that’s a bloody good idea. To help you out, we’re offering a few ideas for recipes and garnishes to get you started on the right track, as well as a primer on what you should keep in stock at your do-it-yourself Bloody Mary bar.

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