Bartenders do it with Flair
The things you can do with ice! When Scotsman came up with eight different types, we thought that was the most creative bit, and the rest was simply making them the basis of good cocktail. But we reckoned without those who have turned serving cocktails into a performance art.
In recent years you can hardly have missed the sight of bartenders demonstrating spectacular juggling, gymnastic and entertainment feats that a hundred years ago would have been seen on stage or at the circus. The sight of ice cubes dancing in wide arcs from glass to glass, or bottles seemingly suspended in mid-air as they pour their contents in yard-long streams, is known as "flairing", and it's bartending as sheer entertainment.
The flair bartender first came to prominence with the 1980s Tom Cruise movie "Cocktail". But not everyone was happy with the consequent publicity.
"That film is a millstone around our necks" sniffed a leading US flair bartender recently. "Every time I tell people what I do, they say 'what like Tom Cruise?' Those tricks he did I could teach to anyone in 30 minutes. We've moved on since then".
Nowadays flair bartending can be a stunning demonstration of dexterity, as bottles, glasses, liquids of every hue, and (of course) ice perform gymnastics. And more, too - a good flairer has conjuring tricks and even practical jokes up his sleeve.
Scotsman even invented a new type of ice - Contour Cubes - with this art form in mind. Shaped like cushion or pillows, Contour Cubes are designed to minimise splashback when pouring from a height, and also to be easy to blend in mixed drinks.
The International Flair Bartending Association info@barflair.org. The website also has a useful list of linked sites, including the amusing "Miss Charming's Cyber Barhopping City" on www.charmingbartricks.com.
