Polar Palooza, 2 weeks and counting!

It is now just over 2 weeks out from Polar Palooza '13. I am done my research and just about done my prep work. I wanted to tell you what I came up with and how many improvements will be enacted this year.

The biggest update is one I talked about last week. The updating of my menu. Last year I had around 40 drinks available divided into 6 categories. This year I now have 5 cocktail categories each with 12 drinks, and 1 "Shots" section with 13 choices.

• Classic- Your martini, Bloody Mary, Kamikaze and Obituary. I went very old on some choices. Very few of these are sweet.
• Tropical- Each one has a fruity taste, and more on the sweeter side
• Sexy - These just have dirty names. Flavor is all over the place.
• Dessert- A lot of cream based drinks, and definitely sweet.
• Modern- This is my catch all. I did try to find drinks that were created recently
• Challenge Shots- 13 shots. half good tasting, half not so good. I'm trying to come up with a dice aspect to this section. (Shot Roulette?)

In the 60 menu choices this year 40 of them are new from last year. The 20 I kept from last year were all ordered multiple times. I realized about halfway thru the night last year that my menu may have been too unrecognizable to the novice cocktail drinker. I attempted to fix this in 3 ways. 1. Remove the drinks no one tried because they sounded not tasty, 2. Add a few well known cocktails to help ease everyone in and 3. Create a mini-menu for people to read.
 
Since I am not a pro at the noble art of bartending, I do not have these drinks memorized. I will be using cheaty cards all night. These cards make the drink assembly very simple, but last year I noticed a problem. If someone came up to me and asked "What's in a Walk Me Down?" I would have to shuffle thru my cards and read it off to them. This is bad because it stops me from doing whatever I'm doing and creates a back-up. I believe I have fixed this by creating the mini-menu. I have printed out 2 copies of the entire menu on card stock paper and had it laminated. Each page is 1 of the sub-groups and has all 12 drinks listed with the main alcohols and mixers. Each drink also has a clever witticism, or movie/TV quote or reference. If even half of the references are picked up on I will be amazed. I'm hoping this will help streamline the choice making.by putting more information into the guests hands. I am hoping this will work in the way I'm expecting. If nothing else it has the possibility of making people quote movies I like. 

The non-drink menu related updates include: the decorating of the bar area, several new liquors to taste, and the incredible technology of . . . bottle pourers, also known as a spout for the bottles. I went as an ewok from "Return of the Jedi" this past Halloween. I fixed the costume I used last year (an ewok) and I thought it would be neat to bring the head with me. I figure if I have a talking point hanging nearby it can start some conversations. It's no Christmas tree, but it is a decoration. When I started doing the drink research a few new liqueurs kept popping up. Galliano, Yukon Jack, and Aperol. The names of the drinks intrigued me, and they all received good reviews. I figured it couldn't hurt to try them out. Lastly, in what will probably make me a little more competent 'tender is the purchase of pourer spouts for the bottles. I won't look or feel like a chimp who has to open and close all of the bottles. Bottom line, I am hoping to make less of a mess. 

Overall, I have kept the ideas I used last year the same, but with some minor tweaking I am hoping to have more fun than last year, and see many colorful drinks in many new hands this year. Wish me luck.