Polar Palooza Preperation!

I’m taking a break from TH2 talk to share what I have been doing to prepare for my second stint as . . . The Bartender! 

What’s a Polar Palooza you may be asking? Well, it’s a an annual gathering thrown by our friend Quinton. It is a night gathering with a party club atmosphere. Lot’s of dancing, drinking and eating to be done.  It’s located where my wife and I got married in PA and you would never know it’s the same location. Quinton is able to completely transform his cabana area into an enclosed warm party room. It is amazing. This is the 3^rd Polar Palooza, but only the second that I have gotten to broaden my cocktail knowledge base. The first year I made Pad Thai on site for everyone to eat. I think 80% of it was eaten, so I take that as a success. Last year though I was asked to be the bartender and I won’t lie, I was pretty thrilled. Not only do I get a prominent role, but I get to participate in a party in the way I like best: 

• I get to be active the whole night.
• I get to stay in one place.
• I had short bits of quiet time
• If someone wants to talk, they have to come to me.

Because I didn’t blog last year I will explain what I did to prepare. While I am proficient in cooking for large groups, I have virtually zero bartending knowledge or experience. I have a general interest in mixed drinks, but I knew I had to do some research and then come up with a plan. My breakthrough happened when I came up with the menu idea. I created a menu of 50 drinks that I could make cheat cards for and not have to put them all to memory. With these 50 drinks available I would not be subjected to having to ask everyone “What’s in the drink you just ordered?” which is embarrassing. Also, between what is at Quinton’s home and what I bought for this event at Total Wine we do not have a full bar by any means. Without a strict menu I would have had to turn down people’s drink orders because we didn’t have St. Germain, or Single MaltScotch. The menu I came up with had the 50ish drinks split into several groups:

• Classic: Classic Martini, Stone Fence, Harvey Wallbanger
• Exotic:Blue Hawaiian, Swamp Thing, Acapulco Zombie
• Romantic:Wedding Cake, sex on the Beach, Happily Ever after
• Modern: Amaretto Sunrise, Walk Me Down. Mint Martini
• Dessert: Cookie Monster, Fried Banana Sandwich,Butter Slide
• Oddball: Bacon Martini,Bill Clinton, Dragon's Breath

Since I was busy for virtually all of the night, I think it worked out pretty well.

I also brought my very first infused vodka, 100 Proof Bacon. I’d like to thank the brave souls who tried it with me. It had a very smoky bacony flavor that transitioned straight into burn. A couple people even came back for seconds. Amazing.

This year I will be making a few changes/additions to the menu and my prep. I am bringing my Ewok mask from Halloween to hang up near me to create a theme for my area, and I want to show it off. I am renaming my bar to Wickett’s Watering Hole. I have found around 45 additional drinks that I want to incorporate into my menu from last year and remove 10-15 of the lesser requested drinks from last year. I even found a few Sci-Fi/fantasy drinks to help push my theme. I am hoping that I can write all 70-80 drinks on the current menu.

The 6 categories I had last year will be getting a bit of a make-over too. I think it would be boring for the drinking public to see the same 40 drinks as last year. First, I am going to be changing the Romantic category to Sexy this year because the date is in March as opposed to nearer Valentine’s Day like last year. Second, I am adding a Challenge Shot section. I am hoping that some courageous people will try some of the really off-the-wall shots I‘ve found. Thirdly, I am removing the Oddball category from the menu. I'm going to disperse the drinks to the other 5 categories.The overall theme to this year’s gathering is “Lucky 13”. I have found a few “13”, “lucky”, or “unlucky” themed cocktails to go with my minor theme of Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Finally, I will be making a small trip back to Total Wine to pick up a few odd and ends.

I am looking forward to unleashing some of these drinks on the crowd and helping to spread the social lubricant. Will be fun.