The Consistency Standard
Five steps that make a cocktail taste the same on Tuesday as on Saturday, whoever makes it. Regulars reorder a favourite partly to see if it has changed.
- Who
- Every bartender, checked by the head bartender
- When
- Every cocktail on the list, on every shift
- You need
- A spec sheet for each cocktail, jiggers, tasting straws, the right glass
- Measured by
- A current spec for every cocktail
- Every pour measured with a jigger
- Every mixed drink tasted with a straw
5 steps
01
One spec
Every cocktail on the list has one written spec: each ingredient in ml, the method, ice, glass, garnish and finished volume. It is kept at the station, and only the head bartender changes it.
Say this
“Negroni: 30 ml gin, Campari, red vermouth. Stir 20 s, one cube, rocks glass, orange peel.”
Common mistake Keeping the recipes in the senior bartender’s head. On their day off, the drink changes with them.
02
Measure every pour
Pour every spirit, syrup and juice with a jigger, on the busiest night too, and for the drink you have made a thousand times. Free pouring shifts the balance a little with every glass.
Say this
“Jigger on every pour tonight, please, Luca, the Spritzes too.”
Common mistake Free pouring once the bar gets busy. The time saved is lost again on the drinks that come back.
03
Taste first
Dip a clean straw into every stirred or shaken drink before it is strained, taste a drop and throw the straw away. A drink that is off is made again before it leaves the bar, never sent out.
Say this
“Too sharp, today’s lemons are tart. Remaking it and telling the head bartender.”
Common mistake Tasting only when something feels wrong. By then the guest has already had three sips of it.
04
Same glass, same garnish
Serve each cocktail in the glass and with the garnish on its spec, every time. If the glass has run out, tell the guest and offer the closest one before you make the drink, not after.
Say this
“Our Nick & Nora glasses are all in use, Dr Kowalski. May I serve it in a coupe tonight?”
Common mistake Changing the garnish because a herb ran out. The regular who orders it for the rosemary notices first.
05
Calibrate weekly
Once a week, every bartender on shift makes the same two cocktails side by side. The head bartender tastes them blind, names the differences and agrees each correction with the team.
Say this
“Week 41, Daiquiri ×3: Karim short on lime. Spec unchanged, retaste Thursday.”
Common mistake Calibrating only after a complaint. The drift had been there for weeks; one guest finally said so.
Your House Specs
The three cocktails your guests reorder most. Write each spec here so that any bartender on any shift makes them the same way.
The most ordered
- Ingredients in ml
- Method and ice
- Glass and garnish
- Taste: what to check
The house signature
- Ingredients in ml
- Method and ice
- Glass and garnish
- Taste: what to check
The one regulars test
- Ingredients in ml
- Method and ice
- Glass and garnish
- Taste: what to check
Fill it in with the head bartender at Monday’s briefing. Each day one bartender makes one of the three to spec in front of the team. If two versions taste different, the card is corrected that day.
The Standards Library.
No. 81 · Bar
The Responsible Service Standard
Five steps for serving alcohol with care, from the first glass of water to the car home. Said quietly and at the guest’s side, a refusal is heard as care.
No. 82 · Bar
The Low and No Standard
Five steps for guests who drink little or no alcohol. Many decide what they think of the bar from the answer to “What do you have without alcohol?”