The Cocktail Challenge: Let's Shake It Up!
As revealed earlier this month the five pubs taking part in The Publican Cocktail Challenge in association with Volare cocktail liqueurs and the Bar Academy have been chosen.
The shortlist was picked by members of the Bar Academy and Jeremy Hill, managing director of Hi-Spirits, which owns Volare.
According to Jeremy, they were looking for pubs and bars with a real passion for cocktails and a desire to grow their business. "We wanted a representation of all the levels of pubs out there that we felt cocktails could work in," he said.
"That, combined with a good geographical spread, meant that the five we chose were perfect for the Challenge."
The aim of the Challenge is to try to prove that by implementing a carefully planned cocktail list (using only the spirits and mixers already stocked in the pub) and with training from award-winning bartender and mixologist Jamie Stephenson, each of the shortlisted pubs could grow its overall drinks business.
Over the past four weeks all five pubs have been visited by myself, Jamie and Ellen Ridley from the Bar Academy, and regional representatives from Hi-Spirits. This was our first opportunity to look at each shortlisted outlet, and it gave Jamie a chance to see what spirits and mixers he had to play with as he started to draw up tailored cocktail lists.
Jeremy is extremely pleased with the progress of the Challenge so far. "I was incredibly impressed with the enthusiasm and determination that each pub has showed in wanting to be part of the challenge," he says.
"This leads me to believe there are literally thousands of pubs out there that would like to be doing the same thing."
The Walrus Social
Where: 172 Westminster Bridge Road, Lambeth, London
Type of outlet: Pubco lease
Licensee: Tony Stevens
Why did you enter the Challenge?
"Cocktails are something I¹ve kept meaning to do and get more into but I¹ve kept putting it off. We have a big after-office hours crowd a lot of men and women in their mid-20s. And as a result my staff have been on to me about how we need more cocktail training.
"They do find it relatively easy to sell the idea of a cocktail to our customers. But the problem is they more often than not the customers have no idea what they want.
"We also have a function room in which we can fit 70 to 80 people easily. We do a lot of functions and we could do cocktails very well out of there. That is our only weekend business as well, because we close the main bar on Saturday and Sunday as it is so dead around here."
What are you looking to get out of the Challenge?
"I would like to have a decent range of cocktails that most of the staff can handle. We need to be able to keep up consistency of serve and this will hopefully increase our trade. July and August have been pretty bad for us trading-wise and we want something that will lift our sales.
"It would be very nice, in time, to be able to ask what a customer wants and be able to make it for them to personalise our cocktail offer."
Any previous cocktail experience?
"Some of my staff and I have done the 360 Diageo training. But previously we have been getting out cocktail manuals and closely following the recipes in there. We were selling cocktails last Christmas for about £4.75."
The Spinning Wheel
Where: Wood Road, Chaddesden, Derby
Type of outlet: Tenancy
Licensee: Kevin Jackson
Why did you enter the Challenge?
³I¹d been thinking since last Christmas about doing something different with my drinks offer in view of the smoking ban I really wanted to attract new people into the pub.
³I went to the Caribbean in March and there were cocktails being served everywhere. That got it in my head and when I came home I realised that there was nowhere else locally that was doing them. And I¹ve always felt with cocktails that it doesn¹t have to be complicated.²
What are you looking to get out of the Challenge?
³I¹d like to create a cocktail menu that can be used for the whole week but I do want to especially focus on weekends. I am thinking of doing special food nights, such as steak nights and chilli nights, and perhaps this could all fit in.
³I really do want to use this as an opportunity to grow our overall drinks sales. If a woman comes to the Spinning Wheel because we do cocktails, the chances are she will bring people with her and they will have a beer or a bottle of wine.²
Any previous cocktail experience?
³I¹ve been asked to make cocktails by customers on special occasions such as birthdays. So I¹d knock something together like a ŒSpinning Wheel special¹. I have worked in friends¹ bars in Corfu, so I had a basic working knowledge. And you still get the odd customer asking for sangria or pitchers of fruit punch.²
The New Holly
Where: Lancaster Road, Forton, Preston
Type of outlet: Tenancy
Licensee: Hazel Ronson
Why did you enter the Challenge?
"Our managers Stephen and Hannah are both local and because of the feedback they are getting from customers, are very keen to push cocktails. This pub is very central to the community it is an entertainment hub. As a result we have got a client base of people aged between 20 and 30 and they are very keen to try different things."
What are you looking to get out of the Challenge?
"When we took this pub on it hadn¹t been doing very well and our first strategy was to improve the food offer. But we look at the core crowd of younger drinkers and find they like to come here to start off their night on a Friday and Saturday but then they all go on. We want to keep them here.
"We also want to introduce a bit of theatre to the place perhaps give people the chance to have a cocktail before they sit down for their dinner."
Any previous cocktail experience?
"In the past we have thrown together cocktails without really knowing what we were doing although they were well received!."
The Severn View Inn
Where: Lynwood Road, Lydney, Gloucestershire
Type of outlet: Tenancy
Licensee: Karen James
Why did you enter the challenge?
"We are very much a wet-led pub in fact we do no food at all. One of my bartenders, Emily, was training for an NVQ. Part of the course looked at cocktails and it sounded great fun. We tried it in the pub a couple of times. The last time was on our African-themed evening and it made me think that we needed to get better at it and train for it properly. We don¹t want to do food and we want people to come here for something different."
What are you looking to get out of the challenge?
"We would like to create a special cocktail list to get the most out of our evening weekend trade. Obviously the cocktails will be available in the week but Friday and Saturday nights are key. We get a lot of people in on a Saturday night who then leave after a couple of drinks to go into town we want to give those people a reason to stay with us.
"On one of our previous cocktail evenings we did try to use the cocktail shaker without much success. So we would like to learn how to use one properly, because we like the theatre it brings to everything."
Any previous cocktail experience?
"We have done cocktails on special evenings. I went to Gambia last year and fell in love with the place. And when I got back I found out there was a local drumming group that could do African drumming performances. So we had them in and we made lots of jugs of
