Is Your Back Bar Cooler Still Humming?

It's amazing how the serving of drinks is often substandard – or simply overlooked – even in supposedly high-class establishments. How many times has a meal been ruined because the white wine simply wasn't sufficiently cold – or even the mineral water tasted like it had been left out in the sun?

A whine about wine

This brings me to a wider point. The serving of drinks – in particular the etiquette associated with pouring wine – is a key area where many restaurants fall down. Why do so many sommeliers fail to understand that white and red wines must be served at their own unique temperature?

CityRover @ cityroverwalks.com / Foter / CC BY-NC

Personally, I also dislike the waiter who rushes to replenish the wine glass of every diner once it has become clear that it is almost empty. The diner concerned may not care to have another glass. Before he/she has had a chance to object, however, their glass is refreshed. Meanwhile, another diner who is genuinely an aficionado of the wine in question – a real connoisseur – is left empty-handed. What can they do, reach out and drink from their fellow diner's glass? Of course not! That would be another breach of etiquette.

I give this little preamble to stress that any bar or restaurant that pays scant attention to its refreshments is doomed. For those who like a tipple, the abiding impression of the meal is often dictated by the booze consumption. Even if the food was top notch, a bad booze night will ruin it.

A warm cocktail with a bucket-load of ice?

Needless to say, when you run a bar or restaurant – especially in the summer – think cold and fresh. Then customers will come flooding back. There is nothing worse than entering a bar on a hot day and finding that the drinks are lukewarm. Of course, they don't have to be ICE cold. That can almost be too much of a shock to the brain! But chilled nevertheless.

One of my least favorite ways to compensate for the lack of chilled drinks is by serving large tumblers of ice. These may get the liquid cold but they mean that the drinks are watered down. Basically, nobody wants a warm cola with a bucket-load of ice. Even more so, a warm Bacardi Breezer served with a bucket of ice simply isn't very chic. Likewise, it is a capital offence to serve white wine with ice! Rather, it should cool in an ice bucket.

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Into the cooler – but not with Steve McQueen

So a bar cooler is simply indispensable, even more so for beach bars or those alfresco bars without air-conditioning. A bar may be able to do without a bar blender or a mixer (albeit with difficulty) but a bar that does not have a well-stocked and spacious cooler may as well close. Where should you keep the cooler in question? You could keep it under the main bar out the way. If it is visible, however, it enables the customer to at least get an inkling of what is on offer. It also spares a lengthy question and answer session while thirsty customers get irritated waiting to be served.

All your cold drinks could be kept there – ice teas, sodas, tonics and beers – preferably a wide range. Why can't you opt for an ordinary domestic fridge? Simply because ordinary domestic fridges are not built to withstand normal wear and tear. Commercial brands, on the other hand, are much sturdier.

Try to get a bar fridge with sliding glass doors. The glass makes it easier to see the contents and the sliding door saves space. Ideally, you will want to have at least two coolers — a larger cooler for storing drinks and a reach-in bottle cooler at your bar. The larger cooler can store the beverages you don’t anticipate needing during a particular service period. The bar cooler need only have enough to cover your average night.

We hope your bar is a success and don't forget to keep a supply of sliced lemons and oranges – which make a great accompaniment for so many drinks.

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