Easy to Learn Bartending Flair

No, it’s not necessary to know bartending flair. You might work in a dive where people only care about getting their beer. But if you want the top notch clubs in the top notch places, flair is what it takes. There are even flair competitions that can put you and your bar in the spotlight.

Even if you only bartend in your home bar, have fun with bartending flair! Give your home bar a special name and join the competitions. You just might end up with some outstanding awards, and offers.

The Figure Eight

Some flair doesn’t even have to have flipping of the bottle or letting the bottle go at any point. A simple figure eight can be done with the bottle in one hand and the tin in the other. Grab the neck of the bottle so that your thumb is facing down on the bottle.

Grab the tin with the thumb and the middle finger so that it’s loose to flip. Hinge it over the back of your hand and get ready for the move. Bring the tin around in a circle so that your wrist flips away from you. At the same time, bring the bottle around so that you interlock wrists where the bottle is facing down into the tin. Make it grandiose. Make the motions in huge sweeping circles so that it looks grander than it actually is.

Next is a simple motion, but you have to complete it to make it look nice. Bring the bottle under the elbow of the hand holding the tin. Allow your hand on the tin to twist as you bring it around. Remember, you are pouring in this motion. So, keep the bottle and the tin connected. The tin always remains down or in motion so that gravity has a chance to do its job.

You are not finished. Finish the motion with one last twist bringing the tin now toward your chest and then dropping down so that it looks like you have made one complete figure eight motion from the point your wrists were interlocked. It looks like magic, but neither the tin nor the bottle ever left your hand at any given time.

The Tin

Many times if you look at the bartender doing flair, you’ll see that the tin is what is being flipped. Not the bottle. Of course, bottles get flipped and it looks great when the bartender knows what she or he is doing. But, here’s a simple trick that really makes you look good.

Holding the bottle in one hand, bring it around in a circle. Holding the tin in the other hand, simply throw it in the air in front of you as the bottle crosses your other hand. Catch the tin on the way down. Add more flair by flipping the tin. That’s it! That’s as easy as flair gets and it looks great doing it.

A Step Further

With the tin move mentioned earlier, add some flair to make it look like something even more special. Make it look like you’re juggling, but it’s not hard at all. The bottle leaves your hand for a second as they pass each other and catch it on the other side.

Flip the tin on the pass. Catch the bottle. Pass three times, and then pour an ounce to an ounce and a half holding the bottle upside down above the tin with your arms in a figure-four headlock type configuration. It’s the sweetest move and you don’t need juggling practice to figure out how to make it work.

There are some really complex bartending flair moves. But if you learn the basics, you can begin to get the feel for what flair really is. Then, take it a step further as far as your imagination and ability can go.

How to do Bartending Tricks

In the bartending industry, they call it flair. It looks good and it makes people want to buy more drinks. That’s great if you own a bar. But, some flair is still nice to know for your home bar tricks when you’re entertaining friends and family.

Get a Feel

The first thing to do is get a feel for the bottles you’ll be flipping. Pick up the tin and flip it in your hands. Grab different sized bottles and flip them, making sure you notice the different weights and measurements. You can condition your brain to immediately recognize the feel of a certain bottle if you hold it long enough and try a few tricks with it.

First Trick

This basic trick is what they practically teach everyone first when they go to bartending school. Hold the bottle in your right hand and the tin in your left. You can switch it later if you want, but learn the fundamentals first.

Swing the bottle under and around to your left arm. At that point, you are going to release it and flip it back over to its original position where your right hand should return to immediately. It’s a simple flip and you should do the motions a few times before you actually let go of the bottle for your first time.

Beer Bottle

Beer bottle opening can be quite interesting if you have a bottle opener that is long and flat. This will allow you to have a handle you can use for various tricks. With the beer bottle sitting on the bar, take your bottle opener and hook it to the beer cap.

This is done the same way that you would when you normally open a beer bottle with a bottle opener except that when you get tension, use that tension to do your tricks. Pick the bottle up with the bottle opener. The tension created between the bottle opener and the bottle cap will give you enough stability to be able to lift the bottle. Get a feel for it and you are ready!

You can learn different tricks to do, but my favorite is around the head. You can twirl the beer bottle around the back of your neck and then quickly pop the cap before handing your amazed friend a beer. It’s beautiful flair and when worked on enough, you can create your own sense of style when it comes to twirling beer bottles with bottle openers.

Flairing the Ice

Even something as simple as putting ice into a glass can be interesting. You need an ice scoop to really make this one fun and show your friends an exciting time. This is the kind of trick that if you pull it at just the right moment, you’ll have your friends wondering if they actually saw something cool or if their eyes were playing tricks on them.

Have your glass upside down when you perform this trick. Grab it in the upside down position and scoop ice out of the ice bin at the same time. Pull the scoop up to the glass. The palm of your hand holding the glass should be pointing upward, in the perfect position to now flip the glass around in a circle with the scoop still at the top of the glass to make it a bigger presentation.

But, add a step. Once you’ve done your flip, make sure to keep one last piece of ice in the scoop that you can flip behind your back and catch in your glass. All in one motion, that is a beautiful trick that will catch your friends off guard.

Bartending tricks have been around since bartending. For everything we do, we try to add a little flair to our jobs and make them as interesting as we can. That is especially when we know we are being watched. You may not be much of a bartender. Having a home bar doesn’t mean you have to learn. But, you’ll have fun and your friends will enjoy it right with you.