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Proper Tableside Liquor Presentation & Foil Removal

The best bar programs take into account aesthetics and present liquor bottles to guests before jiggering or pouring into the glass, a practice borrowed from the sommelier world. This is particularly important if the establishment carries every age statement and non-age-statement a distillery offers. Presenting by repeating what’s in your hand ensures the guest is getting what they paid for and provides a measure to avoid an embarrassing or costly mistake. “Actually, I ordered the 12 year, not the 18.” For me personally, it’s a letdown when I go to a place known for a great whisky selection, and the whisky just shows up, un-presented. How do I know that’s the Bowmore 23 year, A.D. Rattray, I ordered? Well, I don’t. Tableside presenting of distillates separates the professionals from the rest of the pack. The next level of detail in this elevated world of spirit service is properly removing the foil or capsule around the opening. I don’t understand why liquor companies provide the worst possible capsule-packaging for most of their bottles, even the expensive stuff. Maybe, it’s because they assume everyone uses speed pours? Whatever the reason, the easy-pull-tab foil or plastic over the opening provides an opportunity to contaminate precious distillates when jiggered into glasses. Most easy-pull-tabs cut off just below the bottle top; so, when measuring into a jigger to be poured into a glass, the backwash from the action may fall into the fold between the glass and foil, contaminating future pours. Most certainly, if serving a new bottle to one group, utilizing tableside liquor service with jigger, tray and bottle, the first pour might be unpolluted, the second, third and so on run the risk of adulteration.

The best way to guarantee your guests do not receive a contaminated pour is to cut below the second-lip with a waiter’s friend corkscrew or knife. If the cut is not as clean as you would like, then remove the entire capsule. This is an easy enough practice to put into place and ensures your guests the best possible experience.