If you have a party to throw and are short of a bartender, you can always rent one, offers Amrita Gupta.
When Wing Commander DS Sajwan and his air force chappies get together for drinks, they like to keep things simple. The only mixing they like to do as far as the booze goes, is add ice or water. But three months ago, for a party at the Air Force Technical College in Jalahalli, Sajwan decided to try something different. “We are not up-to-date with what is served outside, and the ladies like their cocktails,” he admitted. “If we tried mixing all those ingredients, it would be a disaster.” Thinking it best to leave the job to those in the know, he called upon Tulleeho’s Rent-A-Bartender service to avert possible disasters at his soirée. It worked wonders, he said.
If the party’s at your place rather than a bar, services like these ensure the trained bartender comes home to you, and turns a table and a tub of ice into a well-equipped setup. Once the headcount is in, these bartenders on rent suggest quantities of alcohol, ice, mixes and garnishes. The idea, explained Subham Shome, who owns Blue Ribbon, the company that’s also manned beverage counters at recent large-scale events like the Champions League and Oktoberfest, is to make many different cocktails with fewer ingredients. “You can’t stock a home bar with every single thing. So a lemon juice would go further than blue Curaçao,” he said. The kind of clientele attending is another factor, offered Tulleeho’s Rohan Kuttapa. Apparently there’s a formula to these tailor-made solutions: “The 50-plus crowd don’t want to experiment with what they’re used to, the younger people prefer juice-based cocktails, but foreigners don’t have such a sweet palate; they’d pick mojitos over cosmopolitans,” he said. In the one year that the Rent-A-Bartender scheme’s been available, they’ve catered to all manner of requests. “For an Indian theme, we had the bartenders swap their regulation black-on-black for full turbaned regalia, and serve gol gappa shots and rasagollas soaked in vodka,” said Kuttapa.
Rohan Carvalho, who owns the bartending school Bar Square, and also provides bartenders for private parties, was quick to point out that the benefit of using a registered company is the accountability it offers. “You can rest easy, knowing that someone you call into your house isn’t going to be knocking back shots or taking home a bottle,” he offered. And in the home scenario, he added, skill isn’t everything. “Here, flair might not be a top priority. You’d want someone who can interact and keep things going smoothly, someone who can also handle inventory,” he said.
According to Shome, Bangalore’s beverage catering segment is still in its early stages. “Food catering is really organised,” he explained. “But in this segment it’s all still word-of-mouth, with someone referring someone else who has an off on the day of the party.” Carvalho agreed: “The students and freelancers who do it for pocket money rather than professional pay affect things for organised players. That’s why people still try to bargain, and rates have been going down instead of up over the years.”
Nonetheless, with each of the companies handling at least one house party in the city every week, renting a bartender seems to be right up there on the checklist along with catering the food and hiring the glassware. Carvalho hazarded a guess as to why: “Everyone knows what a margarita is – it’s nice to be able to serve a decent one at home too,” he said. “Hiring a professional lets you offer more variety to your guests, including fun stuff like flamers which an amateur shouldn’t even attempt.”
But for the hands-on few who would prefer to run their own home setup and mingle with their guests from behind the bar, both Bar Square and Tulleeho’s five-day mixology courses offer the chance for amateur bartenders confident enough to shake up a few cocktails. And for those weighing in at the other extreme, there’s always the Opus Party hotline, which offers more than just bartenders on loan. “Our idea was to cut down on the run around and provide all party requirements under one roof – be it food, music, manpower, entertainment or alcohol,” explained their marketing representative Priyanka Chandrasheker. They’ll even give you the Opus venue so there’s no cleaning up the morning after.
Call Rohan Kuttapa of Tulleeho Bartending Academy on 97319-51746 to rent a bartender (Rs 2,000-Rs 2,500 on weekends) or register for a 5-day specialised mixology course (Rs 5,000). Call Subham Shome of Blue Ribbon Bar Consultancy on 98806-70670 to hire a bartender (Rs 1,500-Rs 5,000). Call the Opus party hotline on 98440-30198; prices start at Rs 1,000 per head. Call Rohan Carvalho of Bar Square on 93798-91791 to hire a bartender (Rs 1,500) or to register for a bartending course (Rs 5,000).
Source : Time Out Bengaluru ISSUE 1 Friday, July 23, 2010
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