By Elyse Glickman
Depending on your restaurant’s location and your state’s legal requirements to obtain a full liquor license, there are many steps required to become a “full” bar. For some restaurants, there’s a waiting period before that permission is granted. For others, it may not be possible to go “full bar” for a variety of reasons, ranging from operating in a “dry” community to budgetary factors.
However, when there’s a will, there’s a way. Even without a full liquor license, you can build an interesting beverage program with a few good wines, craft beers, low alcohol by volume (ABV) products, spirits substitutes, and a little imagination.
Wine-, Beer- and Sherry-based Beverages
Sangria—always a favorite at tapas restaurants—is an obvious choice for restaurants that want to serve creative cocktail but don’t lack a full liquor license. This Spanish-inspired beverage is essentially a wine cocktail that’s been around for generations, yet embraces many values embodied by the craft cocktail movement: the use of fresh fruit and other carefully-chosen ingredients.
Micheladas are another option. The savory beer cocktails—made with some combination of a favorite brew, lime and salt plus Worcestershire, Maggi or soy sauce—recently have gained traction on Mexican restaurant bar menus, surprising even the staunchest Bloody Mary fan as to how versatile a craft beer can be.
Sherry, too, can be a behind-the-bar friend for mixologists working with a limited liquor inventory.
Spanish sherries—which lend themselves to a variety of cocktail recipes—are finding their way into Mexican and Latin American restaurants with both limited and full liquor licenses, according to Jacques Bezuidenhout, a partner at Wildhawk and Forgery, two popular bars in San Francisco.
”Sherries allow bartenders [to create] great cocktails with a lot of flavor even though they are low ABV,” he says. "They still pack great taste, offer the bartenders a lot of creativity, and give the customer delicious cocktails with lots of flavor.”
Craft Cocktails
As versatile as mixologists can be with beer, sangria and sherry, many restaurateurs want the variety and allure a full cocktail list offers—especially as high-end, craft cocktail trends have poured into the mainstream.
Companies like San Gabriel Beverage Group in Rosemead, Calif. and Premium Blend in Miami, Fla. have been bringing cordials, agave wines, mixers and various low ABV products to restaurants for years…and the burgeoning craft cocktail movement has introduced new opportunities for those companies and their clients alike.
“We have helped limited license clients expand their menus. For example, if a beer/wine account is called Cielito Lindo they can use our products to develop a Cielito Martini or Margarita, adding in seasonal produce and other ingredients of their choosing,” says Henry Santos, president and co-founder of Premium Blend. "Everybody knows what a margarita is supposed to taste like, but when the account offers a Cielito Margarita, it is something completely new that will allow customers new ways to view the restaurant."
Nicholas Capriccio, director of business development at Garvey Wholesale Beverage (the parent company of San Gabriel Beverage Group), says the company has always offered mom-and-pop restaurants without a full liquor license products that let them compete with competitors who enjoy the luxury of a full bar.
However, he has seen an uptick in the number of restaurants in states like California, New York and Florida using these products—due in large part to the fact that full liquor licenses in major metropolitan areas can run over $150,000, while beer/wine licenses cost just a quarter of that. Operators, Capriccio says, are looking for options that will allow them to serve craft cocktails and save money, too.
”Some of our accounts may have a waiter or several waiters with a mixology background, and they've been able to make unique cocktails with our products to embrace the current craft cocktail culture using fresh ingredients such as ripe raspberries for a seasonal infused martini or jalapeños to do a Jalapeño Old Fashioned,” he says. “Any cocktail you can make with full proof spirits you can make with our fermented spirits."
Most feedback so far supports the case for a non-hard liquor program, Capriccio says. Some customers reported that lower-proof cocktails have helped them cut down on instances of customers overindulging, while others noted that San Gabriel products have allowed them to broaden their bar program and their profit margins.
"One can use a dollar's worth of our margarita mix and agave wine to make a margarita, and enjoy a substantial profit off a drink that retails for $7 to $9," Capriccio says. "With legal opening hours in mind, a client told us that he could pour long after his full liquor license competitor had to close for the night—it’s cool to hear stories like that."
Santos points out that accounts waiting for their full liquor license probably have a qualified bartender familiar with craft cocktail creation and can get the value of its products right away in terms of the flavor profile they want to achieve.
For those sticking with limited liquor licenses out of legal or financial necessity, Santos and Capriccio say their companies can help with the challenge of growing a bar program with limited resources.
"We have a series of videos developed for us, with cocktails created by master mixologist David Ortiz," continues Santos. "Each video goes through the steps of making a given cocktails using our wine-based cordials and liquors. The simplicity of using our products lies in that they are designed as a replacement for different full-proof liquors. Bar staff can simply adapt cocktail recipes that appeal to them so the full-proof liquors can be swapped out for our products in beer-and-wine only bar locations."
Santos details how Premium Blend products can provide a base for several hot-right-now cocktails. Klir Red serves as an excellent base for caipirinhas; Rhumbero is a great starting point for Cuban-style daiquiris and mojitos; and El Jinete Blanco, a 100% Blue Agave product that duplicates a premium silver tequila, can be used to make cocktails including Margaritas and Pisco Sours.
"Every cocktail has a basic recipe, and every bartender has his or her own approach to making that particular cocktail," says Capriccio. "If you are a restaurant owner, however, you need to take food pairability and consistency into consideration. If your food is saltier and spicier, you will want to balance those dishes with sweeter cocktails, or vice versa for dishes that are sweeter. Once you achieve a desired flavor profile, be sure to train your staff with basic recipe cards and make it simple. If your staff is limited, you can also batch up cocktails before hand and keep them refrigerated so they last through an evening or two.”
SIDEBAR
Focus on Beer
If you invest time into curating your beer and wine selections to pair with the food, a separate cocktail list may not be necessary.
That’s the approach Anne Conness, chef/partner at Sausal in El Segundo, Calif. and a certified cicerone (the equivalent of a sommelier for beer), takes at her restaurant.
”I originally devised Sausal's concept to be focused on pairing craft beers with Mexican cuisine because they go together so naturally," says Conness. "I believe a good craft beer should be unsullied with other mixers. We feature a michelada as well as sangrias, but we also offer flights with taste-sized portions of beers to show how they pair with different foods or salsas."
Conness recommends curating a collection that includes some Mexican brands, a nitro-dispensed stout with velvety flavor and low carbonation (good for roasted meats, el pastor or a mole dish) and a few Belgian beers (as the yeast used in these have fruity esters that resonate with chili flavors). And then there are the IPAs to consider.
"You should be careful with IPA’s as they can not only amplify spicy flavors but make certain dishes inedible," she warns. "However, as guests love IPA’s, you should put in some effort to find a couple whose flavor profiles will harmonize with your menu’s dishes."
Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to el Restaurante's digital publications for free by clicking here.