What is flaring and where did it come from?

When a person says that he works as a bartender, he should be prepared for the first and universal question: “Can you throw bottles?” In the worldview of most people, a bartender is a cheerful person behind the bar who smiles, tosses bottles and mixes bright cocktails.

In reality, of course, everything is different. Let's start with the fact that not all bartenders "throw bottles." In our country there are a huge number of cool mixologists who did not engage in flaring in their careers, but developed other skills. They are quite famous and work in premium bars.

Flairing is a separate direction, it is not just juggling with bottles, but a whole show with different bar equipment.

History of flaring

It is believed that the first flaringist, or even so, the first bartender who began to use elements of flaring in his work, was the well-known Jerry Thomas, who was called the professor for his love of mixing. The famous drawing of the Blue Blazer cocktail by Jerry Thomas is still published in every publication of professional literature on the bar craft.

In Russia, the general public first saw flaring in the acclaimed 1988 film “Cocktail” starring Tom Cruise, which tells the story of the life of a young bartender and the fun nights behind the bar.

In the 2000s, there were no flaring schools as such, and everything that the guys learned, they either came up with themselves, or had difficulty getting CDs with recorded performances of world flaring stars.

Types of flaring

In the modern community, there are two main types of flaring: worker or craft skills and show flaring.

Working flaring has a fairly straightforward name; these are the elements that almost every bartender can perform in his daily work. These are beautiful, elegant, but at the same time quite safe elements. The more often the bartender performs the element, the more accurate, gentle and smooth the movements. The more you get the feeling of ease of execution, but behind each movement, undoubtedly, there are hours of training.

Also, elements of work flaring are called “feihuli”. Typically, the following bar equipment is used for craft skills: jigger , bar spoon , shaker , strainer , bottles. This flairing does not imply a large number of connections and long-lasting elements. But at the same time, bartenders who have mastered craft skills look very impressive behind the bar and form the right impression of their professionalism.

Flairing shows are, essentially, separate performances. Here you can find juggling, a large number of objects in the air, stage costumes, dry ice, and much more.

Where can show flair occur?

Most often, bartenders perform such a program at catering events: weddings, graduations, anniversaries, etc. In this case, the bartender agrees with the customer on the format of the event, the number of guests, possible interaction with the guests and the duration of the performance.

The bartender comes with his proven program, music, recipes and puts on an unforgettable show.

And, of course, show flairing can be seen at the bartender championship. Now in Russia there are several prestigious championships where the best flairing players in the country compete in this category “Flairing”.

Flaring is always bright, emotional, colorful, but behind each (even visually simple element) there is titanic work, many hours of training, strength, will and the desire to win, first of all, over oneself.

Flaring bottle

At competitions, bartenders perform with ordinary glass bottles, but special bottles are used for training

The bottle for flaring is most often made of ABS plastic, but other durable, unbreakable materials can also be found. Moreover, the weight of this bottle corresponds to the weight of a glass bottle with a small amount of liquid. When dropped, such bottles do not break, and, therefore, give the bartender the opportunity to hone his skills without a space strewn with fragments.

Of course, they do not last forever; if dropped unsuccessfully, the bottle may burst or a piece of plastic may break off, but the wear resistance of such bottles is still quite high.

How to learn flaring

There are several options here:

1. You can go to special courses; in every city there is a representative office of the bartenders’ association, and a dozen more commercial organizations, where the champions of past years train the next generation of professionals;
2. You can start with videos on the Internet. Nowadays there are a lot of short videos and long online courses that will help you learn the basic elements;
3. You can get a job in an establishment where practicing florists work and begin to understand the craft first hand.

Flaring is difficult, but with discipline, hard work and desire, anything is possible!