The Belgians Do It Right

By Jeremy Sherk

Ever seen a Stella Artois poured properly, true to the Belgian ritual?

Perhaps the bar you work at is equipped to do this yourself. Whatever the case, it’s quite an impressive process.

Stella is from Belgium, where there’s over 450 varities of beer. In Belgium, each brand of beer must have its own particular glass, with its own unique size or shape. Even more, each beer has its own coaster it’s served with!

The whole process is done with extreme attention to detail.

Once the meticulous pouring ritual is finished, they don’t stop there. The bartender will serve you your beer, with the coaster’s logo facing you as well as the logo on the glass facing you.

So what’s my point in telling you this?

So that you’re more conscious and aware behind the bar. When you serve a beer, face the label directly towards the customer. Don’t just put the bottle or glass on the bar without thinking, be mindful of what you’re doing and do it right.

When it comes to beer, the Belgians do it right. While your bar isn’t likely equipped with their selection of beers, glasses and equipment, you can still take them same approach.

When a customer orders a Budweiser, an MGD or a Smirnoff Ice, face the label towards them. The same goes for the liquor bottles on your shelf. Make sure the labels are faced forward. It doesn’t matter how busy your bar is. It takes no more effort or time to put a bottle back on the shelf properly with the label facing the front than it does not to. It just requires you to be conscious of what you’re doing.

Too often I’m at a busy bar and the bottles are all over the place. This looks terrible and screams unprofessionalism (to me at least).

Take it a step further and position all the pour spouts in the same direction on your bottles. I also wouldn’t be suggesting this if I didn’t see it being violated in so many bars out there.

Pour spouts randomly and sporadically inserted into liquor bottles looks sloppy and I believe it also slows down your bartending speed because it’s not a consistent set up.

It’s being mindful of subtleties like these that make an exceptional bartender. Now, will employing these suggestions skyrocket your tips your next shift? Probably not. What I’m trying to say is be more conscious and aware of what you’re doing behind the bar. Approaching everything you do in this manner will go a long way in making you stand out and earning you more tips.

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