TORONTO – Pouring drinks for guests can be somewhat intimidating.
People have different preferences, the glassware comes in all shapes and sizes and it can be tricky to get the amounts just right.
The host or hostess with the mostest will also want to make sure that guests who imbibe over the holidays get home safely, or spend the night on a couch or in the guestroom if need be.
“Part of being a responsible host is definitely to measure your drinks for your guests, and not have an open bar,” said Stephanie Petroff, a senior communications consultant for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, or LCBO.
“Measuring drinks is really important. Not only do drinks taste better, but you’re also then making sure that you’re pouring standard pours.”
If guests request a weaker version of a mixed drink, that’s OK too, she indicated. “If they want to pour their own, have somebody there maybe offering a bit of advice.”
Troy Wanner, operations manager for the Fine Art Bartending School, said it’s tough to get the amounts right just by eyeballing the glass.
“Definitely have a measuring device of some sort, whether it be a shot glass, a jigger, anything that you can kind of measure your pouring,” he said from the school’s head office in Kelowna, B.C.
Getting the right amount of ice in the glass of a mixed drink can make a huge difference, he added.
“People don’t realize that. If you only put a little bit of ice in the glass, then you’ll have a lot of mix, whereas if you have the glass full of ice, you’re going to have way less mix.”
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Petroff noted that shapes and sizes of glassware are getting larger, which can contribute to the challenge of mastering the perfect pour.
LCBO launched a new ad this week to encourage people to speak up – address the elephant in the room – and prevent inebriated guests from getting behind the wheel. A new home bartending challenge on its website deflatetheelephant.com allows users to look at various glasses intended for different beverages, and try online to pour the correct amount.
“There’s a whole variety of glassware so it’s important to be aware that you’re not, obviously, filling it to the top or overpouring because then it’s hard to, in a sense, control what guests are drinking throughout the evening,” Petroff said.
When trying the home bartending challenge, Petroff acknowledged that the wine category was the hardest for her because some wine glasses are almost bowl-like nowadays.
Wanner agreed that there’s a tendency to want to overpour with the large goblets.
“If you want to use a bigger glass, you can pre-pour into a smaller dinner wine glass and then dump it into the goblet so you’re not overpouring. To eyeball wine into a goblet is next to impossible.”
Not all drinks are equal. Most beers contain five per cent alcohol, while wines usually contain 11 to 14 per cent and spirits contain 40 per cent or more.
Booze-free options should be available at any festivity – not only for designated drivers, but also so that people who are drinking can pace themselves by consuming non-alcoholic beverages too.
The website carries more than 50 recipes for mocktails – alcohol-free cocktails – that go far beyond the Shirley Temple that used to be standard fare.
Plenty of food to nosh on is also important, but salty items could make people thirsty and lead them to perhaps drink too much, too fast.
“You want to have a nice combination of proteins, cheeses, veggies. Dips and breads are always good choices,” Petroff said.
“I know that we tend to like to serve salty, sweet or greasy, but in terms of how your body metabolizes, it’s great to have a variety of healthy foods available for guests.”
At the end of the day, the host could be held responsible if a guest is impaired and has an accident on the way home.
“There’s different things you can do not only to help yourself plan ahead so that if you have situations where you need to put a guest in a cab or have them stay over, you’re planning ahead, but also to encourage your guests to plan ahead as well,” Petroff said.
Police forces around the country have launched their RIDE campaigns to Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere.
Wanner said that if he was a designated driver, he probably wouldn’t drink at all. And he wouldn’t serve drivers more than a drink or two.
Experts say it’s impossible to accurately determine how much a person can drink before reaching the legal limit. Factors include the amount of booze in drinks, size of the person, level of tiredness, how much food was eaten and the body’s ability to digest alcohol.
“Don’t have too much to drink yourself if you’re a host so that you can kind of notice everything and have somebody else there to help you look out,” Wanner suggested.
As a bartender, he said he’s had to take people’s keys away more times than he can count.
“I’ve had people yell and scream at me and they’re so drunk. I mean, they don’t mean it – they’re just upset. And then the next day, they forget all about it,” he said.
“They’ll thank you in the morning.”
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