No one enters a bar sober. Women down 6 drinks, men, 8. bartenders dish out 100 cocktails in 3 hours on a Saturday night. Rs 6,000 per person is the average alcohol bill FYI gets Mumbai's bartenders, F&B managers and rent-a-driver service providers to spill the beans on how the city drinks
No one enters a bar sober. Women down 6 drinks, men, 8. bartenders dish out 100 cocktails in 3 hours on a Saturday night. Rs 6,000 per person is the average alcohol bill FYI gets Mumbai's bartenders, F&B managers and rent-a-driver service providers to spill the beans on how the city drinks
If the workplace is a hell hole, then God lurks around at the bar, where heaven is found in every drop of a potent, flavourful Cosmo, or that smooth single malt. So, then that obviously makes Mumbai's bar the latest place of worship after a long day, short day, tiring day, lazy day. A single drink or two are the norm on weekdays, a sort of precursor to what will unfold on Friday and Saturday, and wrap up on over Sunday brunch.
The lines between weekdays and weekends have blurred long enough for anyone to walk right into a bar, down a few shots and not even realise it is a bloody Tuesday night. What unfolds on weekends can knock the socks off of a teetotaler.
Mera number kab ayega? The crowd at Hard Rock Cafu00e9, Worli tries to grab the bartender's attention on a packed Saturday night. Pic/Bipin Kokate
A happening bar on a Saturday night, sees bartenders churn out as many as 100 cocktails, and do away with 8 to 10 bottles of whisky, another 10 bottles of vodka, all in a span of 3 hours. We guess the recession, or its fear, has done little to change the way Mumbai drinks. If anything, it has spurred by the launch of new pubs, and arrival of a variety of imported liquor brands. "People always want to drink, all the time," confirms Mayur Babubhai Trivedi, Bar Supervisor at Bandra-based nightclub, Poison.
Bartenders spill the beans, drinks and everything in between
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Raj Pathan Khan, Bartender, Wink |
Raj Khan Pathan, a bartender at Wink, Taj President is popular for churning out exciting cocktails, flair bartending and the camaraderie he shares with regulars. "Youngsters treat their drinks like food they want to try different things every week," says Raj, who thinks fresh fruit cocktails are the hottest, newest trend. His day starts at 7.30 pm when he attends to the office crowd from neighbouring Nariman Point offices. "It's slow; they will have one beer or a whisky. But on a Saturday night, I get so exhausted after my shift that I need a drink myself to unwind. That's how crazy it gets," says Raj. Women love their cocktails (Flavoured Martinis, Cosmopolitans, Mojitos), men their whisky (Black Label or Jack Daniels), and youngsters fresh out of college are tequila shot fans. Shatbhi Basu, Director, Allspice Eatery & Drinkery at Acres Club, Chembur says more and more women are switching to whisky, and the crowd is experimenting with high-end vodka brands.
"Women average close to 5 to 6 drinks a night, while men down between 7 and 8," say Raj and Mayur. Regulars at Zenzi, one of Bandra's hippest nightspots, drop in at least three times a week, says bartender Dhananjay Gowda, who has been working here for three years. "A lot of the working crowd are into freelance or project-based work. They can afford to down close to 5-6 drinks even on a week night. There is no fixed agenda."
Some come in just to have a good time, unwind after work, while for hardcore regulars, drinkingu00a0 every night is a routine. "Some of them are often lonely, unhappy with their wives or their marriage. Others come in to make new friends, meet women," says Mayur, who sees men buy girls a drink almost every night. But picking up women at the bar or buying them drinks is still not well received by most Mumbai women, they say. "We tell our guests to approach women they want to, on their own. We prefer not to interfere," says Raj.
The booze budget, the bartenders reveal, is spread across a couple of venues. Since most bars shut shop at 1.30 am, pub hopping is common. "Pre-drinking and post-drinking sessions are crucial," Raj says, after what he's learnt chatting with regulars. Clubs like Poison, that are open till 3 am, often see VIP parties of 10-odd people cough up daaru bills of Rs 3.50 lakh. Most bars see a guest spend between Rs 5,000 and Rs 6,000 per person.
Bottle system, beer on tap are new trends
Anyone who has entertained NRIs must have watched helplessly as restobars turned down their request for pre-booking a bottle, instead of ordering single pegs. "Now, we give our guests the option of booking a bottle, every time they call in to reserve a table. Just like it is in the US and the UK. It works out better for them," says Mayank Bhatt, F&B Manager with Blue Frog, pointing out that on weekends service is tight, hence pre-ordering a bottle keeps the guests content. "We also throw in free mixers, plus the bottle comes in at a discounted price," he adds. This Lower Parel-based club that's known for its live gigs, has also introduced an all-new cocktail menu this May, prepared using vodka and ingredients like berries, honey, lime, fresh malta and mint.
"Expensive, country-specific vodkas with distinct identities and flavour profiles are the current trend. A significant shift towards speciality beer, craft beer and freshly brewed beer on tap is obvious. You will see a lot of micro-brewery-cum-cafu00e9s hit the market soon," says Shatbhi Basu.
Pre-drinking and post-drinking sessions are inevitable, so is responsible drinking"Nobody wants to enter a club sober," says Camya S, co-partner at Tetris Enterprise, an event management company that organises events at Vie, Play and Tequila Lounge. Plus, nobody enters a club before 11.30 pm, so clubs and neighbourhood gymkhanas that serve premium alcohol and food at subsidised rates, are gaining popularity among the 25 to 35 year-olds. Camya and her partners, Siddharth Atha and Rohan Sirkar are regulars at Otters Club, Bandra, on most weekends. A few drinks at the club, followed by another few at a pub, are followed by a last two at somebody's home after all the bootleggers in town have called it a night. "While the recession is not pinching everybody's pockets, drinking at gyms makes sense, especially when you don't want to drink and drive," Siddharth says.
Cashing in on this newfound responsibility, Ankur Vaid, Saurabh Shah and Mishal Raheja introduced the city to Party Hard Drivers (PHD), a rent-a-driver service. "The 23+ crowd is not taking chances these days. Occasion or not, if they are having a drink, they prefer to hire a driver," Ankur says. On an average, PHD receives close to 100 calls on weekends, every month. When the law against drinking and driving came into place, alcohol sales may have dipped, but with chauffeur services like these that cost just Rs 500 (to keep the driver from 10 pm to 3 am), bar sales are soaring once again.
Mumbai's bartenders tell all
What men and women tank up on>>Most women love Apple Martinis and Cosmopolitans
>>The college crowd love their tequila shots
>>Men tank up on Black Label with cola or soda
>>Minimum spend of an individual on a weekend night is Rs 6,000
>>Martini is a potent cocktail, but most women can easily down 5 to 6 in one night. That's 360ml of vodka
a nightHow the famous drink
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>>Manisha Koirala, Sushmita Sen, Lara Dutta are all vodka drinkers; Koirala can down as much as an entire bottle of vodka by herself in one night.
>>Sanjay Dutt is also a huge vodka fan
>>Most models drink only wine and beerOne of the first women bartenders reveals
What's catching the young drinker's fancy?Experimental cocktails, expensive, country-specific vodkas with distinct identities and flavour profiles are the current trend. A significant shift towards speciality beer, craft beer and freshly brewed beer on tap is inevitable. You will see a lot of micro-brewery-cum-cafu00e9s hit the market soon
Shatbhiu00a0 Basu
Pre and post drinking is the normA few drinks at a neighbourhood gymkhana, followed by another few at a pub, and then the final two at somebody's home after all the bootleggers in town have called it a night, is the norm say event managers Camya, Siddharth and Rohan
