Bar-o-meter of Good Times

Well then, behind every high-on-fun party there’s a — no, not the host, but a bartender. Someone who talks the talk as he mixes the mix, only first names please. Making sure that the one-for-the-road is light enough to take you back home safely, he gets aunts and great-grand-aunts to clink their glasses too, even as kids loll around digging deep into his pockets for candies.

With private parties getting hipper by the day, the bar brigade couldn’t be far behind. Prashant Pallath of Melting Moments — run by Pot Pourri, one of Mumbai’s popular restaurant chain — attributes hitting it big to Shatabi Basu’s first book on cocktails. Mumbai’s mistress of drinks wrote The Can’t Go Wrong Book of Cocktails three years ago, following it up with STIR: The Academy of Bartending. The bartending consultant had people asking for the flair and the colour at private parties after her book hit the stands.

A fixture at private dos for many years now, bartenders today are bringing home that five-star flamboyance and style, a la Tom Cruise’s Cocktail. Time for exotic frappes, blends and mixes, they all agree, for managing a personalised bar no longer means just on-the-rocks.

Trying to outdo the Hollywood hunk, back home are pros Melvin D’Mello and Munish Tyagi and The Bar Rulers’ Kirti Prakash. For you, Melvin, Munish and Kirti. Emulating Cruise’s Cheshire smile and an uncut, unrehearsed manouevering of the shaker and bottles, the three encourage guests to slurp their flavoured shooters. And if it’s Prashant who you have invited, then your friends wouldn’t be able to resist his peach schnappes with vodka, or lime and syrup with white rum.

Kirti’s also long moved on from the plain Jane Martinis and Margaritas. Time has swivelled to the days of Green Stinger instead, he says. A Cointreau-vodka concoction, punched with tequila, with a dash of spicy Worcestershire sauce and some tangy Tabasco — all this over a bed of ice and khus. The sweetness of the khus, he says, masks tequila’s bitterness.

In other words, the way to your guests’ hearts today is through Mojitos, Caprinhas and Daiquiris, juggled, muddled and splashed by your shooter-happy barman. Industrialist Ratan Ansari, who frequently throws parties at his Madh Island beach house on the outskirts of Mumbai, says, ‘‘I’m always looking for suave barmen who can strike a rapport and blabber a grand cocktail menu. This not only livens up the atmosphere, it also helps my guests enjoy their drinks more.’’ And if these with-it whippers are from Basu’s academy then they’ll know their drinks like no one else.

Kirti, on the other hand, knows Milind Deora (politician Murli Deora’s son) as well as his drinks. Talking to the young Boston-returned Deora scion about growing roots in politics comes easily to him. And the smoothies follow. It’s an art!

So popular it is, that Delhi’s new wave bartender Sandeep ‘Sandy’ Verma has given the city an institute of its own (fee: Rs 30,000 for three months). ‘‘Family Bartender’’ to Delhi’s who’s who — and the man behind Blues in Delhi’s Connaught Place and the Taj Banjara’s Under Deck in Hyderabad — he rattles off his customers’, and their extended families’, choices with god-gifted ease. Winner of The Teacher’s Achievement Award 2002, Sandy says there was a restricted scope of conduct until a few years ago.

‘‘In fact, we bartenders were looked down upon. But gradually social equations evolved and so did people’s outlook. Today, guests not only engage in personal interactions but also give our skills the due applause,’’ says the 34-year-old bartender who leaves you awestruck by juggling fire-lit bottles with an unmatched precision.

There are rules, though: No compromises with the drinks and no being looked-down-upon. In return, they help you relax, enjoy and unwind. Other luxuries: Egyptian, Africana and Latino theme parties, designed costumes, choreographed performances by bartenders and foot-tapping with drinks.

There are stunts too. Like Joshua Gomes, Mumbai’s very own flair bartender, does a hands-free lifting of a shooter with his teeth that rolls the smoothie straight down the throat. Or demonstrates gulping a Babushka, a fire-lit vodka, for those who like it straight up and warm. ‘‘Once my host’s guests get the hang of it, it’s one more feather to my style cap!’’ he exults. Then there’s Mazhar Siddiqui who throws up some ice to let it drop into the glasses.

‘‘Today, watching us perform behind the counter is as much fun as shaking a leg or two,’’ reaffirms celebrity Dutch barman Edgar Noordanus, who made Delhi his home seven years ago after marrying an Indian. A Thai boxer, he was also Sushmita Sen’s bodyguard for a day. While Edgar’s skills come at a heavy price (Rs 20,000 for a night), there’s one for every budget on the market. And every taste. For those who like it stylish, there’s Clare D’Mello in her bright red waistcoat and finely painted nails. Or the 22-year-old Bosnian studying in India, who picked up some precious tips at a party long ago, and now earns Rs 1 lakh a month by bartending.

And you, how do you like yours?