TOBY ELLIS IS… Cut Off – “The 1.7-Ounce Handcuffs Are About to Come Off”

Wednesday. April 21, 2005. 3:14PM. The quiet, unspoiled beach of Pawley’s Island, South Carolina. 81 degrees, blue skies, and a big, beautiful ocean sprawled out as far as the eye can see.

The “Delpechian” Wristband on my left forearm is offering little reprieve from the throbbing pain of working on bumps and my fingers are starting to ache from adding some taps into my bottle-tin routines. I’ve worked on the same sequence for nearly two hours now; just in case the competition bug bites again. I’ll be ready, I kid myself. It’s a near perfect afternoon for a flair bartender, but fatigue has showed up to the party and so the bottles start dropping to the soft sand, more and more. I’m tired. My 34-year old body feels 50, looks 85. I need a Mojito.

Both of my families, my biological one and my extended drink slinging one, surely knows me as a little more than an opinionated, somewhat clumsy alcoholic. Because despite that I don’t take a drink more than 10 times in an entire year back in Vegas (and 8 of those times are during flair comps), not an afternoon goes by when I’m outside of the 702 (area code) that I don’t have a drink in hand. Or so it seems. I tell my self it’s professional research and most people seem to buy it. Something about being on vacation, or just somewhere different, cries for a cocktail. And today is no different. So after fruitlessly fishing for clues as to the hidden treasures or the hot spots back on the mainland, I make for the seaside bars and restaurants, in search of a Mojito. Or whatever cocktail creativity I can uncover.

From Myrtle Beach to Murrell’s Inlet, Pawley’s Island to Historic Georgetown, there is an abundance of genuine hospitality that flows from behind the bars of South Carolina, though not a single bottle of liquor, as you and I know it. But that is about to change. The only state left in the Union, still operating under its own form of slavery, is about to be emancipated.

You see, until last year, South Carolina operated under a rather bizarre if not charming set of liquor laws, the most notable of which to bartenders, is that all licensed beverage establishments can only pour spirits from 1.7 ounce bottles. Minis. Yes, those “cute” little bottles you buy on airplanes. It’s funny, at first, when you belly up, to see back bars with nothing but rows and rows of 2-inch tall bottles. What isn’t so funny or fun, are the laws that go with it, which date back to the 1970s.

By law, once any of these bottles are opened, its entire contents must be put into the drink ordered. Ok, no sweat for single-liquor drinks, in fact, a nice little kicker. But hold the phone: 3.4 ounces in every two-liquor drink? Yep. And a hefty price tag, to boot. $9 White Russians, Apple Martinis, and Red-Headed Sluts? What is this…Vegas? London? Paris? Maui? New York? Miami? Nope… low-country South Carolina.

In fact, until they created a Mini-version of Long Island Iced Tea mix a few years back, bartenders had to pour a Mini of each to make one. That’s 7.4 ounces of booze in every LIT!! Add tequila to it and you’re looking at 8.5 ounces in one drink. Naturally, they were none sold in single servings, only in small “pitchers” for around $13-$16 each. Watching bartenders work with Minis had its novelty; four-bottle pours with one-hand, for instance. But as far as I can tell, that’s where the fun ended, and the silent killer of our business took over, Boredom. Or should I say, handcuffs to inspiration, caged creativity. Oh the monotony of the mini. Not to mention the ripped, bruised, and battered fingers of the bartenders, who resort to wearing gloves and taping up their hands to make it through a night of ripping open hundreds of little bottles.

I searched and searched for a cocktail list with some panache. Nothing. I hunted down a bartender with some flair, flair for anything. Whoever you are, wherever you work, I apologize, but I must have missed you. And I know you’re out there somewhere. Don’t misunderstand; I was happy to find an abundance of hospitality and genuinely friendly, warm people behind the wood. But I wanted my Mojito damnit, or at least a decent Margarita, you know… a real Margarita, made with something more than tequila, Cointreau, and fresh lime juice or equally disappointing tequila, triple sec, bad sour mix and bottled lime juice, sloppily built in a glass half-filled with ice. I’m not a cocktail snob by any means, but I appreciate a little craftsmanship, a dash of artistry, a measure of creativity from my bartenders.

But with the shackles South Carolina put on its bartenders, just how creative can they be? Imagine having to pour every single cocktail with exactly equal, and enormously exaggerated portions of spirits and liqueurs? No finesse. No subtlety. No Mai Tais. No Cadillacs. No Tatongas! It’s like bartending with nothing but beer bottles. Just twist the cap, dump into a glass, and you’re done. Can you imagine working like this? Better yet, can you imagine what it must be like to work like this for years, and then suddenly one day, the chains come off. What happens to the bar industry in South Carolina now?

We’re about to find out. Last year, a vote was cast and the mini-bottle law…was lifted. One major reason is the expense of running a bar this law creates…. most have to, by law, order from a middleman (a liquor store, really) at full retail. Another reason the law was voted down? Could have something to do with the not-so-surprising fact that South Carolina, despite it’s small size, has the highest number of alcohol-related traffic fatalities in the nation. (The mini packs a wallop, and most tourists have no idea.) So a voter referendum has ended 30 years of this archaic, complex, and silly system. But there’s a catch. Since that time, no new legislation has been passed, governing the distribution and sale of any other system. Low-country, as they call it, is in limbo. The government is trying to figure out how to salvage all those fat, juicy taxes they’ve been earning off the minis, which is most of the reason the law existed and lasted so long. Slavery, of a different kind, is alive and well in the South, at least for now.

But when the new laws are passed and bartenders there can cry “free at last”, will anything change? The barkeeps I spoke to didn’t seem to think so. In fact, I couldn’t rustle up a single person who seemed remotely excited about the idea of moving to 750s or liters or more importantly, the ability to do the one thing that, to me anyway, more defines the freedom of bartending than anything save flair: To freepour.

I for one, am quite curious and a bit excited to watch this unique world of bartending in South Carolina evolve. After introducing freepouring and flair to the masses in Mexico City, and again, surely for the first time, in Kathmandu, Nepal… there is something so gratifying about watching an entire city of bartenders get a taste of freepouring, bottle-flipping, drink-slinging freedom. A freedom that most of us take for granted these days.

So the next time you walk through the gate (or have to duck down under it), step onto the mats (or lack thereof), and pick up that bottle, remember just how lucky you and I both are, to let it fly. And by all means… let it fly. Cheers.

My name is Toby Ellis and when I’m not in search of the perfect Mojito, I’m trying my damnedest to make them behind the bar at two of the more celebrated nightclubs in Las Vegas (PURE and Tangerine). If you’re coming to Vegas and would like one of my Mojitos, or you’d like to fly me out to help your staff make theirs, drop me a line.

p.s. Mojitos Made Simple. Don’t be daunted, they’re really not that big of a deal. And before you start clacking away an e-mail to me about how your recipe or method is different, or mine is wrong because your roommate shags a Cuban bartender, realize…. I don’t care, lol. There are as many variations on this (and most other classics) as they are opinions about which one is “right.” I would rather we had a world where I could get a semi-decent Mojito in at least one or two bars in every city in the world than get the “perfect” Mojito in what feels like only about 10 bars in the world right now, lol.

Here’s “a” recipe and preparation steps and some suggested variations… written for most of us, who work in everyday, average bars and restaurants. The only thing you’ll really need that you may not have, is fresh mint (you can buy enough to make Mojitos for 100 people for about $6 US in the grocery store. Look in the produce isles, near the other fresh herbs), and/or possibly Simple Syrup. (You can order a bottle through almost any distributor for a few bucks or make it yourself by boiling equal parts sugar and water, then allowing to cool. It is for me, one of the most indispensable ingredients to making fresh cocktails.)

1. Toss 4-6 fresh lime wedges into your glass of choice. (I like a highball).
2. Tear off 8-10 leaves from fresh mint stalks and throw them in the glass too.
3. Pour 3/4oz-1oz of Simple Syrup (aka Rock Candy Syrup, Gomme Syrup, or Bar Syrup) over the limes and mint leaves. (Adjust pour to the palate of the drinker)
4. Muddle for about 15 seconds (press using firm quarter turns, don’t “mash”) to release and mix the oil from the leaves and the skins of the fruit with the sugar.
5. Fill with ice, cracked/shaved if you have it. (To the Top! Europeans…)
6. Pour 1 1/2oz – 2oz of Rum. (Experiment with light, dark, aged, spiced, and flavored rums for different tastes.)
7. Top with a splash of club soda. (Or Sprite, or even a dash of sweet and sour mix)
8. Garnish with a mint sprig and lime wedge, wheel, twist. (Make it look and smell good)

Once you get the “classic” version of this Cuban favorite, which this recipe is close enough to, start experimenting. Add fresh raspberries, pineapple, blueberries, tangerines, and/or flavored liqueurs. Try a splash of sour mix or other juices and see what delicious concoctions you can whip up to impress your guests. And don’t worry what cocktail snobs say about it. Have fun and make money. Taking the time and care to make a tasty Mojito or Mojito-like beverage is another way to do just that.

Some people like to make Mojitos using an upwards of a whole lime (half dropped into the bottom of the glass). While perhaps more “classic”, don’t be afraid to use the limes you have in your fruit caddy. And don’t get hung up on what kind of glass you serve it in. I like highballs because you can muddle easier in them than a collins, but the collins creates a taller drink with more mixer, and thus a different taste. And that is the final, and most important footnote I will leave you with this month on making drinks and cocktails. Realize the most basic, and most important part of getting any drink “right” is the basic flavor profile, not some uptight, anal adherence to this recipe or that recipe. I don’t care what recipe any bartender uses to make my Mojito, as long as they make it well, and it tastes like Mint, Lime, Sugar, and Rum with some carbonation or mixer that adds to the experience, and refreshes. Cheers.