Having worked in the alcohol industry for 20 years, trained over 10,000 bartenders, and had drinks at no less than 20,000 bars around the world, Philip Duff knows a thing or two about serving drinks. There’s more to bartending than simply serving drinks and the art of swaying your guest to drink something tastier, more elegant or simply more profitable is something Phil calls liquid nudging. “I’d say it’s the application of personal charm (consciously or unconsciously) and choice architecture to selling more and better drinks to guests,” explained Phil when I caught up with him recently to get the low down on the session. “Like us all, [they] are hampered by prejudice, group dynamics, ignorance, expertise and conditioning to the lowest common denominator.”

It’s easy to see how Phil can sway peoples decisions – with his suave Irish charm you could imagine him selling ice to the eskimos, or, more appropriately, Manhattans to Mormons. But can he really turn a Cosmopolitan lover in to a Martini drinker? “It’s scarily effective. While not exactly in The Manchurian Candidate league, you can certainly turn a Cosmo lover into a Martini adept – I wouldn’t say I do it nightly, but, undoubtedly, weekly.”

His own bar, door 74 in Amsterdam, acts as a proof of concept for the liquid nudging philosophy. “Our menus only list cocktails, champagne and tasting flights. No beer, wine, soft drinks etc. Our fridge’s glass doors are covered with decals from which only the door 74 logo shines through. This means you can’t see row upon row of wine and soft drinks bottles lit attractively from within.” The effectiveness of these techniques is clear with spirits, cocktails and champagne accounting for 92% of sales – no mean feat in a country that, despite its Genever heritage, largely drinks beer.

In addition to the right design, interaction with the guest is also key to liquid nudging. The Sullivan Nod, named after a trainer in the US called Jim Sullivan, is a method influencing a customer’s choice when relaying a list of possible drinks. “Just nod slowly two to three time when mentioning the option you recommend in a list of options. ‘Would you like the Pegu Club (nod), Cosmo, Martini, or Bramble?’. Then [one can] bookend: say the name of the drink you want to sell first and last. ‘Would you like the Pegu Club (nod), Cosmo, Martini, Bramble or Pegu Club?’. The hit rate is 80% and up in every country around the world I’ve done it, and no-one ever notices you nod. This technique paid for my first house!”

The techniques seemed to make sense, but I remained slightly skeptical. What do you say to the customer who just wants a Sex on the Beach and won’t budge? “There are only two possible reactions: either you have all the correct ingredients – including glass and garnish – and it would be churlish not to serve it, or you do not, and it is then entirely reasonable not to do so. In my experience though, when you have a guest who will not budge you have already failed as a bar. In that situation, the order process has become a battle of the wills instead of a good-natured exchange between host and guest. It is key to sense this at an early stage and pre-emptively suggest something simpler such as a long drink. By the time the guest gets to the ‘will not budge’ stage the situation has declined. Far better to defuse it in the early stages!”

Philip Duff will be joined by fellow international drinks consultant Angus Winchester for the seminar which will include elaboration on the above techniques and much more. Liquid Nudging takes place on Sunday, July 12, in the Queen Anne Ballroom at the Hotel Monteleone. Tickets may be purchased here.

It seems redundant to say it, but Tales of the Cocktail is a blast! Between the people, the sessions, and all the cocktails it is essentially impossible to not be having fun from the minute you leave your hotel room to the hazy recollection of arriving back at that room far later than planned. With so much new information from the sessions it’s going to take me a week to process it all, so instead of trying to detail everything I learned I thought I would instead offer some photos, and what for me have been the highlights of the past few days.

The bloggers reception, where I got to meet most of the other bloggers I’d not met the previous night. They say bloggers are shy, boring nerds, but not this lot!

My first session of Tales, Phil Greene’s exploration of Ernest Hemingway’s life which appropriately enough served five cocktails before midday.

One of my favourite sessions so far, as an Englishman and a gin lover, was Juniperlooza. Experts like Simon Ford and Phillip Duff, plus 10 different gin samples from traditional Dutch styles to modern American gins, plus some rarities like Old Tom in between.

As if 10 gin samples wasn’t enough, straight after was the Cognac and Armagnac session with 10 different brandy samples. The real surprise for me here was how good the sample of unaged Armagnac was – kind of Pisco like and very enjoyable.

On to Friday and the first session was on bitters, a subject close to my heart (and liver). Ancient bottles and modern attempts to replicate the classics? Yes please!

Ultra-rare ingredients was the theme yesterday, with the next session on liqueurs featuring the appearance of créme yvette and Forbidden Fruit, two ingredients that make créme de violette seem positively common. The bottle containing the vintage Forbidden Fruit may look familiar, but the contents was truly unique.

The only way I can think of describing créme yvette is a less perfumey, more fruity créme de violette, but that’s not really doing it justice. When it was announced créme yvette would hopefully be released early next year, the crowd cheered approvingly. These are my kind of people…

When you think of liqueurs, it’s easy to get caught up in some of the more florid, fruity and ultimately rather artificial concoctions that dominate many a bad drink. These brightly coloured bottles may look good behind a bar, and certainly many people are impressed when you present them with a luminous green cocktail, but where it really counts – taste – they more often than not fall down.

However, alchemists have been coming up with sweet concoctions almost as long as they have distilled alcohol, and some of the oldest and most interesting spirits are liqueurs. From aromatic mixtures like Chartreuse and Bénédictine to brand new spirits like St Germain, liqueurs provide a wealth of possibility for mixing drinks. My own recent experiences with orange liqueurs have shown to me just how important liqueurs are in cocktails, and how getting the liqueur right makes a big difference to the drink you end up with.

In “History of Liqueurs and Cordials, and Their Important Role in Cocktails Both Classic and Contemporary” Rob Cooper, creator of St Germain and head of Cooper Spirits International, will lead you through the long and complex history of liqueurs as well as their place in cocktails. You will also have the chance to sample Bénédictine, Drambuie and DiSaronno, three complex liqueurs that each have a long history and plenty of potential in mixed drinks. Whether you’ve only ever tried blue curaçao or own a vast library of liqueurs, I think everyone has a lot to gain from this session.

To get yourself in the mood for liqueurs I recommend the Purgatory, a cocktail with a potentially mind-blowing set of ingredients that is rich, complex and, amazingly, very well balanced. It’s a great example of the fantastic things liqueurs can do when mixed well…

Purgatory

• 2 ½ shots rye whiskey
• ¾ shot green Chartreuse
• ¾ shot Bénédictine

Stir well with ice and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon zest twist.

History of Liqueurs and Cordials, and Their Important Role in Cocktails Both Classic and Contemporary takes place Friday, July 18th, from 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM. Tickets may be purchased here.