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- soft drinks
- cocktails
- hot drinks
1. Pre-reading. Answer the following questions:
a What are the names of the establishments where beverages are
served?
b Can you give any examples of alcoholic and non-alcoholic
beverages?
c What drinks do we call cocktails?
d Can you name any famous wine brands? What do you know about
these wines?
e Who is the sommelier?
2. Read and analyze the text:
BEVERAGE SERVICE
In the foodservice business, beverage service is extremely profitable.
There are different kinds of places that primarily serve alcoholic beverages. In the USA the most common place is called a bar, and in
England it is a pub, short for public house, with a long counter from which drinks are dispensed. A cocktail lounge usually has a bar, small tables, a relaxing atmosphere, and minimal entertainment. A tavern is an old term for a similar place. Night clubs offer the additional attractions of dance music, meals and entertainment.
Almost every government jurisdiction throughout the world requires a license to sell alcoholic beverages. In some places the fee for such a license is small but in others, where the number of licenses granted is small and the demand for them is high the fee can be a major expense for the restaurant owner or operator, it almost always pays for itself within a short period of time.
The profit margin is usually much higher for alcoholic beverages than for food. The mark-up for wines and liquors can be increased with less
customer resistance than for food.
In restaurants where alcoholic beverages are part of the meal service, they can be grouped into three categories: before-dinner, with dinner, and after-dinner drinks.
The most common before-dinner drink is the cocktail, a concoction of liquor (such as gin, rye, and rum which are 80 to100 proof) and ingredients such as bitters, fruit juices, ice, and fruit. Some before-dinner
drinks are unmixed, such as vermouth and sherry, these are usually called aperitifs after the French term meaning to stimulate the appetite.
Drinks served with the meal are usually wine and beer. The customer makes a choice from a wine list, a menu of wines offered by the restaurant, listing the types and vintages.
Some restaurants that are particularly luxurious employ a wine steward or sommelier who has information about the wines, takes orders and serves them.
Liqueurs are served after dinner. They are usually strong and sweet and sometimes called digestifs after the French word meaning an aid to digestion.
Another means of classifying alcoholic beverages is according to the way they are made. Wine results from fermentation of grapes, a natural process in which sugar is changed into alcohol when yeast is added.
Beer is created when grains are converted to sugar which then becomes alcohol with the addition of yeast. Both these beverages have a relatively low alcohol content.
Another class of drinks consists of fortified wines, like sherry, to which more alcohol is added after fermentation.
Liquors and liqueurs are distilled, a process which changes a fermented beverage into a vapour, then condenses it to increase the alcohol content,
often to a very high level or proof. These distilled alcoholic beverages are often known as spirits.
In addition to alcoholic drinks restaurants serve many kinds of non-alcoholic beverages. These vary according to the meal, with coffee or tea and fruit juices customary at breakfast, soft drinks, tea and coffee at lunch, and coffee or tea at dinner. Coffee is often served first at breakfast, even before the customer’s order is taken; at other meals it is served last unless the customer specifies differently. Iced tea and coffee are popular drinks in hot weather. Almost all restaurants have milk and soft drinks such as colas and ginger ale.
The service of wines in restaurants varies from the formality of a wine steward and a large selection of vintages, to a house wine that a restaurant buys inexpensively in bulk. Wine can be served by the bottle, the half-bottle, the glass, or the carafe.
Mixing and serving drinks or cocktails at a bar is the job of the bartender
who needs to know the ingredients of a wide variety of mixed drinks.
In a restaurant he or she often works at the service bar, usually near the kitchen, dealing with waiters, rather than customers. Among the matters that are regulated on the beverage service are the hour during which drinks can be served. In England, for example, the pubs are open only for a few hours a day and are required to close early. After-hours drinking is carried on in private ‘clubs’ in which membership can be purchased.
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