Introduction - Hiya guys, my name is Oron Lerner, I'm a bartender from Israel. This here is the slides and texts from a seminar given in Art of the Cocktail 2012 on behalf of EuroWineGate, and a great big thanks do they all deserve for letting this happen. Before we start I'd like to share a small insight – when discussing creativity people would often find their minds drift to new ideas and techniques and we cannot help ourselves but lose focus, which is a great sign that this topic excites you. Those of you who can take a break, examine a notion or idea and then come back to the text are welcomed, those of you who can't help it grab a piece of paper and doodle anything that comes to you during this read. Don't fight it, just let it happen, it's part of this process and it’s a long enough written mass for breaks to be welcomed in betweens.
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Transcript
Introduction -
Hiya guys, my name is Oron Lerner, I'm a bartender from Israel. This here is the slides and texts
from a seminar given in Art of the Cocktail 2012 on behalf of EuroWineGate, and a great big
thanks do they all deserve for letting this happen.
Before we start I'd like to share a small insight – when discussing creativity people would often
find their minds drift to new ideas and techniques and we cannot help ourselves but lose focus,
which is a great sign that this topic excites you. Those of you who can take a break, examine a
notion or idea and then come back to the text are welcomed, those of you who can't help it grab
a piece of paper and doodle anything that comes to you during this read. Don't fight it, just let it
happen, it's part of this process and it’s a long enough written mass for breaks to be welcomed
in betweens.
Just what is Creativity? –
Creativity is a continuous process of defining our work limits, working within those limits and
then finding new ways to exceed the limits and find new ones.
For example, for a bartender creativity would start by learning the various tools of the trade and
how to work with the various ingredients in his bar, the limits of his creative work are what is
available to him right now. Until a point when those are no longer sufficient and new ingredients
start pouring in or the bartender finds new ways of expressing or combining those ingredients,
such as infusing a spice into a spirit that will give him an entirely new ingredient to work with.
Scientifically, Creativity is measured against problem-solving skills, the further away the solution
is from the average, most acceptable solution the more creative it is. 'Problem' in our case can
be defined as 'a need to come up with a new cocktail recipe', in which case mixing whiskey,
bitters and sugar (an Old Fashioned essentially) might not be the most creative new drink recipe
available as it already answers an existing frame, it is 'close to an average and an already
acceptable solution'. This is not to say that one cannot get creative with an Old Fashioned
cocktail formula. We'll get to that later.
'Problem' can also be defined differently. The creative process is also about finding new
problems or redefining old ones. For example, is this about finding new cocktails? Or creating
new experiences? Or re-shaping an entire cocktail menu? And how can we use the difference
between a cocktail and an experience to create something…well…creative? The very discussion
and redefinition of the creative challenge will often send you on a new, exciting and creative
journey. "Every problem is an opportunity in disguise"
The second part of the creative process is about criticism, preferably self-oriented, that gives the
creative process its context. There is a result that needs to happen at the end of this process, be
that one great new cocktail recipe or an entire menu, but the reality of the bar business shapes
our context – drinks must be priced accordingly, hence what ingredients and amounts can go in
them. They should have a certain portion of alcohol in them – too much or too little makes the
drink lose its context. The cocktails have roles within the menu – a menu that is entirely just
sour, even if refreshing and pleasant might wear down the guests looking for something of a
different nature. Defining our context will also help define our creative challenge and assure
more realistic results.
How many times have you seen a bored child walk up to a table filled with various sodas and
light drinks and condiments and start mixing his own kind of 'cocktail'? these creations usually
end up as having a bit of every liquid on the table, possibly some ketchup, pepper, salt, sugar
and some ashtray leftovers. Is this a creative process? Yes. It is also a very creative drink, but it
lacks context. Creativity bereft of context is very poor art.
"It can't just be weird man, people have to dig it" / Winton Marsalis
Since randomly adding ingredients to a shaker does not a creative cocktail make we should treat
creativity as a process and not a specific point in time, it is a set of techniques, guidelines and
suggestions that will help foster this process and encourage us to be more creative.
Before we continue further into what creativity is, let us discuss what creativity is NOT – it is not
a unique talent, it has little or nothing to do with intelligence, nor is it genetic in any way. It is a
way of operating, a way of thinking that literally anyone can adopt.
There are, however, a few common traits to people who have a tendency to be more creative -
1. Be playful.
Play with possible solutions, don't be afraid to try something just because it might be absurd or
might fail.
2. Have fun.
Nobody really finds a creative solution when he's not open minded and enjoying him/herself.
3. Take your time.
Free time is essential to this process. Find it. Make it happen.
Studies have been able to find other common habits amongst creative people:
- They are devoted to their work, and more of this devotion when we discuss Shumi.
- They have a drive for independence and therefore also to take responsibility for it, this refers
to the infamous ability to fail – and learn from it, that are so essential to the creative process.
- Have an urge for originality and are willing to spend their time on a problem until a creative
solution is found.
- Show flexibility in thinking processes.
State of Mind – Opened and Closed.
The open state of mind is when creative ideas are formed. It is a secluded play-time of the mind
that you have (preferably) cleared in the schedule to do just that – sit, think, write down any
creative idea that comes up no matter how ridiculous or absurd. Do not test any of the ideas
yet, do not finish any other chores. Just meditate for an hour and a half about the problem you
have defined.
Only after said period, should you examine the various solutions you found and proceed to
executing them. This would be the closed mind mode when we are aiming at accurate results
and no longer ponder various other solutions.
Preparation -
Preparation comes in two different time frames. The long term preparation is the slow
acquisition of required knowledge of the craft and profession, the various techniques,
ingredients, their process and flavors, what might work with what and what is an already
acceptable combination. These are our defined limits and it can take several years to learn the
boundaries of our creative requirements (such as, is it within our context to infuse cigars into
rum? Answer: No, it's apparently very poisonous).
Originality requires an origin, without knowing what already is you can never really be creative
no matter what the fantasies about 'new and upcoming stars with huge talents who can just
create out of nothing a new and super exciting drink' tell you, even such stars must have this
preparation time, meant to build up a bank of knowledge from which to draw your inspiration.
Without this bank of knowledge you are, in a way, Alice in Wonderland – going on a road but
having no destination.
Research has shown that it takes poets as long as 5 years before their creations live up to any
creativity measuring standard in poetry. Painters take 6 years, composers and chess players take
as long as 10. And though the research does not detail bartenders, we've taken a measure of
our own based on Gaz's 101 Best New Cocktails books, checking to see how long the various
contributors to the book have been in the business of creating new drinks and came up with our