First attempt at flipping a bottle

[John]

After playing with an empty bottle, and a capped bottle full of water (750 mL each), I thought I'd move up to a liter bottle. On my first flip I soaked myself full of butterscotch schnapps, which was kinda funny, but sticky too. I've been trying to figure out how to flip without spraying any, but besides limiting the amount of liquid to almost nothing, I can't figure out how to prevent it.

My speed pourers are pretty cheap plastic things, does having better speed pourers make much of a difference?

Can you become skilled enough to flip a full bottle without spraying any?

If I'm going to throw around bottles at work, my managers would be pissed if i wasted any liquor...

What's the deal with avoiding spraying in the big picture?

Thanks for any advice,
John

[summieone]

OK John stop

Just to let you know that most flair bartenders only properly flip the bottle when there is only 1/2 shots of liquid in there, otherwise they do flashy moves where the bottles rarely leave their hands.

I'm sure Russ can direct you to the right video clips, but don't worry its not your pourers.

Darren

[Gidwick]

Welcome to the boards John!

Firstly I would really advise you not to try and flip any bottles or anything else breakable for that matter at work before at least mastering the basics, most managers see flair as a liability, so if you drop or spill your flairing at work will be stopped before you have even started!

Ok, enough of the rant! ;D

Most newbie flairers tend to learn to control a bottle by using a empty practice flair bottle, just to get the basics down, learn to flip, stall throw properly with this and get comfortable with it in your hands!

Now when you put liquid in the bottle its a whole new ball game, now you have to learn what moves you can do without spilling the liquid, Darren is correct in saying that when flipping bottles with liquid that you only really have one shot or a maximum of two in the bottle at anytime, and even with this small amount you probably will spill a little with a lot of the flashy moves!

Also like Darren said when performing moves with liquid in the bottle, its best to use sweeping motions instead of flips, they look just as flashy and use gravity to your advantage too, a bit like the water in th ebucket trick when you was younger, when u fill the bucket with water and hold it by the handle and rotate it over your head in an arc, the water stays in the bucket all the way thruogh the arc due to gravity, use your bottle in the same way!

One of the pleasures of flairing with liquid is the joy of getting wet!!

Let us know how you get on!

Russ

[timB]

From my (very) limited experience:

Forget the full bottles. You won't do it. The only time you should be doing anything even close to flair with a full bottle is when swapping the pourers from an empty, before you open the cap. Best flair time, as Russ and Darren suggest, is the last few shots.

If you're flipping a bottle, hold the neck and flip from there. That way, the g-forces are going to force the liquid to the bottom of the bottle.

When catching, get used to cushioning the bottle, rather than just grabbing it. Sudden stop means the liquid is getting thrown around inside your bottle, and it's going to splash. Bear in mind here that it's the direction of spin that matters, which won't necessarily be the direction of travel. If the bottles in a spin, you want to grab it by the neck while it's about on it's side, and slow the spin down for 1/4 turn to stop.

Also with bottles - try this: grab a bottle in the well by the neck, and add a flick of the wrist as you pull and release to catch at bar level. The result being that the bottle remains upright throughout the throw (no spillage), but is rotating as it rises. This looks great and is very simple. Your ideal aim is to catch by the neck, with the label facing the customer, pourer in position to move straight into a pour.

For working flair, that's the only bottle trick I'll do. Most of my moves are tin, since there's a lot more opportunity at work, and they're more durable if you drop one :-)

Good luck and keep practising!

[Todzilla]

I was gonna reply with some advice for ya, but then I saw that my cohorts pretty much covered it ;D
Nice answers guys!

Cheers.
Todd