In this post I cherry pick a few tips out of two books that aren't really intended for the bartender audience. The book Street Smart Sustainability: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Profitably Greening Your Organization's DNA by David Mager and Joe Sibilia is not aimed at bars but more small to mid-sized businesses. I did find a few points useful in it though, so I'll put them together here. These are all directed toward management/ownership. Involving Employees in the Waste Audit. The book covers a lot on conducting a waste audit. It covers the case for all sorts of businesses but... Read more →

An ingredient used as a foaming agent in both foods and in beauty products like shampoo and toothpaste is soap bark (Quillaja Saponaria). Note that this is different from soapwort (Saponaria Officinalis). This can be used as a foamer in cocktails in place of egg whites. Quillaja Saponaria can be found both in bark form or as a liquid extract. At Austin's The Roosevelt Room & The Eleanor, owner/operator Justin Lavenue uses the liquid extract but dilutes it with other ingredients to make it practical for the bar. (Note that they do not use this foamer exclusively - they use... Read more →