Understanding how to clean and treat your bar tools and glassware will help keep them sparkling, clean, and maintained for longer periods of time. Check out how!
When working in the bar tool industry, a question that comes up quite a bit is “how do I take care of…” or “what is the best way to wash a mixing glass?” So we thought it would be best to write an article on the best 6 practices that you should do to keep your bar tools and glassware clean and well taken care of. This advice comes from various bar enthusiasts and our own experience handling our products.
1. Hand Wash Your Delicates.
Delicates? Are we talking underwear? Not! What we mean by delicates is the mixing glasses, stemmed glasses, and handcrafted pieces that could risk breaking when used inside a dishwasher. If it is a typical rocks glass or simple glassware, you would probably be safe using a dishwasher. As long as you check to make sure it’s dishwasher safe!
2. Use a glass polishing cloth or a microfibre to remove pesky fingerprints.
Let’s face it. Glassware that has a ton of fingerprints on it looks dirty, and you don’t want to have glassware that has a ton of fingerprints on it when you’re pulling up a glass for your friends. You can find great polishing cloths for relatively inexpensive prices to help remove excess water spots and remove fingerprints before putting the glassware away. The best cloth you can get are generally lint-free as well. An example of a good polishing cloth can be found here. (https://www.amazon.ca/Final-Touch-Glass-Polishing-Cloth/dp/B01F5P7JAI)
3. Do not put plated barware in the dishwasher!
Overall, the plating on your bar equipment can be maintained longer with a little extra care. That means dishwashers are a no-go! Putting your plated bar tools into a dishwasher causes them to bang into each other and slowly strip away the color, making your tools look old and beat up. We highly recommend hand washing your plated barware and storing them where they won’t rattle or clank against each other. A plus side to this is having a clean, organized look for your barware that could impress any guests you have invited.
4. Be careful not to break your glassware due to water temperature changes.
Nothing is worse (and sometimes scarier) than when a piece of glassware breaks. When you wash your glassware, you don’t want to rapidly change the temperature of the water to clean your glasses. Changing the temperature causes the glass to expand and contract, and eventually, it will break, and worse, it could break while you’re washing it.
5. Store your Glassware away properly!
We dare you to pull one of your older glasses from the back of the cupboard out and look inside the glass. If we store glassware right-side-up, you have the chance of collecting dust and other contaminants which can cause an odor or impurity in your cocktail. We always recommend that you store your glasses upside down and on top of either a cloth or a paper towel so that no future outside dust can get inside the glass. By polishing your glass with the towels mentioned above and placing them upside down, you have a pretty sure bet that your glass will be in good shape and smell when you pull it for a cocktail.
We hope that this article helps you maintain your bar tools and glassware properly and safely. In our own experiences, if you follow the practices above, you’re sure to have success with your bar equipment well into the future. If you have any questions about any of our products and how to properly handle them, shoot us a message by clicking here!