Flair Bartending Lesson #55: The Exchange
This week’s flair move is called the Exchange, otherwise known as a Behind the Back exchange. This move drove me nuts for two weeks before I could finally even land it once. The bottle and tin kept smashing into each other and flying off in a million directions. It’s not an uber-flashy move, but it makes for good variety and great transition within the whole spectrum of 1 bottle 1 tin moves.
For starters, make sure you are 100% comfortable with the basic bottle Flat Behind the Back. Then set the bottle down and just focus on your hand with the tin. You should practice the tin throw with 2 different grips: either hold the tin along the body and let it roll off your fingers for a flat toss or try gripping the tin across the mouth and throwing it with a rotating double spin. Practice both and see which one is easier – but try and get them both.
The biggest tip I can give you is that your left hand (tin hand) reaches a little further across your back before throwing than it normally would if you weren’t also tossing/catching the bottle. Your left hand almost makes a little circle, releasing the tin on the farthest right point and catching the bottle at the top of the circle.
Finally, the bottle Flat Behind the Back is not 100% the same as it would be if you weren’t also throwing the tin. The bottle should be tossed a little higher over your shoulder and caught a little higher and further to your left than it normally would. Watch the slow motion close-up in the video to really see the difference and where your hands should go.
The Discussion...
3 Responses to “Flair Bartending Lesson #55: The Exchange”
Great tips, this move has always frustrated me to the point where I stopped trying it, due to the reasons you stated
Hey guys, just a few tipps to the behind the back exchange tin motion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ivOvhLuiak (3:00 Min explained and showen by Christain Delpech).
This one is driving me crazy. On day 3. Lol. The behind the back tomahawk was a toughie too. Before that, I was blowing through 2 or 3 lessons a day.