Flair Lesson #16: The Stall
Whether you are brand new to flair bartending or you have been doing it for years, the Stall is a move that you’re going to be using more often than nearly any other move. When people watch a really good flair bartender, often they get engrossed with all of the bottle movement but they aren’t really aware of everything that is going on – just that a bunch of stuff is flying through the air. Flair bartenders use the Stall as a perfect way to pause or punctuate their routine, like a dancer hitting their mark, to give the crowd a moment to stop and cheer. Bonus points if they can do it in time with the music.
The Stall is essentially nothing more than a bottle catch on the back of the hand. There are many variations we use to eventually land a stall, but the basic stall itself is always the same. Get comfortable with the basics and you’ll be ready for some really awesome stalls that we’ll cover down the road.
Let’s start with the “grip” of the bottle. I’ve seen dozens of flair bartenders who have dozens of different grips for this move. What’s important is that you find what works for you. I’ll explain what works for me:
1) Let’s start with your fingers. I like to point my index and pinkie finger slightly up while pointing my middle two fingers slightly down.
2) Place the bottle on the back of your hand with the middle of the bottle’s base on directly on the base knuckle of your middle finger. The bottle should sit balanced equally between your fingers and the back of your palm. Practice moving your hand, slightly, forward and backward and left and right and up and down.
3) Getting comfortable with the Stall is really all about muscle memory. Practice the position of the Stall long enough so that you don’t have to think about it, until it becomes reflexive and a part of your subconscious. Place the bottle in the Stall position on the back of your hand while you are doing other activities such as watching TV, talking on the phone, etc., and you will help ingrain it into your memory. Eventually, you should be able to easily walk around the room with the bottle stalled on the back of your hand, spinning in circles without dropping the bottle.
4) Once you are comfortable holding the bottle in the stall position, let’s practicing throwing and catching it there, also known as the Pop Stall. “Pop” the bottle up out of the rail by grabbing it from the neck, lifting it up and pushing it slightly away from you. What you’re trying to do is be able to lift the bottle up, perfectly straight up and down, so that you can “catch” it on the back of your hand. Practice this lift or “pop” until you are comfortable keeping it straight up and down. Then, at the top of the bottle’s trajectory, try placing your hand directly underneath it with the same position we’ve been practicing. This will take time and practice, but if you’re comfortable with the position of the stall, you will get it eventually.
5) Eventually, you will want to be able to do the Stall with other items in your bar. Try practicing this move with a tin, a beer bottle, glassware, etc.
The Discussion...
