Bermuda tends not to get as chilly as other climes at Christmas-time but in case you are in need of a warming spirit or two, The Royal Gazette sought out some bartenders’ advice on what to serve up.

Michael (Scotty) Scott from Splash night club and Emma Simms of the Salt Rock Grill were kind enough to share some of their favourite winter drinks.

Mr. Scott got into bartending by way of becoming a busboy at Portofino when he was 15 years old.

“They had a service bar and there was a bartender there by the name of Charlie Bristol and he used to show me a few drinks and I’d make a few,” he said.

“Then after a couple of years I went off to university to study physical education, and when I came back and I was a bartender there full-time — that was around 1996.

“I then took a course up at the Bermuda College with Phillip Galloway to get a piece of paper, then I returned to Portofino’s.”

From there, the younger Mr. Scott went to work for the now-defunct Club 40. “I saw Shawn Lekki,” he said. “And he was flicking bottles in the air and I thought, ‘I want to do that’.

“I approached him and Kevin Burrows, who was the owner then, and they tried me out for the weekend.

“I was a bit nervous because it was the first time that I had worked in a night club. I had a blast and it escalated from there.”

Later Mr. Scott would migrate to the nightclub Splash.

“They gave me an opportunity to own shares and to manage,” he said. “So here I am.”

His advice to anyone wanting to learn bartending was definitely to start in a restaurant setting.

“They show you the classic and proper way to make drinks,” he said, and the pace is more conducive to learning than in a nightclub.

“Here it is more fast paced and sometimes you are going so fast that you just have to put a drink out there,” he said of Splash.

“In restaurants it is more about presentation and people want their martini done properly.”

Making good drinks takes experience and creativity, he added. “I think it is just about knowing your liquor and what it tastes like,” he said. And what kind of flavour you would get if you mixed banana and blackberry.

“You know that you don’t put certain things with milk because it will curdle. It’s just knowledge.”

His favourite Christmas drinks are his Christmas Swizzle, it contains eggnog and three different types of rum.

If you want to spice it up a bit, he suggests you use Captain Morgan Spice Rum and garnish it with lots of maraschino cherries.

Another of his winter favourites is the Eggnog Slide.

“It is kind of like a mudslide, except with eggnog or Baileys and you put it on a plate surrounded by cookies,” he said.

“Another one is — although I haven’t figured out a name for it yet — made with Godiva white chocolate, vodka and green cr|0xe8|me de menthe. The vodka is just there to give it a little kick.”

Miss Simms, who has been bartending since she was 18, eggnog can be a good starting point for many Christmas drinks.

She stumbled into her profession, she said. “I had just came back from my first year at university and a few of my friends and I decided to go and get a drink at a local bar,” she said.

“I knew the owner very well and he asked if I had a summer job, and because I had only been home for a week I said, ‘no, but I wouldn’t mind bartending for him’, as a joke.

“He told me to come and see him the next day and that I could start on Monday.”

The teenager was shocked, but has been doing it ever since.

“I am currently employed at Salt Rock Grill and have been bartending there for about 18 months now and I love it,” she said.

“It is a wonderful place to work and the staff and customers are great too.”

Inspiration for the drinks she concocts comes mainly out of the need for fun.

“If I’m bored I just start mixing stuff together,” she said. “And if I doesn’t taste great then we drink it anyway and start over again!

“I love to bartend. It’s so much fun and I think that’s what makes any job great.

“I enjoy making people laugh and I’m a real laugh when I’m behind the bar — I turn into my real self and make people enjoy their time out.”

Currently she is studying hospitality management at the Bermuda College in order to hopefully one day own her own restaurant and bar.

“It’s so that I can give young people a chance to discover what I have and so that I can make people enjoy a night out!”Emma’s Favourite Concoctions

Nutty Christmas4 oz. Eggnog

1 oz. Gosling’s Black Seal rum

1 oz. Frangelico (premium hazelnut liqueur)

For those who like a little more of kick 1 oz. of Kahl|0xfa|a gives it a nice finishEmma’s Eggnog4 oz. eggnog

1 oz. Gosling’s Black Seal Rum

1 oz. GallianoCherrylicious>4 oz. white zinfandel wine

[1/4] oz. creme d’ cassis

with a dash of Goldschlager (cinnamon schnapps)

and a dash of triple sec (a strong, clear orange-flavoured liqueur)

to be served warm heat for 15 to 20 seconds on high

Garnish with a cinnamon stickFor the kiddies[1/2] a measure of sparkling grape juice (white)

[1/4] of that of watermelon flavoured juice

[1/4] of that of cranberry juice

Make this according to the size of the cup to be served inMichael Scott’s Wintry Wars<$>

Christmas Swizzle[1/2] oz. of Barcardi rum

[1/2] oz. of Cockspur rum

[1/2] oz. of Captain Morgan Spice rum

Eggnog and float [1/2] oz. of Gosling’s Black Seal rum on top Eggnolide<$>

1 oz. Kah|0xfa|a

1 oz. vodka

1 oz. Baileys

Eggnog

White ChristmasTwo to three parts Godiva white chocolate liqueur

1 oz. vodka

[1/2] green cr|0xe8|me de menthe