For any restaurant’s wine program, successful wine preservation hinges on two major factors: storage and display. Proper wine storage is key to maintaining flavor profiles and quality. Just as important, however, are the conditions in which the wine is displayed. Is your wine program profitable? If not, you’re likely not addressing these pillars of wine preservation.

Baseball and drinking beer. These two American pastimes have gone hand-in-hand over the last 100 years. But the relationship between baseball and beer has had its ups and downs. In the late 1800s, the National League kicked teams out of the league for selling beer. Today, you can’t go one pitch without seeing beer advertisements.

All over America, summer revolves around great weather, captivating entertainment, and of course, delicious food and beverage. Name the food, you can likely find it at an amusement park, state fair, or music festival: deep-fried Twinkies, beer-battered bacon-wrapped brats, ice cold beer. Summer festivals bring in huge crowds over several days or weeks during the season. And if there’s one thing these folks want to do, it’s eat and drink.

It’s been a long day, and your customers are heading into your bar for a nice cold beer. But when the bartender pulls the pint, what's supposed to be a refreshing beverage pours as a glass filled with foam. The reason is because the beer line is running too warm, and the negative effects are numerous. As we get into the heart of summer, warmer temperatures can impact not only your customers’ experience, but also your bottom line. While most 16 ounce beers should have about 2.25 ounces of head, any more than that will leave your customers feeling cheated.

From speed rails to beer towers, keeping a bar productive and efficient will keep the profits pouring. Installers of bar equipment need that same efficiency when installing equipment like ice chests, sinks, and faucets. Nothing can derail a bar or foodservice operation like downtime needed to install new underbar equipment. It negatively affects both the installer's and the bar operator's time. And in the bar industry, time is money.

Many holidays have an iconic character associated with them. Christmas has Santa Claus. Valentine’s Day has Cupid. Cinco de Mayo has the bartender. Much like St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo is both a cultural celebration and sales enhancer for bars and restaurants. We know what we do on Cinco de Mayo, but why exactly are we celebrating?

Ever walk into a bar or restaurant, glance upon the massive beer tap list covering hundreds of ales and lagers, and after an hour of studying, decide on that same Irish Stout you always order? There’s an inexact science to curating a beer menu that not only meets the demands of your customers, but maximizes the profitability of your bar. But can there be such a thing as too many beer taps in your bar?

Miller Park announced this week that the renovations to their concessions area is now complete and ready to go for opening day, April 3. Miller Park's new food and beverage program includes 24 draft beers, all brewed in Wisconsin, and flowing from Perlick taps. Beer selections include Citrus Happy, Lo-Gii and Outboard from Milwaukee Brewing Co., Happy Place and Upward Spiral from Third Space Brewing, 5th Element from One Barrel Brewing Company, and more.

Maybe a bar operator wants to include storage in the underbar area where it will be in line with 30-inch high equipment or work surfaces. Maybe an owner is retrofitting an existing underbar because adding bottled ciders to the beverage list requires more refrigeration capabilities in a limited space. Maybe a designer wants to use low height cabinets during the planning and designing phase of a new bar. Now this is all possible with low-height back bar refrigeration and storage from Perlick.

The Perlick factory just outside of Milwaukee can be a large and overwhelming place. But if you know what to look for, it can also be an eye opening place that sheds light on the whole Perlick philosophy. One of the easiest ways to learn about Perlick is to go behind-the-scenes. Quality and innovation are the names of the game.

When it comes to back bar and underbar refrigeration, options mean everything. From color to door design to temperature control, finding the right bar refrigeration unit can increase bar efficiencies, allow for more accurate beverage storage, and ultimately increase the productivity and profitability of the bar. Essentially, your bar refrigeration needs to "fit."

Looking to build a profitable beer dispensing system? We know what you need, and we know profit is the bottom line. That’s why our engineers have poured over our systems to ensure they run as efficiently as possible. Our systems reduce waste to make sure you get the biggest bang for your buck when you choose a Perlick Beer System.

* The following Art of Bar Design Q&A article with Greg Rodd, Sales Engineer Manager with Perlick, first appeared in the February edition of Foodservice Equipment & Supplies magazine. What makes for good bar design? The bar is a profit center. A well designed, efficient bar has the right equipment arranged to minimize bartender movement, which equals more drinks per hour and translates to higher profits.

Just over 100 years ago, Perlick was founded in a small shop on Reed Street here in Milwaukee. Over the course of the last century, we've introduced mechanical refrigeration to the industry, created the first remote beer system that can carry beer 100 feet, and have evolved into an industry leader in commercial bar and beverage equipment. And we have the Best-In-Class Awards to prove it.

It's your choice. When designing your bar with maximum throughput in mind, you get to decide the features, the quality, and the configuration. These choices will ultimately determine how efficient your bar will be, how productive your staff will be, and how profitable your operation will be.

Vermouth. A classic almost mystical spirit that experienced its heyday in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Its versatility is limited only by the bartender's imagination, as it works in cocktails ranging from the Martini to the Manhattan to the Negroni. But to understand why vermouth is making a comeback, you first have to know why it lost favor in the first place.