Beverage dispensers

Plan on about two glasses per guest in the first hour, then one per hour after that. A five-liter dispenser holds about twenty 25 cl glasses, enough for ten to fifteen people at a drinks reception. If you have more guests, it’s better to set up two dispensers side by side rather than one very large one. You can offer two flavors and won’t have to move anything to refill them. Next, check the tap. If your drink contains fruit pulp, mint, or cucumber, you’ll need a wide opening; otherwise, it’ll clog within half an hour. A narrow tap is fine for clear water or iced tea. An absinthe fountain is a different story. It lets ice water drip out one drop at a time and isn’t designed for pouring glasses.

Fill the dispenser where it will stay, because five liters weighs about six kilograms once you include the glass. Place it on an edge or raised surface so a glass can fit under the tap. Loose ice cubes melt and dilute the drink. Instead, use frozen fruit, an ice tube in the middle, or a dispenser with its own ice tube. An absinthe fountain works differently. Place a sugar cube on an absinthe spoon above the glass and let the ice water drip over it for about three minutes. In a filled dispenser, you most often see a sangria or a non-alcoholic recipe from the mocktails.

Disassemble the tap after each use. Sugar residue gets trapped in the threads and behind the rubber gasket, where odors start to develop first. Rinse the parts with warm water and a little dish soap, and let everything dry completely before reassembling it. Most glass dispensers are not dishwasher-safe because of the tap and decorative knob. Also, don't pour boiling water into them or put them in the freezer, as sudden temperature changes can crack the glass. Check before each use that the tap's inner nut is still tight. It almost always comes loose during transport.

If a dispenser is too large for what you have in mind, you can go smaller. At the table, pour from one of the water jugs, and for wine, from one of the decanters. If you’re working with absinthe, you’ll find spoons and glasses under absinthe accessories. Glasses that fit under the tap are under highball glasses, and other bar equipment under bar tools.