Cocktails are the whole point of a bar, according to Karan Gonsalves. Last month, the Bandra resident who deejays as a hobby under the moniker Keylow, launched a mobile application called BarCzar that gives cocktails their due across select city bars. “There’s a lot of creativity at play when it comes to cocktails,” said Gonsalves.
BarCzar, which is available for Android and iOS users to download for free, works on a subscription model. To subscribe to the service, you need an invitation code, which you can request by signing up on the waitlist on their website. Before supplying the code, the website will ask for your your name, gender, email address and date of birth (you have to be over 25 years of age to use the app). After you receive the code, you have to pay either the monthly or quarterly subscription fee, priced at Rs500 and Rs1,000 per person respectively.
The membership entitles users to redeem one free cocktail per day, 30 cocktails per month or 90 cocktails per quarter. “The point is to help in the discovery of interesting cocktails rather than encourage indiscriminate drinking,” said Gonsalves, explaining why there’s a one drink limit per day. Currently, members can score the cocktails at 17 bars in the city including Bandra’s Smoke House Deli, The Elbo Room and The Daily; Please Don’t Tell and Todi Mill Social in Lower Parel; the Churchgate and Bandra branches of Salt Water Cafe; the Colaba Social; and Raasta in Khar.
Each bar offers Bar Czar members between three to five cocktails selected by Gonsalves. He picks them based on the broad category of spirits that they’re made with (such as whisky, vodka, gin and rum) and on preparation styles (sours, highballs and so on). Billing starts on the day you subscribe so essentially you only play Rs500 for 30 cocktails in a month or Rs1,000 for 90 cocktails over a quarter (provided you stick to one per day of course).
Thanks to Gonsalves, 20 readers of The Daily Pao can win a free monthly Bar Czar subscription worth Rs500. For a chance to win, here’s what you need to do:
– Sign up for The Daily Pao newsletter by entering your email address in the subscription box on any page of the site. If you’re already a subscriber, then you don’t need to sign up again.
– Email your name, date of birth and phone number to contests@dailypao.com with ‘Bar Czar’ in the subject line.
The contest is only open to readers in Mumbai and will close at midnight on Monday, December 19. The first 20 people to apply will secure a code.