Just getting started.
HOW TO BAR TEND – THE FULL COURSE 1
Bartending is about mixing drinks 2 – dealing with categories. All kinds of old and new categories. Defunct and active categories, and old and original ways of mixing drinks, and new and (sometimes not) improved ways of mixing drinks of all kinds.
In today’s world, ice is in almost every drink, and is responsible for the proper dilution, and texture of your drinks. Bartending is dealing with ice, whether it be crushed, clear, small cube, pebbled, sphere, clear, or large cube ice, and it’s about changing, chipping, cracking, shaving, and shaping. Most basic bartenders just scoop what’s there.
Trade Bartending is about proper, quality equipment and techniques- Blenders, ice chippers, ice picks, bar spoons, wine and beer openers, strainers, shakers, caviar ball makers, smoke makers, flavor infusing, foam making – so much more.
Bartending Lessons are about drink recipes, of course, and how to memorize a lot of them, but they’re also about Bar Tending, the skilled act and practice of the combinations of moves (on the one hand, and ways of interacting with people on the other) the same as dance, or boxing in that regard. Boxing requires learning how to throw different kinds and combinations of punches, but punches are just some of the parts of what boxing is.
Everything above combines into a unified whole. When that happens and every aspect has been planned and optimized to run as smoothly, quickly, and effortlessly as possible, with bottlenecks removed, and speedups purposely designed into place. That’s when Home Bartending becomes Trade Bartending.
BARTENDING SYLLABUS:3
Highball Type Drinks
Free PouringWhiskeys Scotches: histories, popular brands and common abbreviations
Customer Service: Greeting the customer and serving the drink
Bar Equipment
Setting up the Bar
Proper Bar Clean Up
Rock-Type Drinks
Free PouringLime Garnishing
Liqueurs: histories, types, names and abbreviations
Customer Service: bar tricks, games, and jokes
Safety in a Bar/Restaurant
Martinis & Manhattans
Handling Cash: giving changeCounterfeiting
Vermouths: history and types
Garnishing Lemons
Customer Service: handling intoxicated customers
Gin and Vodka: history, taste, and brands
Party Bartending
Party DrinksPersonal Hygiene
How to work a party
How to set up the party bar
Interviewing for the party job
What to order
Equipment and supplies: garnishes, glassware
What to charge
How to dress
Party Bartending
Setting up for a partyOrdering for a party
Garnishing
Party Attire
Special “Party Punches”
Fruit Juice Based Drinks
Operating blendersCleaning Blenders
Rum: history, brands, tasting
Lemon juices: sweetened, powdered post mixes, etc.
Orange Garnishing
Bar abbreviations
Fresh fruit daiquiris: making and tasting
Customer Service: The do’s of bartending
Cream drinks
Handling cashHandling checks
Handling credit cards
Cash register training
Customer Service: the don’t’s of bartending
Liqueurs: history, brands
Tasting Cream Drinks
Footnotes 👇
- Prior to 1980 full fledged professional Bartending Trade Schools provided courses lasting hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds of hours. I took the last full course for the last semester offered in America for Advanced Bartending / Bar Management (which was often referred to by my instructors as “speed bartending” and “scientific bartending”. Knowing that from the outset, I kept meticulous notes and kept every test and paper I was handed, because this is the LAST of full trade American Bartending – and that’s what this course is about[↩]
- The drinks you see on this site may have one version published on one page or post, and another version somewhere else. That’s ok. Drink recipes change over time and they vary and change geographically. What’s important for the purposes of learning is that you be able to solidly memorize every detail of one version. This is because you then have a “base” that you can use to adjust from, and you understand where your adjustments are being made. Consistency is the most important thing, and the only way to be consistent is to know your recipes well and always make each individual drink look and taste the same as the last.[↩]
- There’s more to this course in my notes than just the Official Syllabus skeleton outline laid out here.[↩]
