Bar Schools and Training

 

A while back, I hurt my right hand (I'm right-handed) and was forced to do a grocery list with my left hand. In the midst of writing the list an analogy came to me about Bartender Schools vs. On the Job Training. My right hand is full of training and experience, but my left hand (eventhough it knows the alphabet and has seen the right hand write) doesn't have the experience to go with it. The proof was in my very elementary writing on the grocery list.

I highly recommend getting into the biz anyway you can in order to become a really great bartender. The Best Bartenders I've ever worked with started out as bussers, servers, and barbacks working their way up. This gives you a better sense and understanding of what the F&B business is all about. It also teaches you respect and gives you a foundation to build on. Combine this with some training at a reputable bartending school to tweak your knowledge further and you're on your way to becoming an extraordinary bartender.

Some bartender schools can be helpful, but they’re not the only way to learn about bartending and they cannot guarantee you a job. As a matter of fact, you won’t even be able to put it on your resume or application because managers and real bartenders will roll their eyes. It’s sad for the good bartender schools because the bad ones have given their business a bad name.

 

The Exceptional Schools

 

Recently, there has been a rebirth of the appreciation of the cocktail and these three schools offer this training. Understand that they are best used if you are already working as a bartender and want to broaden and improve.

Beverage Alcohol Resource (BAR) in New York City is the very first culinary mixology course. It’s graduates are able to mix a balanced Sidecar,, distinguish a Speyside malt from a Lowland malt, explain in detail the difference between Bourbon whiskey and Irish whiskey, recognize when a tequila is overpriced, identify a potato vodka by its nose alone, explain the origin of the Manhattan cocktail and why the bitters are an integral part of the drink, draw up a cocktail list that matches the elegance of the establishment it's created for and, in short, do everything that one expects from an educated professional. to educate, guide, and propagate the healthy, enlightened, and responsible use of beverage alcohol products.

 

Cocktails In The Country is headed up by Gary Regan. Students learn how distilled spirits, liqueurs, and aromatized wines (vermouths, apéritif wines) are made, giving them a firm base from which to understand what they are working with when making cocktails and mixed drinks. Bar, restaurant, and hotel professionals who attend Regan’s course go back to work with a keen sense of pride in their jobs. They know what to do, how to do it properly, and they also know that they can be proud of their craft.

 

This Finishing school for bartenders provides innovative and progressive training to working bartenders who wish advanced study in the arts and sciences of the professional craft of bartending. The Flairco Bartending Institute programs have seamlessly brought together the schools of classic Mixology, modern hospitality, and performance bartending.

 

 

For the record, I do not have any relationships with any of these schools mentioned. One thing is for sure is that businesses are in business to make money. To attend a school for one week does not make you a bartender. I talk about this on my How To Become a Bartender page. Other pages you should click through is my 1000+ Q & A's for Bartenders, my Tips & Hints for Bartenders, my Cocktail History page, my FAQ page, heck, you might as well just go to my Bartender's Lounge and check out all the pages.

 

Online Schools

	Bartender PHD		Bar TV
	Bols Academy		Bartending in One Day
	Free Bartending School		Nexgen Online Bartender School
	Learn Bartending Online		Drink Industry
	Bartenderonline.com

 

Offline Schools

	New York Bartender School		Pittsburgh Bartender School
	New Jersey School		Nexgen Online Bartender School
	Professional Bartending School		ABC
	German Bartending School		San Francisco Bartending School
	Fine Art (Canada)		Bartending Academy
	San Francisco School		University Bartending (On the Road Bar School)
	Master School		International Bar Course
	New England School		Columbia Bartending Agency
	Bartending College		National Bartenders
	Westchester's Premier Bartending School		Orange County Bartending School
	Sacramento School of Bartending		Bartending.com (Video Course)

 

Bartender License

You don’t need a license, certificate, or any paper to tend bar. Nurses, Doctors, and Architects need a license. Bartending is a blue-collar profession and even uses the basic application you filled out when applying for your first job at 16. However, some states and some establishments say that you have to be certified before you can work as a bartender. This is only about a food & beverage class you and everyone else in the F&B business must take. In these classes you learn basics like proper storage of food, safety, accepted forms of ID's etc. The reason establishment’s make you take the classes is because they get a break on insurance. Sometimes you will have to pay for the class. The most popular nationwide program is TIPS.