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Bartender wannabes learn the profitable art of mixology
Posted: Jul 23, 2008 in Things to do, Nightlife
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It's just a little after 10 a.m. when I take my seat at the long wooden bar. I'm joined by 14 others; not a single empty stool remains.
Standing behind the bar, Terrance Rice instinctively reaches among the scores of liquor bottles and pulls out two, a Smirnoff vodka and a Chambord raspberry liqueur. He pours the two into his glass before adding a splash of sweet-and-sour mix. He then empties the contents through a strainer and into the waiting shooter glass.
Our first drink of the day, a purple hooter, is served. But no one touches it. That's because we're not looking for an eye-opener, but to quench our thirst for knowledge.
To get a view from the other side of the bar, I enrolled for a day at the Midwest Bartending School, where students come to brush up on their skills or get the training for a new career.
Having just graduated from college, I thought my classroom days were over. But this seemed like a course I wouldn't mind taking, and one of the few I would be able to stay awake for.
While formal education is not required to become a bartender, the school's president, Richard Devlin, said the 40 hours of classes, typically spread over two weeks, can give you a professional leg up in an increasingly competitive business. Bar owners, Devlin said, know that skilled, qualified bartenders can help maximize their profits.
"Now, a lot of people will tell you that you don't need this kind of training," he said. "But you see a lot of bartenders with bad habits, who don't even know how to properly pour a drink or have the proper alcohol-awareness training, so I definitely question that kind of thinking."
The Basic Bartending course covers how to make hundreds of popular drinks and some lesser known ones (Surfer on Acid, anyone?), avoid over-serving, deal with intoxicated customers and hone presentation techniques. Upper-level classes offer bar management training and advanced flair skills for those who still dream of being like Tom Cruise in "Cocktail."
The 14 students ranged from recent high school graduates (you only need to be 18 to attend the classes) to middle-aged professionals. Some, like 23-year-old Michael Wheatley, took the course hoping to make extra cash. Others, like 38-year-old Cliff Rawley, a recent alumnus of the program, are looking to switch careers. The former banker said he was burnt out and bored, so he decided to go from dealing with money to dealing with drinks.
Each day, the class focuses on a specific topic, such as martinis, highballs or cocktails. This day, we made shooters, defined as any drink designed to be consumed in one to three gulps.
"Shooters are a lot of fun, because customers can have a lot fun with them," Rice, an instructor with the school, told the class. "And what do happy customers mean?"
"Happy bartenders," the students responded.
After receiving our textbooks -- yes, there is required reading even for bartending classes -- Rice instructed us to open to the "shooter" chapter. He methodically made a couple dozen of the drinks, while explaining the ingredients and their proper serving amounts. Most of the drinks he made contained dyed water instead of alcohol, but some were made with real ingredients and were given away to the students who volunteered to drink them. No extra credit for that work was given, though.
Just like in middle school, where mnemonic devices helped us learn the order of the colors in the rainbow, they come into effect for bartending. "Yucky reptile," for example, can tell you that a snakebite shooter is made with Yukon Jack whiskey and Rose's Lime Juice, or that "veterans to remember" reminds that a kamikaze requires vodka, triple sec and Rose's Lime Juice.
Next, we went into more complex shooters and layered drinks that are often called pousse-cafes -- such as American Flag. Stripes of red, white and colors form when different colored alcohols of varying proofs are poured drop by drop into a glass.
We also learned to make a Brain Shooter by pouring Bailey's and peppermint schnapps into a glass and then adding a drop of grenadine. The result is not a shooter that makes you any smarter, but one that looks like a brain in a glass.
Rice says while these shooters are harder to made, the presentation usually leads to higher tips and more appreciative customers, so it is important to have these in your repertoire.
Finally, it was our turn behind the bar. With a little help from our classmates, we made six of the shooters that we learned.
My first couple of drinks, a melon ball shooter and a woo woo shooter, probably wouldn't have netted me much in tips. It took me a long time to recall the mnemonic tips and locate the right bottles. My pours were off, causing one drink to almost overflow.
As I served up my first drink, a classmate cautioned that I had committed a couple of mistakes: I'd forgotten to put the napkin down before setting the drink down, and I'd touched the rim of the glass with my hand -- a serious no-no.
But around my fourth drink, I started getting a hang of it. The feeling of creating a well-made drink is almost as good as drinking one -- well, almost. I even managed to finish making my round of drinks before several of my more experienced classmates.
"Looks like we might have a natural here," Rice said, with just a hint of sarcasm.
But hey, with the newspaper industry continuing to slip and with the bartending business being one of the few that is recession-proof, maybe a bartending degree will end up being more valuable than my journalism one.
What I learned at bartending school:
Bacardi 151, a 151-proof liquor, is among the strongest drinks a bar in Indiana can legally serve. So it's important to be especially vigilant against over-serving this drink.
"Free pouring" the liquor into the glass is more profitable and accurate than using a measuring glass. It also adds to the presentation and allows the customer to exactly see what's going into his drink.
Lighting drinks on fire, such as a flaming Dr Pepper, should only be performed by an experienced bartender. And the drink, while on fire, should never be handled by the customer.
If you're looking to make good tips, then don't go overseas. America is the place to be for tipping.
Feel free to suggest drinks to customers. Most people know only a small number of drink names. If they like your recommendation, they will leave larger tips and come back.
Pour with confidence. Trust that what you are pouring will accurately fit into the glass, and it usually will.
Check it out
Midwest Bartenders School
Where: 5759 E. 86th St.
Info: Call (317) 577-2727 for enrollment and pricing information, visit www.bartendersschool.com.
- By Trevor Brown / Indy.com
