Are Bartending Schools a Waste?

Posted by Paul Clarke, September 9, 2009 at 5:15 PM

Across the country, students ranging from pre-K to post-grad are putting the summer behind them and settling into the school routine, which makes it a good time to talk about bartending education.

There's no shortage of bartending schools out there. Unfortunately, as my blogging bartender friends Darcy O'Neil and Jeffrey Morgenthaler have noted, enrolling in a bartending school is typically a waste of time and money.

Morgenthaler, who has built a small empire of web traffic by posting unintentionally hilarious how-to videos from the American Bartending School on his site, wrote to an aspiring bartender: "You don't become a doctor, lawyer, or architect straight out of school, and the same goes for bartending. It takes training, time, and working your way up the ladder in order to be running the show on a Friday night."

Until recently, those interested in becoming a bartender--or simply desiring to know how to create, mix and talk about drinks on a better-than-beginner level--had very few options. Increasingly, however, craft bartenders and other mixology professionals have been hosting classes, seminars, and sessions dedicated to filling this void.

Perhaps most notable among these is the program operated by Beverage Alcohol Resource (BAR). Created by a heavy-hitter group of industry professionals including former Rainbow Room bartender Dale DeGroff, cocktail historian David Wondrich and spirits expert Paul Pacult, BAR conducts in-depth multi-day sessions in New York for bartenders and others working in the drinks industry, as well as BarSmarts Advanced programs at cities around the country.

While participation in these programs is by invitation-only, another temporary program (based on the BAR content) is currently available on a wider basis to both working bartenders and ardent amateurs. BarSmarts Wired is an online version of the program, in which participants work through a series of course packets, videos, and exams covering everything from the early history of distillation to the contemporary world of molecular mixology.

Enrolling in BarSmarts Wired costs $45, which covers the learning materials and a set of mixing tools that are sent to participants. The program runs through the rest of the month.

As a mostly self-taught mixology aficionado (if you can consider plumbing the internet for information and hitting up bartenders for feedback and suggestions "self-taught"), I've found the BarSmarts Wired program pretty useful at filling in the gaps in my understanding. I'm about three-fourths of the way through the program and have picked up a few tidbits along the way.

What about you? If you're an enthusiastic home bartender (or a working bartender, for that matter), how did you find your direction? Through reading and experimenting, or some sort of educational program? Or under the guidance of a patient bartender?

About the author: Paul Clarke blogs about cocktails at The Cocktail Chronicles and writes regularly on spirits and cocktails for Imbibe magazine. He lives in Seattle, where he works as a writer and magazine editor.

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Tags: bartending, cocktails, Serious Cocktails