Bartending School: Day 2
I’m beat. I’m happy that the class ended about half an hour early. Besides, I was the only student in the class, so I’m sure I got much more instruction and practice than the average student would normally. She said that classes could run up to 25 people in one week, so if you’re looking for more personal instruction, don’t come when college students are getting out of school. Otherwise, you’ll probably see almost no practice time.
Anyway, here’s my day: about 75% of it was spent practicing drinks, 10% of it was spent identifying different liquors, and 15% of it was spent with the instructor interactively lecturing. Today covered the cocktail, margarita, chilled shot, and rock categories, and I easily made each drink 2-3 times. That’s some 10 cocktails, 6 margaritas, 11 rocks, and 8 chilled shots. Plus, there were a few additional drinks that were made as both highball and shots.
The day started by copying down cocktail and margarita recipes. Then, I cut up a lime, lemon, and orange, making lime wheels, lemon twists, and orange half-wheels. Next, I practiced free pouring. Although much of yesterday was spent yesterday, that was done with the window method by watching the alcohol flow down the ice in highball glasses. Today was spent practicing counting, pouring them into the can and verifying by straining into a jigger. In fact, after making nearly every drink, I strained to check that my free pouring had been correct.
Then, we went through nearly all the liquors in the bar identifying them as call or super call. Afterwards, I practiced all the cocktail and margarita recipes for a couple hours.
Then, it was lunchtime, so we broke for an hour. At this point, I was already starting to feel tired. Plus, the one real downside to being the only student is no one to converse with. The instructor was often in her office making and taking calls for former students and employers, so I was left to my own devices to practice over and over. Like any profession, if you’re not self-motivated, you won’t learn anything.
I’m also about dumbfounded as to how in the world this school runs with only one person manning the place. There definitely needs to be a secretary who just takes calls. The phone often rang while she was in the classroom, and she would simply ignore it if she was working with me. Of course, I think that’s the way it should be, but I can imagine there must be a lot of missed opportunities and annoyed callers.
After lunch, we moved onto making chilled shots. After getting the hang of making individual shots, she started having me make multiple shots at a time. In general, I feel like this was the easiest part of the day, as shots are barely anything. You turn the bottle over for half a count or so, and voila! you have a shot.
Keep in mind that this whole time, I’ve been carefully using correct technique. I picked the up the glasses correctly (holding them on the bottom for sanitation), holding the bottles correctly, pouring with arms straight out, shaking with the correct counts, straining with a strainer, placing the glasses in the appropriate places (i.e., on the mat or on the bar), etc. If there’s anything I learned today, it’s that many bartenders I’ve come across have had crappy technique. If I don’t end up bartending, then I’m certain to at least end up a giant critic. Yeah, I’ll be the annoying guy telling everyone how the bartender could be doing better.
Anyway, after making shots, I then made rock category drinks. In case you have no idea what I’m talking about, that’s basically drinks that are mostly alcohol served in small glasses on the rocks. These include such popular ones as Black Russians, Mudslides, and Old Fashioneds. The last was definitely my favorite to make due to the muddling of the orange and cherry, addition of bitters, and pinch of sugar. However, I can easily see how this drink could top a bartender’s shit list, as it can be messy and time-consuming.
Anyway, after that, we moved onto making drinks that could be both highballs or shots, such as Sex on the Beach, Woo Woo, Grape Crush, etc. The entire time, she would occasionally ask me to make a specific drink with a specific alcohol, and I’d rush to make it perfectly. Then, I’d strain into a jigger to check accuracy.
Anyway, today was probably pretty close to actually running a bar. This morning, I opened the bar. Then, I made drinks for hours on end. Finally, at the end of the day, I closed the bar, cleaning and refilling bottles. And now, I’m really quite tired. The only things that were missing were customers and other bartenders. Well, plus tips and real booze.
Update: Read about the rest of the days at bartending school: day 3, day 4, day 5, and day 6.
