Training Craft Bartenders Beyond Recipes

As a result of today’s cocktail explosion, there are more outstanding orders for well-made old-fashioneds than ever before. The global service well is backing up so to speak, and the only way to get out of the weeds is to train more bartenders. Making those old-fashioneds? That’s the easy part. Today’s bars need capable crews able to exceed the expectations of educated consumers who can just as easily go home and mix up their own creative twist on a Negroni as they can walk into a cocktail bar.

In our bars, we’ve developed a gauntlet of a training program that creates more consistent execution and knowledge among our bar staff. It’s a bitch, but it should be. Service standards, speed tests, weekly reading assignments, blind tastings, and public service are all required. We’ll discuss it all because we’ve found that’s what it takes to stand out in today’s cocktail whirlpool. The ultimate goal of a training program, however, should be a forging a relationship in which the future of both the bar and the bartenders are enhanced. By discussing training more as a community, rather than focusing on recipes, our little drinks movement might just get out the weeds.