Bartending School in Arlington, Virginia. [Flickr: Larry Miller] 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...
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OK, I work as a bartender, so I can see how some in my field might feel the need to throw a beverage in an obnoxious guy's face or tell that high-maintenance drinker to take a hike. But, pour salt into a perfectly good cocktail? No way. Generation Awesome's video series, The Bartender Hates You, amusingly highlights annoying people and a bartender who likes to overreact. These videos had me laughing out loud, but I can't say I have ever done anything portrayed in them. I have definitely thought of it, though, especially the first video, where our hero throws ice at a customer after she complains there is just a little too much of it in her glass....
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Several months ago, drinks writer Gary Regan penned a piece for the San Francisco Chronicle exploring the alleged divide between the East Coast and West Coast styles of bartending. In a nutshell, the divide breaks this way: East Coast bartenders are heavily influenced by the classics, while West Coast bartenders are more likely to utilize fresh, seasonal produce from the farmers market to craft unique drinks. The Midwest is typically left out of this discussion, but with the release of her new book, Market-Fresh Mixology: Cocktails for Every Season, Chicago bartender Bridget Albert plants herself squarely in the West Coast school of drink....
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©iStockphoto.com/Rpsycho Francis Lam of Gourmet wants mixologists to know that they should nix the fancy title because in the end, they're really just bartenders. Lam understands that making elaborate drinks is a serious craft, but is it a revolutionary profession? Do they deserve a new word? And is "mixologist" too pompous? Besides, being called a bartender isn't so bad. There are plenty of good things a bartender does, according to Lam: "They give that broken-hearted bastard an ear and a dram and a kind word. They keep a birthday party happy. They lube up a first date... They make a bar worth going to." Looks like Lam should have done some fact-checking, though—commenters have already pointed out that "mixologist"...
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