"bartending schools" news and stories

At the tender age of 21 and fresh out of college, I flipped open the Yellow Pages to find a bartending school in hopes of supplementing my meager income. A lady high in sales pitch drew out diagrams and calculated numbers showing how much money it was possible to earn if I invested in the small registration fee.

Most programs like this put you through a total of 40 hours of training for around $500 to $600. You learn basic skills like free pouring and garnish cutting. You'll learn the basics of wine, beer and liquor. Several cocktail recipes must be memorized. There are written tests to check your learning, as well as drills in a mock bar setup to test your speed and efficiency using real liquor bottles often filled with colored water. After successful completion of the course, the program grants access to job listings the school has culled from newspapers, websites and friends in the business. I landed my first bar job as a cocktail waitress, not a bartender.

Learn more about bartending schools after the jump.