bartending schools are trade schools for aspiring bartenders and ongoing professional enrichment for existing bartenders. In some cases the school may be part of a self-organized bartender association or trade union, part of a larger government-supported catering or hospitality/tourism school, or (the most common) a privately owned stand-alone institution run as a for-profit business. A new development has been ongoing on- and offline bartending teaching programs originated by, or financially supported by, liquor brands. These courses are often offered free or drastically discounted, the costs being underwritten by the brands, which feature to a larger or smaller degree in the teaching materials.
The first paid-for bartending instruction was almost certainly as part of a butler/valet’s larger apprenticeship in their trade. In fact, one of the earliest mentions of bartender training was in an 1885 New York newspaper, recounting how a wealthy Brazilian man about town hired the legendary bartender Harry Johnson to teach his valet mixology skills. See Johnson, Harry. New York newspaper articles and advertisements from the late 1890s confirmed the existence of dedicated bartending schools offering courses of around a month’s duration. Bartending associations (which invariably offered training as well as trade-union benefits) began forming around this time as well, coalescing into national organizations such as the Internationale Barkeeper-Union (forerunner of the Deutsche Barkeeper Union) founded in Cologne, Germany, in 1909. The International Bartender’s Association (IBA), an association of national bartending associations, came into being in 1951.
America’s Prohibition put a halt to the bartending-school business but stimulated bartending outside the United States, as experienced US bartenders emigrated. Cuba’s Club de Cantineros association, founded in 1924 in Havana, had a strong element of training, insisting students learn English in addition to their trade skills. After the end of Prohibition in December 1933, there was an understandable boom in bartending schools all over the United States. See Prohibition and temperance in America.
Given the undeniable importance of a lengthy on-the-job apprenticeship in learning all aspects of the bartender’s profession—mixology, hospitality, hygiene, speed, efficiency, financial control, and responsible service, to name but a few—a good bartender school will simply equip its graduates with the basic skills and correct mindset to acquire and “survive” their first job as a junior bartender. Then, employed, those selfsame students can learn on the job and progress. The claims of some schools to train “master mixologists” from scratch are to be treated with the skepticism they deserve.
The curricula of schools vary wildly, as do the teaching methods; only a tiny minority of bartending schools are validated by educational authorities. Some teach only the most rudimentary of drink-making techniques; others concentrate on mixology, and still others put more of a focus on beer, wine, and coffee than on spirits and cocktails. Since at least the 1960s and “Duke” Antone’s Bartender School of Mixology, it has been traditional for most bar schools to use colored water instead of liquor when teaching, which puts students at a disadvantage, as many of them have little knowledge of how spirits taste or why various combinations are successful. See Antone, Donato “Duke.”
As with all types of schools, a common criticism of bartending schools is that they are teaching skills and knowledge that were last relevant ten or even twenty years ago. In their defense, there is often a variance between the most currently fashionable type of bartending (at the time of writing, craft-cocktail mixology is very much in vogue) and the type of bartending that offers the highest earnings for the smallest investment of time and effort (such as nightclub bartending). Many schools see it as their duty to help students get the most lucrative jobs as quickly as possible, and such (usually) for-profit schools often advertise bartending as a good part-time job, not as a full-time profession.
American Distilling Institute and Beverage Alcohol Resource (BAR).“Bartending School” (advertisement). New York World, October 25, 1894.
“Before the Bar.” National Police Gazette, October 3, 1885, 14.
Brown, Jared, Anistatia Miller, and Dave Broom. Cuba: The Legend of Rum. London: Mixellany, 2009.
“Historie.” https://www.dbuev.de/dbu-ev/historie/ (accessed February 1, 2021).
“A History of the IBA.” https://www.iba-world.com (accessed February 1, 2021).
“Odd Ways of Odd People.” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 4, 1894, 4.
By: Philip Duff