A bartender at work in a city nightclub. Picture by Rashbehari Das

Mixing drinks is in with eastern India’s first bartending school with a foreign university as partner set to open doors at The Kenilworth Hotel next month.

In Cocktail, Tom Cruise learns the tricks of the trade on the job and becomes famous. But at Kenilworth Academy of Hospitality, students have to complete a three-month course to be “assisted” in landing jobs at bars and private parties.

They will also get a certificate from the University of Stockholm in Sweden. “The certificate is internationally recognised,” said Rudiger Ludwig Ewald, the general manager of The Kenilworth, Calcutta.

Students from colleges and leading hotel management institutes like IIHM, Institute of Advanced Management, Institute of Hotel Management and NIPS School of Hotel Management will be approached to join the course. Admission will be open to those who have passed Class XII. The first batch will have 30 students.

Theory classes will be held at the hotel. Its bar, too, will be used for the practical classes. “Two educators will come down from the University of Stockholm this week to train three of us. We, in turn, will train the students. Those who complete the course can land lucrative jobs,” said Shantanu Sengupta, the director (education) at The Kenilworth.

According to industry insiders, a fresher starts with a salary of around Rs 4,500 per month in Calcutta nightclubs. Popular bartenders can earn between Rs 10,000 to Rs 1 lakh for a single event.

Earlier this month, Flaming Trio Academy of Bartending opened in Salt Lake with seven students. “The bartending industry is definitely bigger in Mumbai and Delhi,” said Binny Dhadwal of the academy.

But things are looking up for bartenders in Calcutta, too. Thirty bars have opened up in the city in the past four years.

“Alcohol consumption has gone up by 40-50 per cent in the past two years at Someplace Else and Tantra,” said Anirban Simlai, the F&B manager at The Park.

“We are hoping that girls will be as interested in the course as boys,” said Ewald of The Kenilworth.

The Supreme Court had ruled in December that women will not be barred from bartending. It also brought down the minimum age of women bartenders from 25 to 21.