Shatbhi Basu with her students Pix: Rashbehari Das; Gajanan Dudhalkar; Jagan Negi

For a few moments the class of Delhi youngsters is transported deep into the Scottish Highlands. They’re gazing at a map of Scotland and drinking deep on names like Strathisla, Craigellachie, Glenlivet and Aberlour. They’re learning about peaty Islay malts and how whisky blends are created.

This lesson is crucial for this group of young aspiring bartenders at the Cocktails and Dreams School of Bar and Beverage Management. Over the next few weeks they’ll learn about spirits like brandy, cognac, vodka, rum and gin before they inven their own cocktails.

Bartending is a tougher game than you might think. Once they’ve finished the detailed tour of Scotland, it’s time for a spot of juggling. Yes, juggling. Bar consultant Nischal Gurung skillfully keeps three dummy bottles in the air and urges the students to follow suit. Lots of dummy bottles end up on the floor and the youngsters look dismayed but Gurung is unfazed. “They will prefect it with practice,” he says phlegmatically. The school is run by Gurung and partner Yangdup Lama.

Parents might, once upon a time, have looked askance if their children had wanted to be a bartender. But times have altered and today it’s a growth industry for ambitious youngsters.

So institutes are sprouting like Delhi’s Cocktails and Dreams and the STIR Academy of Bartending in Mumbai. Hop over to Chennai and there’s the Indian Institute of Bartending in Chennai. In Calcutta the newest entrant to the game is the Academy of Bartending Flaming Trio (a branch of a Mumbai-based institute started by three partners Bini Dhadwal, Nicholas Mascarenhas and Mehdi Poonawala).

These institutes teach everything about bartending from differentiating between drinks to mixing the most flamboyant cocktails in town. Students learn about liquors and their accompaniments from around the world — and also about cocktails shakers and other equipment of the trade. If that isn’t enough, they get a shot at practising ‘flair bartending’ too, which includes juggling and other behind-the-bar games.

BEGINNER’S DEAL

For beginners, Cocktails and Dreams offers a three-month course with three hour classes held thrice a week. Each batch has 20 students and the professionals who teach there keep it simple and bring their own experiences to the classroom.

“In this profession you don’t have to be a rocket scientist but you should be passionate enough to learn and improve your skills,” says Gurung. This institute is now planning a crash course for people who want to learn bartending as a hobby.

Cross to Mumbai where Shatbhi Basu has always been a maverick who stood out in the crowd. She got into the profession about 27 years ago when women were banned by law from serving drinks behind the bar. Today she runs her own academy — the STIR Academy of Bartending and is also a bar consultant. Over the last few years she has trained almost 1,000 students.

Today Basu’s academy takes only two select batches of about 20 students each every year. It offers one professional course which is a seven month part-time programme and various specialised short courses for people who don’t want to become bartenders but would like to know more about what they are drinking. She also offers her liquid skills to corporate houses for in-house training and knowledge enhancement. “It is a balanced mix of theory of product, science and the art of mixology to a practical application of skills,”she says.

Basu keeps everything as simple as possible. “Touch and feel is extremely important to learning so, close proximity to as many bottles as possible is important so the students can read the labels and see for themselves,” she says.

She also gives them a virtual tour of the liquor world by using pictures and posters in the classroom, showing them films and presentations and taking them to bars, wineries and breweries when possible. Also, she holds regular tasting sessions so that they get an idea of the products they will work with everyday.

PAYING FOR YOUR DRINKS

There’s also on the job training. Students are sent to work in different bars while studying as part-time trainees where many land jobs.

At STIR Academy of Bartending it costs about Rs 22,000 for a seven-month part-time programme. The youngsters also participate in related activities like brand promotions conducted on behalf of the liquor brands — the trainees watch and assist the senior bartenders so they increase brand knowledge as well as get hands-on practice.

Similarly, the three-month professional course at Cocktails and Dreams costs Rs 20,000. This covers everything including beverages used for practical training. “The classes and course structures have been designed after years of research based on our own experience and getting opinions from other international bartenders and bar schools around the world as well keeping in mind the changing trends and consumer expectations,” says Lama. Their course is based on 40 per cent theory and 60 per cent practical training.

Down south in Chennai take a look at the Indian Institute of Bartending which offers what’s called an IIBT Diploma in Bar Management degree from the World Bartenders Training Organisation (WBTO). This comes for a fee of Rs 55,000. In addition, the institute throws in either a free hotel management course or alternatively free hostel accommodation but excludes food. The students can choose between part-time and full-time courses. All the courses are six days a week. The full-time course offers six hours of classes daily while part-time students have classes for three hours.

The one-year bar management course is designed to provide students detailed training in all areas of working behind a bar with four months intensive on-the-job training. The students are sent to hotels and mostly they are selected during the campus interviews.

The same institute offers a six-month course which only focuses on mixology. Called the Craftsmanship Course in Bartending this course comes for Rs 31,000.

Shatbhi Basu with her students

FRILLS AND THRILLS

There’s also a three-month Certification Course in Wines and Spirits (they also teach bar ‘flair’ in this course) for a fee of Rs 16,000. This course focuses on wines, cigars, liquors, liqueurs and cocktails. At the bottom of the scale there’s a six-week Certification Course in Bartending (inclusive of flair bartending) for a fee of Rs 8,400. “We guarantee 100 per cent placements to the students,” says Edison Amalraj, the principal.

Closer home in Calcutta there’s the Academy of Bartending Flaming Trio. Here the course is divided into theory, practicals and flair. Theory takes young would-be bartenders into the origin of cocktails and other details about bartending. During practicals they are taught how to actually turn out cocktails. Elaborate tasting sessions are included too.

To make it all a bit more flamboyant they are also taught all the tricks of ‘flair bartending’ like juggling a half-filled liquor bottle in the air without spilling a drop. For bartenders who just want to catch the attention of guests there’s ‘show flair’. There’s even ‘prop flair’ — ‘flairs’ done using props like shakers, stirrers or even a lighter to light fire. The fee for the six month course is Rs 22,500.

“When we were learning we just heard names of brands and never got to see the bottles so we’ve put them on power point presentations with pictures of herbs, brands, vineyards, distilleries etc,” says Poonawala.

MONEY MATTERS

What monthly take-home can youngsters expect if they get into the game? It can vary wildly depending on the skills and reputation that one builds up.

According to Poonawala, a smart and efficient bartender can earn anywhere between Rs 8,000 (with an experience of at least six months) to Rs 80,000 a month. If you don’t have any experience you may start at barely Rs 3,000. But the usual starting salaries are in the region of about Rs 8,000. The interesting part about this profession is that there are new opportunities opening all the time and the earning possibilities are fluid.

FEMME FATALES

Basu happened to take up the profession by chance but today, she reckons, a few women are moving behind the bar and treating it as a career option — though she says they have a long way to go. She has had about 12 young girls as students so far but says that more girls are now showing interesting. — I guess it will be a long time before we truly see serious women bartenders in India. Our system and society will have to grow and mature. The taboo and hypocrisy about alcohol consumption, and largely, ignorance about the profession all adds to these questions,” says Basu.

In Cocktails and Dreams about two girls come in each year. “Though we get lots of queries but not too many come over for the course probably because bartending in itself is still at a very nascent stage,” says Lama.

ON THE JOB

A bartender’s day begins long before the bar actually opens. The bar opens at noon but the bartender should be there about two hours before for the preparations. The stocks have to be checked, wines and beers kept for chilling and garnishes to be prepared. Obviously, it’s important for would-be bartenders to learn how to control wastage and pilferage.

The institutes also update the students about the latest market trends. “These days people don’t like too filling or fruity cocktails and prefer something light,” says Gurung. According to Basu bartending has lots of pluses – as long as you don’t start drinking too much. “It is a strange mix of art, science and technique. It keeps you young and contemporary with the rest of the world,” she jokes. Lama feels there is no end to how much one can learn. He says: “One can explore as much as possible and still not know how deep the subject is.” So if you think shaking, stirring and mixing drinks is your true calling it might be time to raise a toast to the world of bartending.

How much does a bartender make?

>> A trainee bartender Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000

>> A bartender with one year experience Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,500

>> Head bartender Rs 10,000 to Rs 17, 500

>> Bar manager/attached to an alcoholic beverage company Rs 25,000 upwards

>> Freelance Rs 500 to Rs 5,000 per night depending on the kind of event and calibre of bartender

>> Dubai 1,000 dirhams - 5,000 dirhams

>> Cruise ships $500 - $2,000 (Plus tips which sometimes are just as much as the salary.)

>> United Kingdom £ 750 - £ 2,000 And that’s not counting the tips.