A Bartender Learns Mixology: Introduction to My Learning Project

I was kind of raised in a bar, which sounds bad until you know that my parents owned it. It was a small town restaurant/bar that I basically grew up in. One of my earliest memories is pouring shots of milk and juice for my cousins and siblings to drink to pretend we were grown ups, before any of us really knew what alcohol was. Growing up, I did learn about that kind of stuff and found myself interested in how cocktails are made, what kind of liquor is used for what, and so on. To be fair, I didn’t learn much, and didn’t drink too much either. However, bartending was something I could see myself doing to make enough money make my way through college. When I moved to the city, I got a job bussing at a restaurant biding my time until I turned 19 and could break into bar tending. A couple of months ago, it finally happened.

Behind the bar, I picked things up quickly. I had time as a line cook, and I found my experience there helped me quite a bit. It boiled down to the same kind of skills: get an order, remember the recipe, and make the order. I find myself learning the recipes I make by heart, and I would say I’ve gotten pretty good at making some signature cocktails. However, as time went on I realized that while I knew the recipes, I didn’t really know the ideals behind it. I didn’t know why we mixed certain mix with certain liquors, what the difference was between scotch and bourbon, why different drinks go in different glasses. I wondered, but never really had the time to really learn more. This course kind of made the perfect opportunity for me to learn more about this thing I’ve been wondering about. I know things involving alcohol usually aren’t the best things to write about for a school project, but hey. Its interesting.

In this project I’m setting out to educate myself about my own job. I know how to bartend, people have taught me a lot about the “how to do this” and not the “why we do this like this”. I’m planning on looking into learning about the different liquors, like the different types of whiskeys and tequila’s. I want to learn the difference between ways of mixing drinks, like why we shake some cocktails and stir others. I want to look into different bar myths and rules I’ve heard of, like “never shake gin” or “never put two pieces of garnish on one glass”. Maybe even look into the origins of some drinks, like who made the martini, and why certain mixes work with certain liquors. To do this, I plan on reading a book called “Ultimate Bar Book, the Comprehensive Guide” by Mittie Hellmich. According to google its one of the best ones out there to not just learn recipes, but learn about the liquors, tools, and techniques you’ll use bartending. However, seeing multiple opinions is also important, so I’ll also be using videos like one below, showing good beginners guides to bartending I was recommended to watch by the people who trained me.