nickparks.orgpersonal blog of Nick Parks

Today I reluctantly went to class, as I am not feeling very well. The worst part is that we did not learn anything new today, we just practiced making drinks. I guess that is okay as repetition is the best way of learning for me. I’ve pretty much perfected the Singapore Sling, Banshee, Sloe Comfortable Screw, Long Island Iced Tea, and Margarita.

Today was the last class… Or so I thought. I guess since we had a new student start this week she had to learn all of the information we learned the first week, so we will complete the second part of the class next week. Anyway, aside from the fact that I have to wake up early for another 4 days and spend more money on gas, I guess I’ll gain a little more experience mixing drinks. Today we learned about BeerClean beer glasses and how washing a glass is one of the most important steps in successfully selling high quantities of beer. The rest of class I spent learning more drinks. Some drinks I learned today were the Pink Squirrel, Daiquiri, Kamikaze, Margarita, and a Melonball. I’m planning on finding a bar that I want to work at locally. Hank says next class we will learn how to successfully obtain a bartending job even when a place is not hiring.

Only one more class left to complete the 2 week course. Today Hank taught us a variety of cream drinks and how to layer drinks. I spent the rest of the class time memorizing drinks and repeating the steps to make certain drinks so I will not have to think about the drink when I am making it. I’ve pretty much perfected the Cosmopolitan today along with B-52’s, Tom Collin’s, and Tequila Sunrise’s.

Only 2 days left of class! Today was spent mixing drinks and watching classmates mix drinks. I learned quite a few drinks. Hank also showed us a few drinks and explained a few things about Brandy. He also explained how the Harvey Wallbanger got it’s name and that the drink was used by Galliano to promote their liqueur. Just another day in class, only a few more before I hunt for a job and let you know if this school actually helps as far as job placement.

One more week of bartending school! So today I didn’t really learn much. We started off making wedges, wheels, and twists. I’m pretty sure that I’ve got all of that down as it is fairly simple. The rest of the class was spent learning how to free pour. Which I have got down, but the bottles all have different nozzles; it’ll take some getting used to. I mixed as many drinks as I could learn the rest of the class. It’s cool because I’m getting experience behind a bar making drinks without any upset customers (that’s always a plus… haha). That’s all for now… Until tomorrow.

Alright today was my 4th day of class. We learned how to properly clean Beer glasses and why clean beer glasses will help sell more beer. We also learned how to properly uncork and serve wine. It was an interesting class learning that not only light beers are just diluted with water to lower the calories and some wine companies have re-bottled generic wine and sold it as aged wine worth hundreds of dollars more. Oh and I also learned how to make a Dr. Pepper with Beer. Anyway, it’s the weekend. I’m going to scout out the area and figure out which bars I want to apply at. My next post will probably be on Monday, so until then everyone have a great weekend!

Today was the third day of class. We learned today what it takes to be a responsible bartender. Most of the information that I was taught today seemed like common sense, but then again the class is designed to teach you every aspect of bartending. We also watched Hank free-pour a few drinks. We will be learning about beer and wine tomorrow.

During class today we learned some tips and tricks of being bartenders and increasing profits and also watched Hank pour a few drinks and show us some techniques on pouring and also helped us learn a few different popular drinks. Nothing too exciting so far, but I will update after class tomorrow.

After getting about 4 hours of sleep, I headed off to my first class. It was about a 45 minute drive, but I made it there right on time. The class had all ready begun and Hank was showing students that have been there for 2-4 weeks how to cut lemons, oranges, limes, etc… Most of the students that have been there seemed to know what they were doing, which is a plus considering that is why we are all here. I can tell all ready that I am going to have to put some time into remembering the drinks that are in his bartending book as I was unsure of how to make quite a few drinks and unsure of exactly what alcohols are composed of.

I spoke to Hank again today and decided to put $495 down for registration and have to pay $500 by November 5th. I was given a bartending book and some blank flash cards. I was told to study a few descriptions of alcohol and to write a few drinks on the flashcards for future reference and we will go over them Monday, which will be my first day.