I e-mailed the local bartending school and one of the questions was: do you
require the students to taste test the drinks? (The reason I asked was for
medical and personal reasons) I received this this response from the
school: :

...we work with simulated liquids, that means that nothing is real, it
just LOOKS like the real thing! We have no alcoholic beverages on our
premisis, and only use alcohol in one of our classes(this is to make a drink
"flame"), and it is used by the instructor...

What the devil is stimulated liquid? Colored water? I'm just curious since
I'm planning on going into bartending professionally-- despite being a
person who doesn't drink alcohol.

Thanks,

AlphaTrion-TJW

Hey AlphaTrion,

This really doesnt answer your question, but since you said that you
are going to become a bartending as a profession, check out this
website and sign up for their free mini-course. It teaches you how to
make more tips as a bartender (not just learning how to mix drinks)...

http://www.bartending-guide.com

"AlphaTrion-TJW" wrote:
...we work with simulated liquids, that means that nothing is real,
it just LOOKS like the real thing!

What the devil is stimulated liquid? Colored water? I'm just curious since
I'm planning on going into bartending professionally-- despite being a
person who doesn't drink alcohol.
--------------------------------

AlphaTrion... yes, bartenders schools use colored water. This is
because otherwise they would be throwing out -tons- of booze which
costs a lot more then colored water. So you could easily go through an
entire bartenders course without ever having to put lip to alcohol, or
even be -able- to put lip to alcohol.

As for your desire to become a bartender but not drink any alcohol
yourself...

To me (a devoted cocktail evangelist) this sounds akin to a vegan
wanting to become a chef in a steak restaurant. Could you really trust
the culinary abilities of somebody who had never even tasted the
product they were serving?

Sure, you could probably do fine in some slip-shod bar where they
really don't care much about the actual quality of the drink, but to
really be a good bartender would mean essentially being a "chef"
behind the bar and being able to understand the culinary nuances of
the products you are using.

I realize that there are many different reasons for a person to choose
not to drink, but I would highly recommend that you perhaps look at a
different line of work then bartending.

-Robert

The reason I don't drink is a combo of medical and personal. In short: I
can't drink liquor. However, I still enjoy the atmosphere and the relaxed
nature that this particular area of food service has to offer. THink of it
as a diabetic that works in a candy factory. Haven been a Barista for
nearly two years, I've found that comapred to a cafe that a bar is much more
relaxed and mroe suited to my personality.

As for Vegans and steak house: actually I know a couple who are butchers.

mk25 wrote:
Hey AlphaTrion,

This really doesnt answer your question, but since you said that you
are going to become a bartending as a profession, check out this
website and sign up for their free mini-course. It teaches you how to
make more tips as a bartender (not just learning how to mix drinks)...

http://www.bartending-guide.com

Is the mini-course for tending mini-bars?

--Blair
"I'm self-taught."

AlphaTrion-TJW wrote:
as a diabetic that works in a candy factory. Haven been a Barista for
nearly two years, I've found that comapred to a cafe that a bar is much more
relaxed and mroe suited to my personality.

Yeah. I can dig it. You can serve booze and make
depressed people mellower and more talkative, or you can
megadose already jittery people with caffeine.

As for Vegans and steak house: actually I know a couple who are butchers.

I think that might work the other way around. They see
how it's made and they stop eating it. No?

--Blair
"Can't give up brews or sausages."

Yeah. I can dig it. You can serve booze and make
depressed people mellower and more talkative, or you can
megadose already jittery people with caffeine.
Plus drunks are not really a rabid as caffeine fiends, trust me on that one
lol

As for Vegans and steak house: actually I know a couple who are
butchers.

I think that might work the other way around. They see
how it's made and they stop eating it. No?
One was that way, saw how it was cut then couldn't eat it but could prep
it. The other was vegan before he satred into being a butcher.

AlphaTrion-TJW wrote:
The other was vegan before he satred into being a butcher.

Medical problems? Because most vegans are that way
because of animal-lover considerations, and chopping
up carcasses to make consumer products sounds like
the anathema of that worldview...

--Blair
"The irony is piling up."

Nah he was vegan because he didn't eat meat for whatever reason-- I know it
wasn't medical, he just said he never developed a taster for it *shrug*

With me and liquor it's a diabetic, ulcer, and medication issue and a family
history ripe with the bad side of the liquor.


--
Toby "AlphaTrion" Woods
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"...just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back, Up front there
ought 'a be a Man In Black" - Johnny Cash (1932-2003)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My Homepage: http://www.tobyjwoods.cjb.net