Where can I learn a lot about alcohol?!
Answers: I am a waitress hoping to become a cocktail waitress or bartender. I'm familiar with your average drinks but when it comes to different brands of hard liquor and different wines I am clueless. I don't know how to explain a certain taste of a wine or the difference between skky and schmirnoff vodka for instance. I would like to find some material where I can 1) Become familiar with the different brands of hard liqour and be able to explain their differences 2) Understand what it means or how I can tell if a wine is (for instance) very heady, or light, etc. 3) Become more familiar with popular mixed drinks. And YES, I am already learning more through drinking myself so please do not tell me to drink as advice
To be honest, the people to ask are the current bartenders and current managers at your place of business. They should know everything about the wines that you want to know.
The rest of the stuff you can learn on the job, while drinking, or in a couple of books.
I recommend these two books for starters:
"Bartender's Black Book" I carry this one with me every night I work. It has tons of recipes for shots/drinks and gives you basic knowledge on pouring, how to be a bartender, and basic things to know about liquor/wine.
"Maran Illustrated Bartending" this one is sitting behind the bar I work at currently. It is awesome too, full color pictures and all the info you need.
I hope this gets you in the right direction. Bartending is a blast, good luck! Oh and don't go to bartending school, that's a waste of time and money. Unless you need to be certified by the state, don't even bother looking into it.
Here is a link to a list of other good books to try:
http://cocktails.about.com/od/mixology/t...
As a cocktail waitress I wouldn't worry about wine for now, unless you're waiting in a wine bar. The other day I went into a local book store and found a ton of bartender's books. I would say seek those out, but avoid the straight reference books. There are a lot of books that are fun to read and informative at the same time. Short of drinking more (which you're already doing) that's the only way. I guess you can also "shadow" an experienced bartender some night, though you might have to do so for no pay.
From my uncle living in the basement
Wine Tasting Party.. some State has schools of wine tasting...
ask at any Large alcohol store, for tickets, the price runs about $35.00 to $40.00... because you also gets to taste Foods...
INTERNET research
Okkies sweety the best way to learn is do some work for a bar. I used to do bar work all the time at all kinds of clubs and pubs and I learnt the most through working with great staff that taught me everything. And it also depends exactly what kind of bar staff you want to become.
People who work in night clubs and young peoples bars do not need to know too much about wines and flashy ways to say how something tatses. Basically you try drinks that are popular at these places and remember what they are like. You will not have to lean flamboyant cocktails either but the ussual and simple ones you will. Most bars have books under the counter to cheat with, so as long as you know how to poor drinks fast, know what measurments to use, and know your spirits you should be fine. But start with a bar thats not packed, try bar work on the weekdays and during lunch.
If you want to do the flashy cocktail girl job in a swanky upmarket club well this needs some real work as people will ask all kindsof questions and you need to know them. You can do short course in this as wine will be one of the main things you need to now about and then about lots more of the cocktails and what heady means ect. These people are very stuffy to work with and I did not like this area so stuck with the fun upbeat young bars and night clubs. Also no where near as many jobs in this area.
Being at a quiet bar is the best training you can get. Beats reading online for hours, beats costly courses, and beats trying all these diff alcohol with no real sence of what anything tatses like. With a good teacher that works daily with people and drinks you can't go wrong. Worked for me!
AA