From Amateur to Pro: Bartend with Confidence and Skill

Transform into a confident, consistent bartender who delivers exceptional drinks and service—every time. With expert-led training and professional certification, you will master the skills to elevate your skills, impress your guests, and keep them coming back for more.

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More Than a Decade of Training Bartenders and Advanced Mixologists

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Bartender Training That Actually Prepares You for the Real World

    Most bartending courses focus on memorizing recipes you’ll never actually use. Others emphasize speed over skill, leaving you underprepared, lacking confidence, and needing to relearn everything on the job.

    At A Bar Above, we do things differently. Our Bartender Fundamentals course isn’t just about mixing drinks—it’s about mastering the art of bartending. Whether you're training online or in person, we prepare you for the real-life experience behind the bar, covering everything standard courses miss:

  • How to Handle the Unexpected: Learn how to think like a bartender, not just follow recipes.

  • Finesse & Technique: Master the small details that separate good bartenders from great ones.

  • Customer Service Mastery: Because bartending isn’t just about drinks—it’s about delivering an experience.

  • A Strong Foundation: Gain the skills to grow beyond just pouring and shaking, setting you up for a career in craft mixology.

This isn’t just another bartending course—it’s the training that makes you job-ready from day one. Are you ready to step behind the bar with confidence?
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About the Digital Training Course

The Ultimate Training Program for New Bartenders

This complete online course consistently trains your hospitality staff to become bartenders: From the basics of barware to industry best practices to making craft cocktails, let us help your staff take their careers behind the bar.

Fundamentals of Bartending Certification
Fundamentals of Bartending Certification
Fundamentals of Bartending Certification

Fundamentals of Bartending Certification

Course Modules

What You'll Learn

This course focuses on the fundamentals of bartending. While we certainly cover how to make delicious classic cocktails, we also share the universal concepts and practices of being a bartender. Here are the top topics we explore in this course:
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HOW IT WORKS

Course Structure

  • Six lessons
  • 3 topics in each section
  • Quizzes following each section
  • Approximately 15-20 hours of self-paced video content
  • Final exam with certification provided upon passing
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CRAFT YOUR SKILLS

The Fundamentals

  • Bartending vs. mixology & understanding types of establishments and your job’s requirements
  • Standard operating procedures: Opening & closing the bar, setting up your tools and ingredients, inventory & restocking, bar maintenance, and everything in between
  • Understanding and using each piece of barware 
  • Best practices behind the bar
  • Knife skills and cutting techniques
  • Preparing and using garnishes, spices, tinctures, and juices
  • Making classic cocktails and understanding cocktail families
  • Spirits, liqueurs, bitters, beer, and wine
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Unit 3

The Art of Serving Guests

  • Communication with guests and coworkers
  • Guest services 
  • General best practices and professionalism
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You May Be Thinking..

"Why should I pay $147 when I can find mixology tutorials and tips online for free?"

Free videos might show you how to mix a drink, but they don’t make you a certified mixologist. This course offers expert-led training, a structured curriculum, and a professional certification—proof of your dedication and skill that makes you stand out to employers, clients, and peers.

A PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION THAT SETS YOU APART

 DESIGNED FOR RESULTS NOT JUST INSPIRATION

COMPREHENSIVE TRAINING IN ONE PLACE

Or Maybe You're Thinking

"How will this transform my experience as a mixologist?"

Imagine creating cocktails so impressive they end up on the menu, on social media, or in competitions. This course will transform you into a mixologist who doesn't just follow recipes but designs your own impressive, original drinks.

BECOME A STANDOUT MIXOLOGIST

REDISCOVER YOUR PASSION FOR COCKTAILS

TURN YOUR SKILLS INTO OPPORTUNITY

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Testimonials

Hear from Our Students

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"The course content was well organized. With no prior bartending experience, I was able to feel confident in my knowledge of bartending to get started. The cocktail recipes provided were spot on and are definitely the most common of drinks ordered. I will continue my bartending education with their mixology course."

- Tim R.

"Lots of great information. I have never bartended, but am helping out on the weekends and am trying to learn and be more helpful. Loved all the information and looking forward to getting some practice in."

- Elizabeth T.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Will I receive a certification upon completion of a bartender training course?

Yes, you'll receive certification to prove you passed the course so that your workplace knows you successfully completed it.

Can I get a job as a bartender after completing a bartender training course?

This course is particularly designed as a training program for existing bar staff or those being promoted at their exisiting workplace. While it isn't designed to get you a job at a new establishment, it could help you advance your career and take it behind the bar at your current workplace.

Is the training program suitable for both new and experienced bartenders?

Yes, it is! This training program goes over the best practices behind the bar, helping newer bar staff as well as refreshing and building on the knowledge of existing bartenders.

How long is the training program, and can it be customized to fit our specific needs?

The program is over 20 hours in content alone, not including tests and quizzes. We recommend that the students take their time to complete the course over a week. We designed the course to be a universal training program that can be applied widely to all bars, so customization is not needed.
What teaching methods and resources are used in the training program?
We utilize several different methods of teaching. We have videos for visual learning of key points as well as text content with graphs and tables that dive deeper in explaining the key points. We also use quizzes along the way, designed to help students retain the key points in a formula that is similar to that of the final exam.
What topics are covered in a comprehensive bartender course curriculum?
In this comprehensive course, you'll review a range of topics from proper opening & closing protocol to handling over-served customers. Each course you take will cover different topics, though.


Can the training program help improve our bartenders' efficiency, speed, and customer service skills?
Absolutely! The purpose of this training course is to help make the ins and outs of daily bartending life clear and uniform so that your staff can become faster, more confident, more efficient, and better at customer service.
Does the training program cover responsible alcohol service?
Yes, we do touch on responsible alcohol service and how to appropriately handle over-served guests. This is a real-life look into the daily responsibilities of bar staff.
How does the training program keep up with current trends and industry best practices?
We focus on best practices that are timeless, fundamental, and universal so that they can be applied at every bar. Some bars follow trends, some set them, and others choose not to worry about them. Our course gives the students the neceessary skills to be successful in all three environments.

Meet Your Instructor

“My team and I found that most of the material out there focuses on just memorizing recipes or on the products used to make cocktails. While those concepts are important, we found they don't actually teach students how to effectively succeed as bartenders. 


We wanted to create a course that focuses on the operational and procedural aspects of what it means to be a bartender: What they do before and after guests arrive, how they serve and make drinks, and what it truly means to be a bartender in all senses.”


- Chris Tunstall

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