A BAR ABOVE
MIXOLOGY CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
Mixology Certification Program
Training, Community, and Mentorship
Training, community, and mentorship, without leaving your phone, tablet, or computer.
Hd Video
Show off your original cocktail creations on the drink menu, to your friends and family, and on social media!
Lifetime Access
All students get lifetime access, so you can come back anytime to refresh your memory.
Interactive Quizzes
Test yourself with no-pressure quizzes to check your understanding along the way.
Community And Mentorship
Got Questions? Email us or ask our Facebook group with hundreds of other students.
Cheat Sheets
Includes printable “cheat sheets” for each section to help you remember what you learned and refer back in the future.
Available Anywhere
Lessons, quizzes, and exam are mobile-optimized so you can watch and learn on the go.
Program Details
The Certification is a three-step process, including two in-depth courses and a two-part final exam.
Step 1:
Master Your Ingredients
Understanding Cocktail Components
This course is much more than an “overview of ingredients.” You’ll learn about all of the different types of ingredients and products used behind the bar, their flavor profiles, and how to work with them in cocktails.
Step 2:
Master Balance & Flavor
Mixology 101
Continue to put all of the pieces together. You’ll finish this course with a deep knowledge of balance and flavor – and you’ll learn to map your cocktails out on paper before wasting valuable product.
Step 3:
Earn Your Certificate
Take the Two-Part Certification Exam
Continue to put all of the pieces together. You’ll finish this course with a deep knowledge of balance and flavor – and you’ll learn to map your cocktails out on paper before wasting valuable product.
Notes from the instructor
“I started bartending because I fell in love with the craft of the cocktail and got so much satisfaction from making a great drink. But when I started trying to design my own cocktails, I struggled to find great resources to help me learn the intricacies of balance, as well as the different kinds of sweeteners, acids, and bitter components to use in my drinks.
It took years to teach myself – but it was worth it. I’ve had opportunities to design cocktail menus, work with brands, and consult for bars and restaurants all over the world.
Now I’ve built this program to share what I’ve learned so you can achieve a fulfilling career, leveraging your mixology skills to get your drinks on the menu and advance your career into management, consulting, and beyond.”
CHRIS TUNSTALL
Founder, A Bar Above
Learn the advanced skills, tricks and techniques for designing original cocktails from scratch
– without wasting valuable time or expensive ingredients along the way.
GET NOTICED
Show off your original cocktail creations on the drink menu, to your friends and family, and on social media!
A SOLID INVESTMENT
Save money by making “craft bar” quality cocktails at home. Make money designing drinks for events, brands, & competitions.
LOVE YOUR BAR
No more recipe burnout! Love your bar again with the skills to truly express your creativity with your drink creations.
Take a Look Inside…
Here’s a look “under the hood” – a real screenshot from one of the course units.
Great Course! I loved the idea of being able to complete the mixology course at my own pace! The course was very informative, and I learned a lot from the videos, and all of the printed info, and homework that I was able to download. I also love that I can always go back, and log into the course again to watch any videos, and go over any information that I would like to review over again.
- Joseph Covello
Group Discounts Available
Get your staff as excited about your bar program as you are.
A small investment in their education will directly translate to better cocktails and happier guests who come back – and bring their friends.
Build Engagement
Show your bartenders that you care about them and their career by sponsoring their bar education. It’s a great (and inexpensive) way to get them engaged and excited about your bar program!
A Memorable Guest Experience
Want your guests to come back time and time again? Offer exclusive, unique cocktails on the menu that feature the talents of your very own staff. Bartenders will be excited to share their creations, and guests will notice.
Increase Efficiency & Reduce Waste
Trial and error is a time-consuming and wasteful way to create new cocktails. Speed up the process and reduce the waste: We’ll show your team how to craft the cocktail on paper first – making it great before pouring a single drop.
Enthusiastically Recommend to Bring Your Cocktail Knowledge To The Next Level. I highly recommend the Mixology Certification Program for anyone who's looking to expand their knowledge and make great cocktails. Plus, the certificate of completion is my way of showing off and it's displayed on our home bar shelf.
- Tina Connelly
While there is a bit of overlap, the focus and most of the content of these two courses are very different. BarSmarts spends a great deal of time on the history of spirits and learning existing cocktail recipes. The Mixology Certification, however, is focused on learning how to create your own cocktails – and in great detail.
BarSmarts is a great resource to learn cocktail and spirit history, as well as learning the classic cocktail recipes you should know as a bartender.
This program focuses instead on teaching you to design your own recipes. For example, in our "Souring” unit, we discuss specific details about pH levels of citrus, different varietals of all the major citrus categories, and how they compare to the pH and flavor profiles of the main varietals. Then we discuss how to use that information to create a balanced cocktail.
You are welcome to take the classes at your own pace. A quicker student might finish 3-5 modules per week and finish the program in around 3-4 weeks. In general, I’d recommend planning for around 6-8 weeks to finish the entire program.
All students receive a PDF certificate via email, and (if requested) a paper copy upon completion of the course and passing the exam. We will mail it to the address you provide after completion.
No, this program is designed to teach how to use different ingredients together in cocktails – but does not cover basic bartending techniques like shaking, stirring, muddling, etc. I recommend you wait until you are fairly comfortable with your bartending skills before enrolling in this program.
You can take the course without any tools or ingredients at all – but to get the fullest experience, you’ll want to work through the homework suggestions for each module.
To get the most out of the program, here’s everything you’ll need to do all of the homework:
Ingredients:
- Fruit: Limes, lemons, oranges, grapefruit
- Sugars: Table sugar, turbinado or demerara sugar, honey, and agave or maple syrup (Optional but helpful: A couple low-calorie sweeteners like Splenda, NutraSweet, etc.)
- Spirits: Six different spirits or styles of spirits
- Bitters: One bottle of Angostura bitters
- Eggs: Fresh eggs, pasteurized egg whites, or powdered egg whites
Tools:
Any brand of barware will work, but we highly recommend our brand (linked below)
- Cocktail shaker
- Hawthorne strainer, julep strainer, and fine strainer
- Bar spoons
- Muddler
- Jigger(s) for measuring ingredients
- Vegetable peeler or sharp knife
- Citrus juicer
Mixology is the skill of combining ingredients and flavor profiles to create cocktails. It involves both basic cocktail knowledge and lots of creativity in order to develop new recipes or "twists" on classic recipes.
Mixology is the term used to describe the art of creating cocktails based on knowledge of flavor profiles, ingredients, and advanced techniques.
A mixology course walks you through understanding cocktail ingredients, how those ingredients go together (or don't), the formulas for standard cocktails, how to combine flavor profiles, and techniques for developing your own mixed drinks. If you want to learn more about creating great cocktails, a mixology course is the best place to start!
To become a mixologist, we highly recommend taking a mixology course where you can gain all the basic (and advanced) information you need in one place. You'll learn the standard recipes for classic cocktails and how to make your own by following the formulas and combining creative ingredients.
While cocktails have a long and rich history without one specific origin, New York saloon-owner Jerry Thomas is widely considered by bartenders and historians to be the "grandfather of mixology." He wrote the first U.S. cocktail book Bar-tender's Guide in 1862 and set the scene for making mixology an art form.
To get started in mixology, you'll need to learn all about standard cocktail recipes & formulas, ingredients, flavor profiles, and drink-making techniques. While you could Google and watch YouTube for years in order to teach yourself, a comprehensive mixology course is the best place to get all the info at once.
A comprehensive mixology course will give you all the information you need in one place, allowing you to learn the basics of making cocktails and combine ingredients, as well as advanced techniques and how to create your own mixed drinks.
Customer Reviews
Feedback from Certification Graduates
Customer Reviews
I loved this course! I had a great time going through the sections and exploring all of the content.
The lessons themselves do a great job at introducing you to each aspect of mixology with a thorough breakdown of the material, followed by an opportunity to exercise what you've learned in the 'homework.' There were so many elements that I hadn't considered before, and it was great to see those laid out in front of me in an easily-digestible way. The course has a ton of useful information, but the lessons seemed to go by surprisingly quick.
As I continue to explore mixology, I think that the ability to re-visit the lessons and learning-material at any time is a priceless feature - I absolutely love it. The 'cheat-sheets' provided in the course are some of the most helpful tools I've found for information-retention, so it's great to be able to go back and review those at my leisure. It was a relief to be able to take this course at my own pace, too, as I tend to have difficulty finding free-time outside of work.
Overall, this was an incredible exploration of the facets of mixology that provides an excellent jumping-off point for anyone interested in the craft! This course got me excited to dive even deeper into the world of mixology. I can't wait!
Hey Kohl
I am happy you enjoyed the course and most importantly that it was a great of source of knowledge! Hope you continue to enjoy your adventure into the Mixology world.
Cheers and happy mixing!
I loved the idea of being able to complete the mixology course at my own pace! The course was very informative, and I learned a lot from the videos, and all of the printed info, and homework that I was able to download. I also love that I can always go back, and log into the course again to watch any videos, and go over any information that I would like to review over again.
Thanks for the great review!
The course was great very informative and helpful
I was so happy to run across A Bar Above during my web search when I was looking to get certified in Mixology. I thought that it was just going to be a quick course and go, but I got so much more from the experience than I anticipated.
Chris was very informative and thorough. He went into great depth about each spirit and gave so many great tips that really helped me evolve as a mixologist. I love that all of the information from the videos was also provided in text on each video page for further review.
The tests after each module were short and not overly tricky, but ensured that you knew the information.
In addition, the course led me to their podcast, which is excellent and to their barware, which is such great quality. The podcast introduced me to so man others in the industry as well.
I highly recommend this course to anyone who desires a better understanding of liquor, Mixology, bar business and more. I now teach Mixology classes and this course and community has made me an even better and more knowledgeable mixologist.
My signature drink is the Cinnamon Whiskey Sour.
Congrats on completing the course and wow, your drink sounds fantastic! Happy Mixing!
The mixology certification program was exactly what I was looking for. With my busy schedule, I was able to complete the course at my own pace, The training video's, other information provided were straight forward and easy to follow. I highly recommend the Mixology Certification Program for anyone who's looking to expand their knowledge and make great cocktails. Plus, the certificate of completion is my way of showing off and it's displayed on our home bar shelf :)
