Sunday Sacramento Scene: Bartending School
It’s a new twist on hard lemonade.
“Once you develop the basics and technique, you can make any drink in the world,” says bartending instructor Larry Allum.
Students of all ages at the Sacramento School of Bartending learn to make—and shake—over 150 drinks. Luis Rimero, a full-time student, shelled out $199 for this forty-hour class. Some are here looking for a fun time on the weekends; others, because of a downturn in their careers. “With the economy, we have a lot of people who are in real estate (signing up for classes),” Allum says.
This is a job that—no matter what the season or the economy—it’s always hopping. This particular school gives free refresher courses and job placement for students. In forty hours, the school teaches students how to make martinis, cream drinks, highball cocktails like Screwdrivers, tropical drinks and shooters. The school uses over 800 pounds of ice every day and even though the drinks look real, all the “alcohol” used to mix drinks at the school is just colored water.
The school has flexible class hours, open Monday through Friday for seven hours a day, and is located at 11366 Amalgam Way, Suite D in Rancho Cordova. The school charges $199 for bartending courses, which is what similar schools in the Sacramento Area are charging for the same instruction.
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Natalie Bomke is a features reporter and morning show anchor for KTXL Fox40 in Sacramento. Her Sacramento Scene segment airs Fridays on the Fox40 Morning News. Natalie also contributes to Fox40.com by writing the Sacramento Scene Blog, an online extension of her weekly segment. She can be reached by e-mailing natalie.bomke@fox40.com.
In my past life, I was a tree or something. If not a tree, something that grew old and didn't move very much. I'm pretty convinced of this.
August 5th, 2008 at 7:26 am
Downturns in careers often CAUSE more drinking - what a positive spin to put on it all - enable others to do so! I’m signing up.