ThinkPad 4 Passing the shaker reality and hope

India’s bartending community is a combination of old commanders and new generation innovators but this community in India’s alcobev sector is not attracting as much attention as it deserves. The community has ample creativity but it is also a bit scattered. But some of the bartenders from India are shining brightly and have received global recognition and admiration. One can say that India’s bartending community has been going through a phase of transition.

This fourth ThinkPad session of Spiritz Achievers’ Awards 2020 explored whether in India’s vibrant and evolving bartending scenario, the shaker  been properly passed to the new generation of bartenders by the earlier generation of bartenders and has the new generation received it properly.

The interesting session was moderated by Ankur Chawla, Founder, ScopeBev. It attracted vibrant and insightful participation of Shatbhi Basu, Owner of STIR Academy of Bartending; Yangdup Lama, Co-Founder of Cocktails & Dreams, Speakeasy and Sidecar; Sandeep Verma, Founder of Institute Of Bar Operations & Management; Manmohan Singh, Founder of Gypsy Bartender; Devi Singh, Mixologist; Vedant Mehra, Brand Community Manager, Greater Than; and Yogesh Kumar, Head Mixologist at PCO.

Ankur Chawla, Founder, ScopeBev, initiated the interactions by citing the initiative of first generation of Indian bartenders like Shatbhi Basu, Yangdup Lama and Sandeep Verma to pass on their expertise and learnings about the profession to the next generation of bartenders. This flowing of learning and expertise from one generation of bartenders to another is aptly termed as ‘Passing the Shaker.’

Firstly, he enquired, “Is the shaker being passed properly to the next generation and has the new generation taken the shaker nicely from the first generation?” Secondly, Ankur encouraged the panel to deliberate upon the issues of new generation of Indian bartenders and their expectations.

Regarding forming of an association of bartending, he opined, “Let us try to build a common platform for the bartending community.” He urged to constitute an association or a forum like Sommelier Association, which is very strong in different countries, for India’s bartending community.

Young Generation is Doing Great

Yangdup Lama, Co-founder of Cocktails & Dreams Speakeasy, and Sidecar, is very much optimistic about the way young generation of bartenders in India are marking their presence felt, locally and globally.

He validates his point while mentioning, “Amazingly, the present generation of bartenders is at the top of their game at this time and these guys are seeing everything in a more holistic manner. Most of the young generation of bartenders in India are very much savvy in terms of how to use social media as a tool, which is very, very important for taking the whole idea of bartending to the next level.”

He appreciated the discipline shown by these guys and compared to that with his generation. “In our time one thing lead to another. What was happening among our generation of bartenders was the process of discovery. In my case, if I was born in today’s generation I would never have been a wedding bartender. I realised it much later that it was not my cup of tea,” Yangdeep explained.

“Horizon is open for Indian bartenders; one can be influencer too and can also rock behind the bars. Today’s bartenders can be bar owners tomorrow, they can be beverage journalist… the field is now wide open. Lots of young fellows are working in this profession brilliantly,” he expressed.

In terms of global standards, he said, “We are not very far from it, rather we are very much there. The only thing we are not able to do is to build the connect that let the world know what we are doing.”

He concluded that during the last 7 to 8 months India’s bartending community had realised the benefits of coming together, working collectively and communicating effectively to the world.

Passing Knowledge and Skills

Shatbhi Basu, the Owner of STIR Academy of Bartending, underlined that she had been working to hone the skills of young generations of bartenders in all possible ways. “I have been doing it for quite a while. I also came into the bartending profession accidently. Then I had nobody to look up to and had no one to learn from and I realised those gaps very quickly. As I want to be good on what I do, I had to teach myself as there was no other way that I
could learn,” she articulated.

Now she is passing on her learning to the new generation of bartenders in India. She clearly cited that even now the value for bartenders was not there in the Indian society as well as in the India’s alcobev industry. She narrated, “Most restaurants and bars in India do not have respect for bartenders. They frequently call them waiter behind the bar. Even the designation of bartender is not there in many places, which include even the five-star hotels, which I think is pathetic. I want to change this perception very badly and that was one of my reasons for starting my academy.”

She wanted India’s alcobev industry to recognise bartenders more. She inculcated respect for bartenders who passed out from her academy and clearly told the industry that “unless you give them the designation of bartender, we will not give them to you to at all.” And, she has also given the industry a cut off point for their salary, saying that nothing below that will work. “We literally created a benchmark for designation and salary
for bartenders passing out from our academy,” Shatbhi asserted. “I showed
the industry that bartending is a specialised skill and we need to have respect for it,” she pointed out further.

She also taught new generation of bartenders passing out from her academy to have respect for themselves, and helped them to be perfect in all aspects of bartending, be it bartending skill, communication, menu marketing, team work, and being politically correct too.

She also pointed out that “Younger generation is taking bartending profession very seriously. While bartending is all about pleasing the customers with a smile my worry is that younger generation of bartenders is taking themselves very seriously.  They should take the customers more seriously than themselves.”

Find the full article in the Jan 2021 issue of Spiritz Magazine. Subscrive now!