Sanjeev Satgainya

Kathmandu:

Doing the cocktail circuit rounds and socialising is not a new thing but there are some missing links that can be found when we talk about beverages while standing at a bar. Knowledge on alcoholic beverages is considered a social skill in today’s world and people are craving more of this knowledge. But where can they be educated?

There are occasions when bartenders flare and display their mastery of mixing. We’re left astounded but are too shy to ask for details. It’s difficult for one to say in what proportion which ingredients are mixed while he/she is enjoying a Martini. One relishing a Rum Punch might wonder about the share of rum the drink holds. If you are serious about honing your alcohol skills, here is your chance to attend a workshop today at Hotel Radisson that deals with the basics of bars and beverages.

Yangdup Lama, who has set up the School of Bar and Beverages Management in New Delhi, is conducting a workshop on “Bartending and Beverages” on January 14 and 15 at Radisson Hotel, Kathmandu.

“Bartending is an art and though Kathmandu offers the best of the restaurants and bars, it still lacks the precise flare of serving guests. In my belief, not just the bartender but the customer as well needs to know some of the aspects that are closely associated with the beverages,” says Lama and admits that this is one of the reasons why he is here to conduct this workshop, arguably for the first time.

Lama is a hotel management graduate whose love and passion for serving alcoholic beverages to the guests with élan got him to work on bartending. He now has mastered this particular skill. “Mixing drinks is one out of a 100 jobs that a bartender does,” says Lama. “An expert bartender needs to be clever, intelligent, a good orator, curator, a manipulator and of course should possess a great sense of humour.”

And this is exactly what Lama is trying to inculcate in the aspiring bartenders. “Apart from that, the workshop also deals with the basics of beverages which are equally useful to even those who drink occasionally. It is an art and a skill and in the corporate circle there are a number of occasions when one faces a problem or two while choosing a drink. This workshop will help sort out such simple problems as well.”