Doing something completely different — Musings of becoming a professional bartender over 4 weeks in Cape Town
So this is something different. Different from technology, different from crypto, different from business models, different from processes. Still, it is my way of processing what happened in the last four weeks and what it taught me.
The beginnings… I can‘t really pinpoint when the first idea sparked to do a bartender course in Cape Town. It might have been in Singapore when I visited my first Skybar and felt boundless. It might have been in New York when I enjoyed my first speakeasy bar and tasted incredible flavor combinations. It might have been when I developed a taste for different Gins and went down this rabbit hole. Or a combination of all of it. It was always a unique experience I truly enjoyed. In the end, I had a sudden urge pre-Covid to experience what a good bartender is and can do. Well, covid hit, and this experience was put on hold. Fast forward three years later after things changed in my life, I put my money down and booked the course and flight. And damn, what a gorgeous decision.
From living in a villa with an amazing group of international and local folks to learning new skills, tasting new flavors, learning the history and theory of cocktails, seeing my favorite animals (Penguins), hiking, to enjoying the nightlife of Cape Town. It has been a true pleasure all along the way.
Especially in making new friends for life, and learning from their perspective while sharing and enhancing my perspective.
Learnings:
- I learned to surf and hit my first wave in Muizenberg. I‘m not fixed on continuing this. It has a lot of fun and has been a dream for years.
- Bartending is so much more than pushing cocktails out quickly. There is a craft to it. There is passion – for most bartenders in their own bars – to it.
- Create a high-energy team. It makes such a difference. People can be tired, hungover, hungry, and all of the more. But if you create high energy, and have fun, it makes it disappear.
- Be kind, don’t judge, and accept people how they are. You never – ever – know what’s going on inside and what baggage they carry.
- Bar and bartending have a lot of similarities with working in a large corporation. You need to constantly over-communicate tasks, look for the details, assign tasks, improvise on changing conditions, and be ready for the next customer and order.
Life is not one-dimensional. Life is multi-dimensional and has so much more to offer than you might think. It might be just one decision away.
