Get hired
behind the bar.
Every bar wants experience. Nobody wants to give it to you. This is the course that closes that gap — 12 modules that take you from zero to making 30 cocktails from memory, plus the prep to walk into the interview and sound like you belong there.
Get the Course — $119The experience trap
In a market like Toronto, bars won't hire you without experience — and they won't train you to get it. So people take the host job, or the barback job, and wait for a shot that never quite comes.
The way out isn't more enthusiasm. It's walking in already trained: knowing the pours, the builds, the glassware, and the technique before anyone hands you a shaker. That's a different conversation than "I'm a fast learner."
What's inside
Twelve modules, in order. Everything you need, nothing you don't.
Welcome to the Bar
Bar anatomy, glassware overview, and the 2 oz cocktail pour standard — plus why a highball is 1 oz unless someone orders a double.
Bar Setup & Mindset
Professional habits, mise en place, station organization, and how to think during a rush.
Bar Tools
Jiggers, shakers, strainers, muddlers — every tool and exactly when to reach for it.
Ice Mastery
Ice is an ingredient. Cubes, king cubes, crushed, spheres — and what each one does to a drink.
Glassware Guide
Rocks, coupe, martini, collins, flute — what goes in what, and why it matters.
Garnishes & Batching
Citrus cuts, syrups from simple to honey, and the batching rules that stop you wasting product.
Technique
Shaking, dry shaking, stirring, muddling, building in the glass, and dilution control.
The Spirits Family
Whiskey, gin, rum, tequila, vodka, cognac, amaro, vermouth and bitters — what they are and where they go.
Highballs & How Guests Order
The drink you will make more than any other, and the four words a guest uses that change your pour and your glass.
The Thirty Classics
Thirty recipes step by step, standardized to the 2 oz pour: Old Fashioned, Margarita, Manhattan, Negroni and the rest.
Terminology
Neat, up, dirty, back, dry, wet, float — the language you're expected to already speak.
Tips & Hospitality
Speed, reading guests, upselling naturally, responsible service, and cleanliness under pressure.
Behind the Bar
A guest orders, you build the drink — glass, bottles, pours, method, garnish — and find out whether it would have gone out or come back. Plus eighty-nine flashcards for the specs.
Designed by industry professionals with 30+ years of combined knowledge.
Not a textbook. Not a video compilation. Written from real shifts, real rush hours, and the mistakes that only show up when the bar is three deep.
Work anywhere
The 2 oz cocktail standard is universal. Learn it once and it applies in any bar, in any city.
Stand out to employers
Every applicant has Smart Serve. Almost none of them can make 30 cocktails from memory.
Smart Serve companion
Smart Serve certifies you to serve legally. This makes you worth hiring.
Everything you get
If it doesn't help, you don't pay.
Go through it. If you don't come away knowing more about working a bar than you did before, email us within 30 days and we'll refund you in full — no forms, no argument.
Questions
I have zero experience. Will this actually help me get hired?
That's who it's built for. You won't finish with a résumé full of shifts — you'll finish able to talk through pours, builds, ice, glassware and technique with confidence. Trained and unproven beats untrained every time.
Do I need special equipment?
No. You can go through the whole thing without buying anything. If you want to practise builds at home, a jigger and a shaker will cover most of it.
How long does it take?
A focused weekend gets you through it. Most people come back to the recipe and glassware sections for months afterwards.
Is this the same as Smart Serve?
No, and you need both. Smart Serve is the legal certification to serve alcohol in Ontario. This is the skill set that makes you employable once you have it.
Is it just for people who want a bar job?
That's the main audience, but the material works just as well if you want to host properly and stop guessing at drinks.
What format is it?
The full illustrated course, a video for every lesson, the course book and the flashcards, delivered the moment you buy. It stays yours — come back to the recipe and glassware sections any time, on any device, and download or print whatever you want to keep beside you.