Drexel University’s Center for Hospitality and Sport Management is breaking down the process of making cocktails in its new course, “Spirits and Mixology,” and you can get in on the action. The class, which will be taught by Keith Raimondi, head bartender at Townsend and an adjunct professor at Drexel, will also study many of the business aspects of being a barkeep: creating a bar program, calculating recipe costs and implementing proper service guidelines, to name a few.
“Until recently, restaurants didn’t place much emphasis on bar programs and often left them as afterthoughts,” said Paul O’Neill, director of special projects for the Center for Hospitality and Sport Management. “But now, bar programs have flourished due to the demands of the savvier restaurant patron, a return to more foundational techniques, a respect for the product and the overall potential for money to be made through a bar program that distinguishes the establishment from its counterparts.”
Using the bar and lounge area of Drexel’s Academic Bistro as a classroom, the 10-week course will focus on the fundamentals of preparing and serving classic and craft cocktails. Each week will focus on a specific spirit as well as the distillation process. At the end of the program, students will create their own cocktail list and patented cocktail. Classes will be held on Tuesdays from 6–9 p.m. beginning on March 30. Registration is now open to the public; sign up online to save your spot.
“Spirits and Mixology” is the latest course being offered through Drexel’s Beverage Studies Initiative. In the future, courses will be offered in wine, beer, food and beverage pairings, equipment operations and communications and sales. Seats in several of the Center for Hospitality and Sport Management’s courses this year will be open to the public as continuing professional education for industry professionals or serious laypeople.
Read more about this exciting new program on the Drexel University website!
- Photography: Nina Lea Photography
