After a challenging pandemic break, as parties move into homes and hotel suites, bartenders are using the creative freedom of freelance gigs to craft inventive cocktails and experiences
House parties at restobars. Intimate gatherings to heat up the dance floor, and an upscale home bar experience over the overpriced cocktails in a restaurant. As life is slowly returning to a new normal, at-home parties are replacing gatherings at local bars. And as hosts meet these new criteria, curated catered menus and home bar experiences have become the order of the day. Bartenders, forced to go it alone after food and beverage establishments closed due to pandemic restrictions, have found freelance bartending to be a liberating career.
In Chennai, where the bar recently opened its doors, bartenders have found new ways to increase their income after being closed for a long time. Praveen Mohan, who has worked in a bar in the city’s IT corridor, has attended house parties since 2020, sometimes on the beach, in some spacious apartments, where the hosts wanted a restobar experience but a secure location Feather.
“Initially it was tough, but then our entire industry went through this churning, so we just sold. I took classes at a local bartending institute in T Nagar, did some general bartending during the week and waited for the parties to get up,” says Praveen.
back on their feet
Since July 2021, parties at beach houses and other locations on the East Coast Road and Puducherry have been keeping bartenders in the city busy. Nalla Sami of the Chennai Institute of Bartending says her schedule has been packed from mid-2021.
“Before the pandemic we used to hold at least 60 events per month and now the number has come down to half. Events are small, with only 20 people and all safety precautions are taken. Being an independent bartender is slowly paying dividends again,” he says.
On the west coast, Vasundhara Vats, who designs masterclass cocktail workshops for small parties, says independent living chose her even before 2020.
“I lived in Mumbai for a while, where I worked at Soho House, and then moved to Goa. When you work until two o’clock six nights a week at a time, it doesn’t allow for any meaningful conversations with friends. You don’t get to enjoy the sunlight, brunch and everything else that I really enjoy. I had the luxury of leaving a full-time bartending career, so I would do things on my own terms,” she says.
While Goa is the perennial party destination in the country, “the monsoon months bring little work,” says Vats, who now caters to smaller parties at villas, where she curates DIY cocktail experiences, fresh in a state, Bouquet of flowers and fruit material.
Her drinks are served with fresh mixers – lavender and chamomile with syrup, rose lemonade and floral tonic.
Watts says, “I base my menu on what I can find at the Mapusa market—usually some luscious mulberries, passion fruit and lots of cucumber, which I think is the least for a drink. Is.”
desi spirits
Abhirup Bhattacharya, a veteran bartender-turned-brand ambassador of Goa’s homegrown rum brand Maka Zai, says drinking habits have changed since 2020.
“A large number of people have started mingling at home. This was mainly because of the pandemic, but it is slowly becoming part of a lifestyle,” he says, adding that he now wants a sophisticated drinking experience, with sophisticated cocktails made from country spirits.
The gin resurgence in India, riding high on brands like Hapusa, Greater Than and Jaisalmer, is prompting bartenders to experiment with their menus. Pearson Fernandes, school director at the European Bartender’s School, Goa, describes gin infused with his butterfly pea flower, which turns blue to purple when ingested with citrus. “It’s a big hit with guests at house parties,” he says, “that the vodka has faded into the background, the whiskey sours are a hit, and the rums are used for the mojitos.”
Taking cocktails up a notch from scratch with homemade syrups and syrups, and using substitutes like honey or jaggery instead of refined sugar, is par for the course for Saurav Singh, who runs his own bartending business in Kolkata. , having worked across Delhi. As hosts offer their guests a customized experience at home, or a lavish suite at a hotel, the acronym is simple – flair meets a thoughtful approach to mixing bartending drinks.
Sourav is proud of his zero waste operation. “Nowadays we make a lot of old fashioned items using orange colored decorations. As a result I have a lot left over on the orange pulp I make a drink with – Houston we have a problem, where the marmalade is mixed with bourbon, citrus and topped with wheat beer. ,
The party has now moved from the banquet hall to the penthouse. “I make sure the bartenders are well dressed for the occasion. We also design various sets of aprons and accessories to suit the party atmosphere,” says Sourav, one of his employees for three years at bars in big metros. Certified bartenders with experience of more than Rs.
In Tier 1 cities, junior bartenders charge anywhere between ₹2,000 to ₹4,000 for a night. They bring their own garnishes, scrubs and syrups crafted from scratch, while glassware and other mixers are charged on the real. Senior mixologists and flair bartenders order from ₹5,000 to ₹15,000 depending on the number of guests at a party and the type of cocktails on the menu. The hosts always provide wine.
Sandeep Verma, founder and CEO of Institute of Bar Operations and Management, which has been doing business in the Delhi-NCR region for more than two decades, says the pandemic was a wake-up call. “All of a sudden, big-money events were few and far between. We had to take the virtual route and hold cocktail workshops.”
His bartending course has found interested buyers in all professions. “Some hotel management students take bartending courses and can land a job as a full-time bartender or start their own business with certification. But we found that people from other backgrounds are eager to become bartenders, so they can moonlight at house parties after their 9-5 job,” Verma explains.
Even in Chennai, there are professional bartending classes looking to make money while learning a cool new skill.
“My student bartenders – IT engineers – can earn around ₹15,000 per month with a few events,” says Nalla Sami, explaining how fast the market is expanding. He continued, “Plus, it’s a change of scene from his day job!”
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