Pre

Knowledge
Pack
European Bartender School

DEAR EBS STUDENT
During your course
you will encounter a
multitude of challenges
as you are educated in
the craft of professional
bartending.
EUROPEAN BARTENDER SCHOOL
PRE KNOWLEDGE PACK
Welcome to European Bartender School!
Over the coming weeks you will go through an extraordinary
level of personal and professional development, where
you will transform into a cocktail bartender with world-
class skills. To make sure you feel comfortable from day
one, we created this pre-knowledge pack so you can focus
on the important stuff - like getting to know your fellow
students and checking out the local nightlife!
In this package, you will find a preview of some of the
tasks you will be given during the first few days of your
EBS course. Some of the typical EBS-concepts will also
be explained. So do yourself a favour and take the time to
study this package carefully before starting the course. This
way you will have a solid foundation to start from, enabling
you to develop your skills and broaden your knowledge in
the most efficient way possible.
Good luck, and enjoy the fantastic weeks ahead!
The EBS Team
 EUROPEAN BARTENDER SCHOOL

5 STEPS &
PRE KNOWLEDGE PACK

10 SECONDS 1 GLASS
Preparing amazing cocktails involves a lot more than randomly
combining a range of ingredients. The perfect cocktail must achieve
balance and harmony between flavours, the correct temperature
Let’s take a look at a 5-step
recipe, using Gin & Tonic as a
classic example. The recipe on
2 ICE
3 METHOD
and consistency and be a delight to the eye.
the sample page below is listed in
order, starting from the top. Once
The cocktail recipes in the Even though the recipes might
all five steps are completed, your

EBS handbook will be covered
both in written exams and at
the bar training stations, so
4 INGREDIENTS
seem complicated at first, we
cocktail is ready to be served.
break each one down in 5 simple
steps, which makes it easy to

5 GARNISH
learning them is a good first step. remember every component,
Remember, you can’t bake a every time.
cake (or make a cocktail) without
a recipe! Your International Using this 5-step process,
bartender course combines you will be able to memorise
a theoretical education with complete recipes easily. In less
a lot of practical training to than 10 seconds, you will be able
make sure you gradually learn to recite all 5 components. And
GIN & TONIC
GLASS: h giH a
b l METHOD: Budli
to make dozens of classic and once you can do that with all the ICE: beuC d
contemporary cocktails in an recipes in the EBS handbook, INGREDIENTS:   TASTING NOTES:
n iG 40 1
efficient way. you will be ready to focus on
Tocin - - - l Fi - - -
your prac tical skills like speed,
As a bartender, you don’t just flair-and, of course, making new
need to know recipes; you will friends at EBS.
also need to be able to prepare
them for customers – Quickly!
Don’t worry – it’s not as difficult GARNISH: m
iL e eW egd

as it sounds. OPTIONAL: oV dka & Tonic : eR a

lp ec niG th
iw a
k od V
1 GLASS
Different cocktails require different
glasses. The first step in preparing
a cocktail is determining which
style of glass is to be used, as it is
the first thing we reach for when
an order is placed. In the example
above, the ‘Highball’ is mentioned
as your first step.
2 ICE
After we select our glass, we need
to know what kind of ice to use.
The recipe above calls for ‘Cubed’,
meaning normal ice cubes.
Different cocktails call for different
types of ice, but cubed ice is the
most commonly used variety in a
bar environment.
3 METHOD
After determining glass and ice,
we look at how we will mix our
ingredients. The above recipe
mentions ‘Build’, which is the
most basic method of preparing
cocktails. It simply means pouring
all ingredients over the ice.
4 INGREDIENTS EBS 5 & 10 RULE RECAP
Once our glass, ice and method are A cocktail recipe can be broken down into 5 steps – Glass, Ice,
clear, we look at the ingredients. Method, Ingredients, Garnish. Memorise each of these steps (also
As can be seen in the above use the pictures in the EBS handbook as visual cues, they are very
recipe, the product description helpful!) so that you can recite the recipe within 10 seconds. Getting
and international measurements the recipes memorised is a great way to prepare yourself for the bar
are listed. Following recipes to stations and acing your final exams.
the T is essential, with specified
ingredients - spirits, liqueurs, We would recite the recipe for a Gin & Tonic as follows:
juices, mixers, etc. - poured
accurately, with nothing forgotten · Highball glass with cubed ice.
(or substituted). If ‘Fill’ is listed as · Build
a measurement, it simply means · 40ml or 1 ½ Oz gin
to fill the glass to an appropriate · Fill with tonic water
level, leaving a ‘spillway’ at the top · Lime wedge garnish
of the glass (as can be seen in the
above photo). Try saying it out loud and time yourself.
10 seconds is a pretty long time, huh?
At EBS, we want your training to go as smoothly as possible (and we
5 GARNISH figure you probably do too!). A little studying ahead of time goes a
Once our cocktail has been long way, and will allow you to find a perfect balance of learning and
prepared and poured, the only leisure throughout your course with EBS.
thing that remains is garnish.
Garnishing a cocktail serves In the following destinations you will find different measurements.
two purposes – to enhance or Make sure that you are studying the correct measurements for your
complement the flavour and specific EBS destination:
aroma of the drink, and to add
some visual appeal. While it may "ML"
seem like a detail, the garnish - Stockholm - Barcelona - Bad Gastein
is often a crucial important - Gothenburg - Berlin - Sydney
- Malmö - Paris - Mallorca
component of the cocktail - Oslo - Kos - Madrid
experience. The above example - Dublin - Phuket - Amsterdam
- Copenhagen - Goa - Chile
calls for a ‘Lime Wedge’ - a simple, - Cape Town - Vienna - London
classic garnish that works well
with both gin and tonic water.
"OZ"
- Milano
- New York
- Miami
- Rome
G I N & TO N IC A PE RO L S PR IT Z

   

C U B A LI B R E M I OS A

   

M OJ IT TO M C LI NS

   
PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE
VODKA
Flavourless and colourless, vodka is a typically neutral grain spirit
however potato distillates are also used. Diluted with water to around
40% ABV, Vodka originates from Poland and Russia, and is the most
widely consumed spirit on the planet today.
GIN
Based on un-aged neutral grain spirit and flavoured predominantly
with juniper berries, supported by a range of other aromatics (known as
‘botanicals’). A gin will often include angelica root, coriander, liquorice
and citrus peel.
WHITE RUM
The lightest flavoured, driest variety of rum. The best-known white
rums (Bacardi, Havana Club) are “Cuban style”, though there are many
regional varieties. Though generally aged in timber, white rum is most
often filtered prior to bottling to make it colourless.
TEQUILA
It is widely believed that Tequila is made from the cactus, which is a
pure misconception. Tequila is made from a specific kind of the plant-
family agavacea or agave. The plant is more closely related to the plant-
family of lilies, and has nothing to do with cacti. There are more than 200
different varieties of agave in Mexico, but only the “Agave Azul Tequilana
Weber” is used for the production of Tequila.
BLENDED SCOTCH WHISKY
Blended Scotch whisky is a mix of (expensive, richly flavoured) single
malt whiskies and (inexpensive, lightly flavoured) grain whiskies. Malted
barley - which is used to make malt whisky - is often dried over burning
peat moss, adding a distinctive smoky note to the finished spirit.
DRAMBUIE
A Scotch whisky-based herbal liqueur flavoured with heather, herbs and
golden honey from the Scottish Highlands.
FRESH LIME JUICE
Lime juice squeezed freshly by hand or citrus press. Citrus juice oxidises
rapidly which changes the flavour, so remember that fresher is always
better!
ORANGE JUICE
Orange juice – either freshly squeezed or bottled – should be pulp-free for
use in cocktails.
COCA-COLA
The world’s biggest selling soft drink, Coca-Cola is flavoured with a
remarkably complex blend of extracts including nutmeg, orange,
cinnamon, vanilla, lavender and other spices.
TONIC WATER (INDIAN TONIC WATER)
A carbonated mixer with a bitter-sweet flavour. Tonic water was created
around the 1820s when British officers in the Indian Army improved their
bitter anti-malaria medicine — Peruvian quinine extract — by mixing it
with soda water, sugar, and gin.
KAHLUA
A rum-based Mexican coffee-liqueur flavoured with vanilla, caramel and
Arabica coffee beans.
MILK / HALF & HALF
For the purpose of making cocktails, whole milk is preferred. Half & half is
a mix of equal parts whole milk and heavy cream.
GRENADINE
A strong red syrup made from red currants and pomegranates. It is a useful
ingredient for many cocktails - acting as both a colouring and sweetener.