HYDERABAD: After a long, hard day, it is always fun to chill out with friends over a few drinks — takes away the stress and lets you unwind. But, a lot of understanding, knowledge and creativity takes place behind the bar counter before those drinks are brought to the table. Bartending is an art, opines Natasha Sorensen, Australian bartender and global ambassador for Grey Goose Vodka, who was in the city to provide bar trainings, covering areas like bartender mixology sessions and bar re-structuring to some of the esteemed outlets. This is a part of her six month tour across India for the same. Elaborating on the training sessions, Sorensen explains, “We run two modules — theoretical, which discusses the history of vodka, ingredients, quality and the other includes some practical sessions.” She further adds, “Every cocktail we have has been inspired from something — for instance one is directed towards whiskey drinkers, some towards wine drinkers — trying to cater to their tastes through vodka based cocktails.” Sorensen explains that vodka doesn’t have any particular characteristic of its own. The juice that it gets mixed with becomes the dominant flavour, making it an ideal drink. Not a feminine jobWith over seven years of bartending experience and being a part of this industry, ask Sorensen what made her get into this field and she promptly narrates, “It was never a conscious decision to get into bartending. But, I have had a dream of opening my own bar.” She further elaborates, “Bartending is not considered very approriate for women. But the idea is slowly changing. I want to treat it like a proper profession.” She reveals that even in a place like Australia, there were not many women behind the bar counter. “It’s not a very feminine thing to do. Girls tend to go for more tender career options like nursing and teaching. I wonder if there are girls who plan on becoming a bartender. I never planned to either. It was just that I hated studying.” However, Sorensen believes that in the next ten years, there will be a lot more female bartenders in India and other places as well. Sorensen also says that along with the art of bartending comes the aspect of responsible serving — knowing when to stops serving alcohol to a customer. Comparing the situation in India and in other countries, Sorensen throws some light upon the RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol) certification, “This doesn’t happen in India, but in other places, every bartender needs to have this certification done because along with this comes the right to stop serving alcohol as per the situation.” Hyderabadi experienceTalking about her experience in the city, Sorensen, who enjoys drinking enjoys drinking grey goose vesper and grey goose moscow-mule, shares, “The experience of teaching here has been great! And, I noticed the friendship that bartenders share here is incredible. The idea behind these sessions was to not just provide them with recipes but open up an avenue of free resources — websites, blogs.”
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