Any certified Cicerones here?

Getting behind a bar can be a very desirable job. In pass employment to get a bar shift you had to work the ranks, busboy, server, Host/Hostess bar-back and then you could 'cover' the slow shift if someone was out. Being behind a bar is typically a job that values experience above all else.

Unless it's a high-end beer bar that touts training, Cicerone won't matter unless the hiring manager has a hard on for them, and that would be listed as a requirement. Know cocktails. Far more important knowledge behind a bar. Wine next, beer last, unless its a beer centric bar. (I know a bunch will disagree with me, they can be wrong).

I believe its been said but, server or bartender. Key attributes.

1. Personality (friendly, outgoing, magnetic, passionate)
2. Personality
3. Experience
4. Appearance (Need to fit the business model)(This probably slides to high up any hiring list all too often)
5. Knowledge- Its hard to teach passion, to give someone a personality. It's much easier to teach the ins and outs of products being represented.

I have been a hiring manager on the Retail side and Supplier side. Cicerone Cert is only used as a final determining factor. If I had two identical applicants, but only one was beer server certified, I would probably hire the one who is not.

Answer simply: Standout in a crowd: No. It does show passion, willing to learn and self-motivation. Do it for those reasons and its a good idea. Do it to get a bar job, I think you may end up disappointed. Good luck!

 

"I'm a Cicerone, I think it's a type of Italian sausage. We're originally from Sicily."

 

I’ve bartended for more than 20 years now and I say the same thing all the time when people ask me what makes a good bartender. It’s all about personality and your ability to converse with different types of people. Also, knowing when to talk to people and knowing when to shut the hell up I think is important too. If you’re having a bad or off day...don’t bring it behind the bar, stay positive. The rest will all fall into place. And, if you’re working in a brewery, I do think it’s important to at least familiarize yourself with what you’re serving. Have a 1 or 2oz pour so you can describe to your customers what you’re about to serve them.

 

I think making good cocktails would be incredibly challenging. I’m just so very surprised when I go out which is rare how badly a bartender can bugger up a simple martini or even a simpler gin and tonic. Most GTs I order suck, they taste like all Tonic. I’m probably a snob on those two, both are simple, and 95% of them suck. It doesn’t matter if it’s a local bar or a high end end steak house, most times the with a GT they don’t even use the right glasses. So when in a place like the Gin Joint in Charleston and they literally blow your socks off I’m very appreciative, those guys are pro mixologists.

 

Haha, I hate gin and despise tonic so I’ve yet to find a g+t I like, period.
A lot of bartenders working in a generic place will err on the side of caution, speaking for myself, because of the place’s budget/policy and the patron’s blood alcohol level. I’ve probably poured tens of thousands of them so I hope a few of them tasted good.

I’ve been working strictly in a brewery for 2 and a half years now, so I’ve only poured the odd cocktail at a few private events but I would think it’s like riding a bike.

 

I’ve always liked drinks in proper glasses, GT go in a Collins glass, not a small tulip or a whiskey glass, and the magic of ice still allows for 1 1/2 Oz gin and tonic. But I’m thinking of the for lack of a better word those fruity umbrella drinks, seems like there’s a million of them, crazy combinations of fruit and different liquors. Must be a headache learning the combos. But no different than in good beer bars I suppose, I don’t care for generic shaker pints for everything or anything really. Proper glassware is really a nice touch and I think appreciated, the German beer bars here always use proper glasses, they’re not branded so they’re not stolen, but they do a really nice job.

 

Order vodka on the rocks which is difficult to screw up.

 

I think even I could pull that one off. A twist or no?

 

I leave the fruit on the side.

 

*Did not read thread*

I was up for a job in the industry back in 2016, and they required everyone applying to have their Cicerone Certified Beer Server designation - pretty common now a days.

60 questions in 30 mins makes it impossible to google every answer if you want to finish in time. I took it the first time studying zero minutes. Got a 70%, 75 or 80 is considered passing I forget.
I studied for 2 hrs knowing the type of questions and took it a second time and got a 98%, missed one question. Questions weren’t the same - they probably take from a pool of 500 questions.

I wouldn’t spend any money on a course. Just know how to study- you get two attempts at the exam for $75 (I think). If you don’t pass it, just pay the money again.

 

Bartender should mostly be a show me interview,

Pour me a beer, make me 3 popular cocktails that you sell a lot of. Something that also features different spirits. Personally is important, looks are important, sorry it’s a service industry it’s mostly true for anyone.

 

Glenfarclas neat removes one step, or maybe two.

 

Thankfully I've never been a bartender.

 

The umbrella drinks must be a bitch to memorize the ingredients. As to beer ask the interviewee pour a pint of Guinness, it’s about in every bar that I’ve even been in that’s a bar, and not a brewery doing only their beers. It might not be a Brewery approved pour, but any experienced bartender should know that pouring a Guinness is a different animal, and it takes multiple pulls. If they try it on one pull they don’t know what they’re doing, and I’d question their experience. Try it once you know you can’t do it.

 

Tending bar trained me for sales and dealing with people. It was the early 70s and things were wide open and I had a really wonderful time knowing and learning that world. Plus, I furthered my beverage knowledge, which I took to the bank, eventually. One is young once and continually if lucky.....

 

Oh, quite true, and if you come to my house you'll get a Scotsman's pour. Average bar I don't trust on call drinks because the corporate masters require very carefully measured amounts. With vodka rocks a barkeep will feel compelled to fill the glass with enough to cover the ice which is my way of sticking it to the man.

 

You are a more polished consumer than I have become through time.

 

I'm not a fast bartender, I'm not a slow bartender, I'm a half fast bartender.