Summer Bartending sa Boracay 2009

Ever since I started Pinoytender Management Consultancy, I was fortunate to have been invited to different colleges and universities from almost all over the country. The more I was exposed, the more I became determined to reach out to all the schools because I know that there is still room for improvement for some of the students for they might have been introduced to the wrong concept of bartending.

After a conversation with a friend, the idea of organizing a workshop in Boracay suddenly popped up. And why not? But behind my head I asked these questions: Is there still something I can teach to the students of Boracay? How is the bartending scene there? I have only been in Bora once in my life when I was the resident bartender for the Nestea Beach Volley back in 2003. Was it gonna be easy to have a workshop? I knew nobody from there so I will just have to walk in, ask around, and observe.

And so I went there together with my friend for an ocular. Man, it was a very costly ocular, but well worth it. We first had to look for a place to stay. We walked through the different stations until our attention was caught by a very hospitable bar waitress. Of course, we couldn’t refuse her so we decided to have a beer at the bar she was working in which was called Real Maris.

We were introduced to the manager on duty, Vivien Yaguel. After a good conversation she introduced us to Ces Gajisan, her F&B Manager who incidentally finished HRM in Manila.
We had common friends and similar views so I opened up our intention for going to Bora.

At first she was hesitant but eventually she offered to help us achieve our goal. She said that there is really a need for a good bartending seminar. With that, I was very motivated to push through with this project.

We went bar-hopping so that I can observe how the bar scene is as well as how the bartenders are in Bora. After going to about 70 establishments, I said to myself that I can make it happen.

The only problem was the time--I only had 2-3 weeks to conduct it since I was going back to work on ships. Nevertheless, with Ces and Vivien helping me out, I was very confident. Ces introduced me to the head of Boracay’s bartending organization for he can help us with the mobilization of the bartenders as well as the information dissemination. His name was Bong Gelito. After breaking the ice with Bong, we came to terms on how to go about it.

Another fortunate twist in this event is that I didn’t know that the daughter of a high official in Bora was my former student. What a small world! It was like a reunion for us. She helped me in marketing the event. I even had airtime in their local radio station to help promote the event.

With everything set, the day came for SUMMER BARTENDING sa BORA. This was a 3-day event, with a 1 day lecture and 2 day practicals. Attendance wise, as expected, we didn’t meet the magic number because of the short notice, yet it was a successful event because all of the participants were very receptive and eager to learn.

Starting the seminar was the hardest part for almost all the participants were local residents and I was like from another planet. But that wasn’t really a big deal for we all had one common thing running through our veins … BARTENDING.

The highlight of the bartending seminar was the concept of free-pour, since no one really taught them how to pour properly.

After that we had basic flair which was also a success because not all bartenders had the knack for flairtending.

Here are some of the pictures of the event:

SUMMER BARTENDING in BORA doesn’t end here. Get ready for PART 2! Watch out for it!