Vancouver's Best 32-Hour Bartending Course

Become a Bartender Today!

BC’s Best Bartender Course Now Only $675

Training Bartenders in Richmond and Greater Vancouver since 1981.

If you are looking for a bartending course near Richmond, then you will find Fine Art Bartending is Canada’s best bartending school. We have the most widely known bartender certification program, mainly because we have trained so many students just like you for more than 40 years now. Learn how to bartend at Greater Vancouver’s best bartending course and we will teach you everything you need to get started as a bartender.

In the heart of Vancouver, we have an intimate and authentic classroom, which can also function as a pop up bar! Jump on the Skytrain, and head downtown. Like so many others coming from Richmond and Steveston, it’s easy to hop on the train and avoid the complications of traffic and parking. We train a new group of aspiring bartenders every couple weeks. New bartending graduates from Fine Art are always ready to start a career in the hospitality industry. We give you the knowledge, skills, and the confidence to get hired quickly. Our training manual is updated regularly, and with feedback from bartenders around Vancouver! We want to ensure the cocktails we teach are exactly what you find in this part of the world.

This is the only 32-hour Bartending Course near Richmond

We insist that practice, practice, and more practice is necessary to perfecting any bartending skills. The bartending course at Fine Art is interactive and hands-on. Every bartender knows that learning how to bartend requires memory and repetition. Good work habits to keep your work area clean and organized. Take the 30 minute Skytrain ride from Brighouse to Waterfront. We are only two blocks away from Gastown and Vancouver’s best bartenders. Join us for class, then find the best whiskey sour. We have you behind the bar for about two-thirds the time. You will be working on your pouring skills, learning new cocktails and even interacting with customers. Note that we aren’t open to the public to serve drinks, we have your fellow students or a fun instructor play the role of the annoying and temperamental customer.

a bartender making a drink

Bookwork, Background and Bartending

a bartender making a drink

Hands on practice is great, but each student needs to put in some time with the books. We spend about a third of your class time on teaching you some of the history of each spirit, beer and wine. We also share stories of what we have seen while working behind the bar, plus what you should watch for as a customer. There are lots of bad bartenders out there, and we want to ensure that when you come out of the course you aren’t one of them.

This bartending course is designed to get you well trained as a bartender in only 8 days of learning and hands on cocktail making. For the Day Classes, we teach you to bartend behind real bars over two weeks. If you are busy during the day, we have Evening Classes spread out over 3 weeks to give you more time to study. The Weekend classes are taught over 4 weeks to make sure you aren’t rushed through the course. We want to make sure you have a great time learning how to bartend and know what you need to.

 

Earn your Bartender Certification

On completion of the bartender certificate program you will have:

  • Canada’s favourite Fine Art Commercial Bartender Certificate
  • The foundation for making 100 different cocktails, and many more
  • Knowledge of spirits, liquors and mixes to understand each cocktail.
  • Upselling techniques to boost bar sales, which ultimately means more tips for you!
  • Basics on how to train your support staff, and what your fellow bartenders should be doing
  • Confidence that only comes from getting behind the bar
  • New contacts in the industry, and a few friends

Before serving cocktails in British Columbia, Serving It Right certification is required. This even includes selling booze in a cold beer and wine, or liquor store. Take a few hours and get your Serving It Right Certificate. We do discuss responsible serving in BC, but the Serving it Right certificate is something you can do on your own. While at the bartending school, we focus on training you to become a bartender. We want you to have a solid working knowledge of cocktail making, while learning how to maximize tips with a smile on your face.

Bartending Course Time and Date Options

DAY Classes

$ 675
  • 11am – 3pm
  • Tuesday to Friday for TWO weeks

EVENING Classes

$ 675
  • 6pm – 10pm
  • Tuesday to Thursday for Week #1 & 2
    Tuesday & Wednesday for Week #3

WEEKEND Classes

$ 675
  • 12pm – 4pm
  • Saturdays & Sundays for FOUR weeks

*Note that on Statutory Holidays, we may need to shift classes

If you want to learn to bartend ASAP, then we have DAY and EVENING classes regularly. New training sessions start every few weeks. Weekend bartending classes are once per month. Have a look below at all our upcoming class dates to check when that next set of classes start! These classes fill up quick, so plan ahead and pick a date and time that what works for you!

If you don’t see dates far enough out, then send us an email. We generally have a rough idea of when the next batch of classes will start. Just ask.

a drink

Register Today For Only $675. Regularly $849.

We are Vancouver's Best Bartending School!

Choose Vancouver’s Best Bartender Training Program

Soon to be bartenders from all around Vancouver have been coming downtown to get their training. For more than 35 years now, we have been Greater Vancouver’s best bartender training school. Your students love us! We want you to know how to make a bunch of great cocktails, but also how to be a great bartender. If you are looking to work in Richmond or Steveston, there are plenty of great hotel bars and small restaurants that always need help. We will make sure you know which establishments you should be targeting to get work fast.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  Taking this course was a great experience for me! I found a bartending job in Vancouver easily after I took this course. Although I didn’t continue to work as a bartender as my career with my boring engineering degree got too busy, I’ve gained entrance to a whole new knowledge through this course. Now I know my drinks to make at parties, what wine I prefer at a fine dining restaurant, or just the general knowledge of what all those bottles of liquid are when I hit the liquor store. I strongly recommend this course to whoever wants a jumpstart to a career in bartending, add more experience to your current bartending job, or even just there to learn more about alcohol, enjoy, and have fun!
Kevin Y​. from Richmond

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  I just wanted to say thanks to the instructors for the bartending course at Fine Art. I found the course to be well paced, very informative and appreciated all the attention and consistent feedback. The course was very hands on and was filled with tips and tricks of the trade… which are all necessary if I wanted to become a bartender. Not only did I learn over 70 cocktails and martinis, the drills to become fast and efficient at them are excellent. The course is challenging but with a clear progression and sequence that makes learning the drinks easy. If anyone was ever wondering about the course I highly recommend it as it surpassed my expectations. I was just hired at a Pub today not even 2 weeks after the course was over. Thanks again
Craig P. from Steveston

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  I really enjoyed the class, i went to the day and night courses in Vancouver and liked them both. It never got to be boring and I was always learning something new. You did a great job teaching and kept it interesting (never a dull moment). I am currently looking for a job bartending/serving but the course will help me get a start. Great job!
James H. from Richmond

Meet your Instructors

Grant G.
Day Classes
Bartender

Grant G.

Zack C.
Evening Classes
Bartender

Zack C.

Tieg S.
Weekend Classes
Bartender

Tieg S.

Chris S.
Team Events & Special Classes Bartender

Chris S.

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Grant G.

Grant G.

Grant became interested in bartending back in his early days living in Alberta. After earning a Diploma in Bartender Training from N.A.I.T. he headed out here to Vancouver… and decided to make this city his home. We think he made the right call, especially on those warm sunny days when an Aperol Spritz is the patio cocktail of choice. His bartending instructors from back in the day would be proud of where he is now!

Grant has oodles of experience. He has many years as a banquet bartender at the Westin Bayshore, plus many more as a nightclub bartender. Both jobs are very different, but require both accuracy and speed. Weddings and conferences require volumes of cocktails in a very quick fashion to match the theme of the event. Nightclubs offer the opportunity for flair while still cranking out the cocktails.

Travelling is also a passion of his, and he has spent time travelling through much of Europe. He enjoys getting his hands dirty when not behind the bar with some gardening. If you too have a green thumb, Grant is more than happy to share some his knowledge, especially with his Master Gardener Certificate earned right here in Vancouver from VanDusen Botanical Garden.

Zack C.

Zack C.

When not teaching evenings here at Fine Art Bartending, you can find Zack slinging drinks at 1181. On the weekends, Zack is the lead bartender, bar manager and the main guy training new bartenders there. With over 10 years in the service industry, he has a pile of stories to share about how much fun this industry is. Before creating all kinds of cocktails, he worked his way up from bar back to bar manager.

If you ask him what he likes to drink, he’ll tell you he’s a tequila guy. It’s those great margaritas that take him back to those days when we could easily travel to Mexico. Tequila is something that really needs to be sipped to be appreciated. He’s also spent some time as a barista so Zack knows his coffee.

Zack is also an actor and has spent many years teaching drama and improv. Bard on the Beach and the Canadian Improv Games are a few of the different things he has been up to ever since relocating out west from Ontario. You can also find him on IMDB!

Tieg S.

Tieg S.

Tieg was born and raised in Vancouver BC where he got his start in the hospitality industry nearly 20 years ago. He began working in the kitchen. After learning to cook, he decided to move into bartending for a new challenge and to make a bit more money. To make that transition, he found our bartending course.

Tieg learned how to bartend from Fine Art Bartending. Shortly after learning everything he could from his bartending instructors, Tieg became a bartender at Monk McQueens. Monk’s was a Vancouver landmark location in False Creek that is now home to Mahoney and Sons. Since then he has worked as a bartender and manager at bars and restaurants across the lower mainland including the Sandbar on Granville Island, the Shark Club and BarOne at the Sheraton Wall Centre.

When he’s not teaching, Tieg is writing, hiking, exercising and exploring the city. He also enjoys travelling and lived abroad in Japan where he studied Japanese and in Los Angeles where he earned a degree in journalism.

Chris S.

Chris S.

Chris also graduated from Vancouver Fine Art Bartending back in 1998. Bartending at university parties made him seek out a role behind the bar for both some extra cash while working on that engineering degree. Shortly after finishing the bartending classes, Chris started at a little Greek restaurant in Vancouver’s West Side, and after a couple years he moved on to the city’s best jazz club ‘The Cellar’. Doing a day job as an engineer, and night gig as a bartender soon caught up with him and he hung up his bar rag to focus more on what he went to school for.

Since those early days as a bartender, Chris has always dreamed of opening his own little beach bar somewhere in the world. Chris has been to Europe, Asia, South America, 48 of the 50 US states and has had a drink in each of these places. Not all those beverages were good, but each spot on the map does things a little differently and Chris is effectively a student of everything. He regularly travels in search of that perfect serene and sandy spot, but for now is content to enjoy Vancouver and all the great little happy hour spots around. He also has his WSET Educator Certification and is our in-house WSET Level 1 and 2 Spirits educator.