32-Hour Bartending Course in Downtown Vancouver

Become a Bartender Today!

Click Here for Available Dates

32-hour Bartender Certification Course Now Only $675

Certifying Bartenders from Surrey and around Vancouver since 1981.

Fine Art Bartending has had Greater Vancouver’s best bartending course for more than 40 years now. We take the time to cover the essential details needed to get your bartending career kickstarted. Surrey has some great establishments all in need of great bartenders. Get trained up today and learn how to make the most tips.

In less than two weeks, we train you how to bartend and break into the hospitality industry. Fine Art Bartending gives you the know-how and the confidence to get hired, while developing your skills behind the bar. With industry feedback, we keep our drink recipes current and accurate. Jump on the Skytrain and head downtown. Learn how to bartend in a realistic  bar-like atmosphere.

The bartending course at Fine Art Bartending is very hands-on. We say “Practice, practice, and more practice makes perfect” when behind the bar. We take a very practical approach to teaching quality drink making, which also ensures you keep your work space clean and presentable.  About two-thirds of each class should be behind the bar mixing drinks. We want you to hone your skills while interacting with customers. Note that we aren’t open to the public for strangers to wander in, your fellow students or the instructor assumes this role. Each class is taught in our downtown Vancouver location within blocks of Vancouver’s best bartenders in Gastown. Our instructors are working bartenders, who also know how to make each class lots of fun.

Class By Class Breakdown

Bartenders Need to Know

To be a decent bartender, you need to know a little history. While making the drinks, the instructors will point out the origin of different cocktails. You learn how each spirit is made. We take a third of class time to point out essential spirits, beer and wine knowledge. Bartending is all about the stories, so our instructors share some of those experiences. After you finish the program and get a bar job, you will have something to look forward to.

The full 32-hour Bartending Course is eight days of hands on bartender training. We have you practice your cocktail making behind a real working bar. In the past this school has been a pop-up bar too! Note that if you are coming into town for our weekend classes, we cover all the same material… but now two days per week over 4 weeks.

After you finish the Fine Art bartending course you will have:

  • Your Fine Art Bartending Commercial Bartender Certificate
  • A solid base of more than 100 different drinks and cocktails
  • Knowledge of spirits, liquors and mixes from which you can start inventing your own drinks
  • Essential upselling tips on how to increase bar sales, which means more tips for you!
  • Fundamentals on how to train your bar backs and what to watch your bartenders for
  • Confidence and know how to get out there and get that bartending job
  • A few new friends

We focus class time on practicing being a bartender and cocktail making. You will have the opportunity to work on technique and improve your customer service, which then leads to making more in the way of tips! Get your Serving It Right certificate online in a few hours anytime. ​Serving It Right certification is necessary before serving or selling drinks in British Columbia.  We spend a little time outlining responsible service and how to get your Serving It Right.

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
  • Monday to Thursday for TWO weeks
👉 DAYS

EVENING Classes

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

WEEKEND Classes

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

*Note that on Statutory Holidays, we may shift classes to start on Tuesday instead of Monday

Every few weeks we start new DAY and EVENING bartending classes. The WEEKEND classes start about every four weeks, depending on holiday schedules. Check out all our upcoming class start dates and pick a start date that works for you!

Don’t see your preferred start date on the listed class start dates? Send us an email, and we will promptly reply. Just ask.

Register Today For Only $675. Regularly $849.

We are Vancouver's Best Bartending School!

Click Here for Upcoming Class Dates

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

Day Classes
Bartender

Grant G.

Evening Classes
Bartender

Zack C.

Weekend Classes
Bartender

Tieg S.

Team Events & Special Classes Bartender

Chris S.

We are Vancouver's Favourite Bartending School!

REGISTER NOW!
Facebook-f Twitter Youtube Instagram

Products

Seminars

General Information

Scroll to Top

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.

Sign Up for Days

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!

Sign Up for Evenings

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.

Sign Up for Weekends

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.

Sign Up for Team Events & Special Classes