Bartending needs a lot of bottle! ACADEMY: Cocktails shaken not stirred by coach Adam and his students.

Byline: By Poppy Brady

BUDDING bartenders are creating a stir at Birmingham's very own academy for alcohol.

The scheme is helping the unemployed find work by handing them the skills needed to make sure they know their Margaritas from their Manhattans.

Training consultancy and events management firm Shaker UK teamed up with Fair Cities, an employer-led initiative, for the scheme.

Shaker managing director Adam Freeth said: "It's a bit like cooking, only with alcohol!

"Bartending can be a fantastic career, but you have to have the right attitude and know the foundations of drink-making, to the point where you have the knowledge to make a bespoke drink according to the customers' wishes."

Red ditch-born Adam, who has just written a book on professional bartending, launched his firm in 2001.

The Per shore Street base boasts a fully stocked cocktail lounge bar where rookie bartenders bone up on the subtle differences between Scotch and Irish whiskey.

Trainee Michael Slack, aged 25, from Balsall Heath, said: "The course is really interesting and I'd love to land a job at one of the top bars.

But you have to know your cocktails and learn not to get flustered if it gets busy."

Fair Cities was formed by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Would-be bartenders undergo a five-week part-time training programme which teaches them food hygiene, product knowledge and bartending.

CAPTION(S):

GOOD MIXER... Adam Freeth. Picture: Jeremy Pardoe.