Bartending License and Certification

Do bartenders have to be licensed or certified?

This is a  question asked by many people who want to get into bartending is “do I have to be licensed or certified work as a bartender?”

There is no bartender’s license or certification necessary from most state or city government to work as a bartender.  Some cities require a bartender to have an alcohol awareness certification to work.  There are employers who may require their bartenders to have this type of certification because often it will reduce the establishment’s insurance premiums and decrease liability if there is an alcohol related problem.

Alcohol certification programs are designed to teach participants how to prevent intoxication, drunk driving and underage drinking among the people to whom they sell or serve alcohol. These programs addresses important concerns specific to restaurants, hotels, bars, nightclubs, banquets and private parties where alcohol is served by the drink.

American Bartending School offers bartender certification training as part of its bartending school training class.  The topics covered in the American Bartending School certification are:

• Liquor Laws – Presents the legal responsibilities for bartenders serving alcohol, explains the types of illegal sales, and provides information about checking IDs.
• Assess Your Guest: Legal – Shows bartending school students how to apply the legal information to real-life scenarios through practical application exercises using short video.
• Alcohol Information – Describes how alcohol affects people, signs of intoxication to look for, and relevant information about alcohol that the bartender can use to serve more responsibly.
• Assess Your Customer: Alcohol – Teaches the bartending student to apply the alcohol information to real-life scenarios through practical application exercises using short video.
• Intervention Information – Gives the bartending school students guidelines for providing customer-friendly, responsible alcohol service. Explain the bartender’s role in a three-step, easy-to-follow model.
• Decide and Implement – Shows bartending school students how to apply intervention information to real-life scenarios through practical application exercises using short video.

An alcohol awareness certification is always very helpful when applying for a bartending job.  Some city police departments offer an alcohol awareness certification for bartenders and servers.  There is usually a fee to take the program and it’s only given periodically.