Craft Bartending Technique
Like Duolingo, but for Craft Bartending Technique. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.
22 levels across 4 sections, about 44 minutes end to end, roughly 9 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Mechanics and Thermal Control; Cocktail Architecture and Flavor Balance; Speed, Station Setup, and Service Flow; and Aromatics, Texture, and Finishing. It assumes you already know the basics.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Craft Bartending Technique
- A cocktail reaches thermal equilibrium and ~20-25% dilution within 10 to 12 seconds of shaking.
- Shaking beyond twelve seconds adds excessive water without making the liquid any colder.
- Rapid ice impact quickly plateaus the temperature near -5°C to -7°C.
- Keeping the spoon back against the glass prevents turbulent splashing and air pocket formation.
- A proper push-pull stir maintains glassy visual clarity in spirit-forward drinks like the Martini.
- Lifting the spoon blade introduces pocket aeration that turns clear spirits cloudy.
- Dry shaking without ice emulsifies and unfolds egg albumins at room temperature.
- Adding ice only after initial emulsification locks the foam structure while chilling.
- Straining separates the chilled liquid while preserving a dense, velvety head.
- Pushing the strainer hood forward closes the gate, trapping foam and ice shards inside the tin.
- Opening the gate wide allows airy egg-white or citrus foam to pass into the coupe unhindered.
- Fine-mesh strainers catch microscopic ice shards that otherwise melt fast in a stem glass.
- Floating ice micro-shards cause uncontrolled, rapid secondary dilution in drinks served up.
- Sieve filtration preserves a velvety surface sheen instead of an uneven, icy crust.
- Greater surface area relative to volume accelerates meltwater release
- Larger ice cubes yield maximum chilling with minimal liquid dilution
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Craft Bartending Technique the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
About how long does it take for a vigorously shaken cocktail to reach thermal equilibrium and around 20 to 25% dilution?
Get it right to open this lesson and 21 more in the app.
Where Craft Bartending Technique takes you
Step behind the professional well to command cocktail mechanics, ice physics, balanced drink architecture, and rapid ticket management.
- 1
Mechanics and Thermal Control
- The Physics of Shaking and Stirring
- Ice Thermodynamics and Glass Prep
- 2
Cocktail Architecture and Flavor Balance
- Structural Ratios and Drink Templates
- Modifiers, Acids, and Flavor Correction
- 3
Speed, Station Setup, and Service Flow
- Mise en Place and Cockpit Ergonomics
- Round Building and Ticket Management
- 4
Aromatics, Texture, and Finishing
- Aromatic Expression and Surface Design
4 sections · 7 units · 22 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
Craft Bartending Technique is taught in the The Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Craft Bartending Technique today.
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