Mixology has come to the Ivy League. The Yale College Dean's Office is offering bartending lessons to raise alcohol awareness,
The Yale Daily News reports.
Split into two parts, the Yale catering department will host three free sessions on mixing drinks. The mixology portion of the classes will last only two hours, while a course in "training and intervention procedures" will last four hours.
TIPS, as the protocol is known, is a nationwide program that teaches how to interact with drunk individuals, how to tell if someone's had too much to drink, and how to tell how much a person can drink based on body type and gender. It is particularly relevant for Yale students who may be planning on throwing dorm-room or frat-house parties.
"People think it's going to be moralizing, but it's not about that," said Jean-Michel Mange, the course's instructor. "It's to explain how technically, if you hold a party, what to do, how not to over-pour, to explain what can happen."
"We know underage people are drinking," Director of Yale Catering Robert Sullivan told the Yale Daily News. "We're trying to see what we can do to make sure underage students understand what a drink is supposed to look and taste like."
The course is open to students ages 18 and up, because any person over that age can legally bartend in Connecticut. The course aims to curb binge-drinking, while also giving prospective bartenders some tips. Sullivan said students overestimate the amount of alcohol to put in a proper drink and how much equals one shot of liquor.
Pilot programs for the session were held in January. Attendees said the classes were helpful, from both responsibility and bartending perspectives. But, one attendee added, they doubted there would be little change in the behavior of students who had already set out to get drunk.
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