Stories
Ghanshyam Bera
My Story
Beverage Knowledge Hunter
- Nationality: Indian
- Occupation: Senior Bartender
- Workplace: Whisky Samba, Gurgaon
- Favorite Cocktail: Negroni
- Favorite Spirit: Gin
What inspired you to become a bartender:
This is quite a long story about finding inspiration to become a bartender. It’s actually unexpected for me to pursue this career path because there isn’t anyone in my family who belongs to this industry. One of my friends suggested studying Hotel Management. His suggestion really impressed me because the faculties at the Hotel Management College taught me that completing this study could enable me to easily travel out of my country and explore various opportunities. That prospect really appealed to me.
After a few months of study, I was sent for my internship. However, I couldn’t complete it at that time. Everyone knows that the Hospitality internship can be challenging, especially at the beginning, and I couldn’t afford it. So, I made the decision to leave the industry and discontinue my studies. I went back home and took a break for a few months. During this time, my family and friends started to criticize me for wasting my father’s money on the Hotel Management studies.
It was at that point that I decided I couldn’t afford to listen to their criticism. I remembered what my dad always used to say, “my son doesn’t give up anything so easily.” That’s why I made the choice to return to this industry. I completed my internship and started working in F&B Service.
During my internship, I developed an interest in the kitchen department, but I never got the chance to work there. Instead, I observed my seniors working behind the bar in the hotel, inventing new cocktails every day. That fascinated me. Around that time, I read an article about a man who was the inspiration for the young Indian bartending generation, Mr. Jeet Rana. His story inspired me greatly to enter the Beverage industry. So, I decided to work as a bartender and enrolled in a bartending school.
There, I found a mentor, Mr. Jatinder Sing, who helped me immensely to become a bartender. Additionally, I came across many successful bar legends like Mr. Yangdup Lama, Mr. Nitin Tiwari, Mr. Kuldeep Sing Chauhan, Mr. Devendra Sehgal, Mr. Pankaj Balachandran, Mr. Arijit Bose, Mr. Shantanu Chanda, and many more. Their success stories motivated me to work even harder. That’s what inspired me to become a bartender.
Tell me about your bartending journey and how you got to where you are now:
First of all, I just want to clear one thing up: it’s been two years that I’ve been working behind the bar as a bartender, so you can say it’s not a long journey but in the last two years I’ve changed two bars. The first one was a nightclub where I couldn’t learn anything because there was no cocktail culture. Guests used to come for some straight drinks and music. Then the second bar is where I’m working now, I got a huge collection of Whisky and I can say there aren’t too many, but sometimes guests who come are cocktail lovers and they have at least some cocktail ideas. I’ve also got a bunch of good people here.
What stamp would you like to leave on the industry:
So everyone knows that in the world wherever you go or whatever industry you can join, your haters or rumors will be there. So take all their negativity as positively as you can because their comments will push you to work hard every day. I try to meet good people every day and build friendships with them. I just want to leave some impact or stamp on this industry. To be a good human, friendly with everyone, and very helpful to my juniors.
Can you explain your personal process for creating a cocktail:
So personally I get inspiration from classic cocktails and sometimes I get inspiration from my childhood memories. Like in my school time in my village life, what I used to eat like local fruit, local food, herbs etc and always try to make cocktails with fresh stuff. The most important thing is not to complicate a perfectly balanced cocktail.
What is the most important part of what you do and what does it mean to you:
The most important part for me is to learn new things every day because life is nothing without learning. If you want to grow in your life then you have to be a learner. So go on the internet or grab a book and start learning about new things. Nowadays it’s very competitive in every industry so every organization is looking for knowledgeable people. That’s why you have to learn new things each and every day.
What do you think will be the future of the F&B industry:
I haven’t worked many years in this industry, it’s the start of my career so that’s why I think I can’t give the best comment on this but of course, I can see the Hospitality Industry is growing so fast. Maybe in the future it will be within the top Ranking Industry list.
Anything that would you like to add?
I just want to say thank you to Bartender-Stories for this opportunity to say something about my passion. So, dear mate, don’t give up your dream so easily. It seems I’m working hard for my dreams and I’m happily doing this because I’m doing it for myself. I remembered one time when I was doing my bartending study, I used to go to work at bartending events because of my room rent and for my daily food. My dad couldn’t support me financially at that time because he lost a lot of money in our family business and he also got in an accident.
Most bizarre client request:
There are a lot, a few of them are: Single Malt with Coca-Cola or other soft beverages, Gin with Coke, and sometimes they used to say add some more alcohol in the cocktail.