Though it’s a good way to connect with others and a fundamental part of living near train tracks, pouring one’s heart out to strangers is an unsustainable career. Learn a more employable pour with today’s Groupon to Authentic Bartending School of Maryland in Hyattsville. Choose between the following options:

• For $30, you get an Introduction to Mixology and Bartending Basics class (a $75 value).
• For $285, you get a 45-hour certification course and TIPS training (a $570 value). Students may opt for a one-week, two-week, or weekend course, though all equal 45 hours of instruction.
  
  

The school’s mix masters blend one part instruction and one part practice in students’ brains, arming them with a professional suite of skills needed to tend bar. Neophytes dip their toes into a sea of drink recipes and essential equipment in the four-hour interactive introductory course, led by seasoned drink-makers dressed as their favorite cocktails. Alternatively, students beef up for beverage-slinging careers in an intensive 45-hour course held over two weeks, covering such diverse topics as bar management, fruit cutting, and state laws, such as Georgia’s ban on limes. The teachers dedicate an additional five hours of education to the TIPS program (Training for Intervention Procedure by Servers of Alcohol), which equips aspirant tenders with the skills to spot alcohol-induced problems and tactfully disarm situations with words or by transmogrifying beer glasses into marshmallows. Successful completion of the course results in a mixology and bartending certificate from the school framed in folded cocktail napkins.