A basic overview of the Beverage Management Associate Degree Program is as follows: First, students will take a Basic Wines and Spirits class.
This class is required for all NCHS students so the Beverage Management students are combined with their Culinary peers. Wines, Beers, and Spirits is not a tasting class. Students learn the theory of alcohol and how alcohol is made and what alcohol does to the human body. Topics discussed in this class also include wine making, white wines , red wines, beer, spirits and mixology. Also included are topics on how to manage beer, how to manage spirits, how to put it all on a menu and promote it to your customers.
The second quarter students break away from the NCHS students and focus on bar management and mixology. During this period of time students are also taking other classes to fill their curriculum. The second quarter students will take Bar Management and Mixology where they study the bar and how to mix drinks. Students study how to manage a bar and the processes and procedures involved.
In the third quarter the students will study Beers and Distilled Spirits in depth as compared to Wines, Spirits, Bar Management and Mixology.
The fourth quarter students will go in depth with wine. The fourth quarter classes include Wines Of The New And Old World and Wines of Europe. The students are able to go much farther in depth on a very broad subject. The fifth quarter, students study Specialty Coffee and Tea and Managing Beverage Operations.
The final quarter, the sixth quarter, the students do an externship where they have a job in the industry and they report back up on a regular basis. There is a competency exam during this quarter on each individual class that they have taken.