Tres Monos isn’t simply one among Buenos Aires’ greatest locations to get a cocktail. The bar, whose identify interprets to “three monkeys” in Spanish (referencing the “see no evil, hear no evil, communicate no evil” proverb), can be among the finest locations to learn to make a drink.
In 2019, companions Charly Aguinsky and Sebastián Atienza (later joined by the “third monkey,” Gustavo Vocke) took over a two-story nook constructing within the Palermo Soho neighborhood, adorning it with a neon pink signal that also broadcasts the bar at the moment. The bartenders at all times knew they wished to serve extra than simply scrumptious drinks. As former model ambassadors, they had been equally comfortable behind a bustling bar counter as they had been in entrance of a projector and coaching groups. “From the outset, we knew Tres Monos can be greater than only a bar; it might additionally perform as a consultancy and a college,” says Atienza. “It’s ingrained in our work ethos.”
The preliminary step to creating their dream a actuality concerned establishing a drinks academy on the higher flooring of the bar. “That is the place our studio is predicated, serving as a devoted house for coaching people [who are] passionate in regards to the business, these seeking to pursue mixology or refine their expertise,” says Atienza. In cohorts of round 10 college students, newbie bartenders begin their careers right here, studying from Fede Cuco, one of many foremost authorities in Argentina’s drinks scene. Famend not solely as a training bartender but in addition as a drinks researcher, he shares insights into the tales behind basic cocktails and pivotal developments in fashionable bartending, like distillation and clarification.
In 2021, amid the pandemic, a possibility arose for the bar to broaden its instructional efforts past Palermo, to close by Barrio Padre Carlos Mugica (or just Barrio Mugica, for locals). The neighborhood is among the metropolis’s most traditionally marginalized: an space with no public faculties, a struggling public well being system and declining infrastructure. In partnership with the Entrepreneurial and Labor Growth Heart (CeDEL) of town of Buenos Aires, Tres Monos bartenders supplied coaching to younger residents of the world—a lot of whom had by no means earlier than dealt with a bar spoon nor tasted a sip of mezcal—for 2 years, in amenities supplied by the municipal authorities.
When the official venture concluded on the finish of 2023, the companions determined to proceed on their very own: They leased an area in Barrio Mugica and expanded their choices to incorporate new packages, akin to barista and sommelier trainings. “Our goal was to maintain this initiative, to supply coaching and to create job alternatives for the local people,” says Atienza.
Round 70 individuals have already attended the lessons, the place college students study the ABCs of mixology, ranging from the fundamentals—akin to the way to use strainers, muddlers, cocktail jiggers and bar spoons—to spirits tastings to making ready classics just like the Penicillin and Manhattan.
“The course spans about eight classes, cut up evenly between theoretical lessons and [classes where students] get the possibility to place principle into follow,” says Agostina Gerling, one of many bartenders at Tres Monos, who additionally teaches lessons. Gerling and the remainder of the instructing employees additionally assist college students with different profession expertise, like writing résumés and making ready for job interviews.
When he utilized for the preliminary program—amongst almost 100 different candidates—Alcides Damián Mendoza, also referred to as “Chino,” had restricted information of mixology and lacked formal employment. By the lessons, he found a brand new ardour: “I turned enamored,” he says. At this time, Mendoza is a part of the Tres Monos crew, alongside 4 colleagues who additionally accomplished the course.
In the course of the morning shift, Mendoza prepares mixes, calibrates machines and ensures that every little thing is ready for the bartenders. “I got here right here with little information, and now I completely get pleasure from my work,” he says. “What I believed can be only a course has grow to be a brand new skilled path in my life,” he provides. Sooner or later, Mendoza intends to enterprise into his personal bartending-related enterprise.
In fact, real skilled improvement for a bartender takes place behind the bar, significantly within the interactions with clients throughout service; it’s essentially a hospitality-driven career, in any case. However Gerling says that the course is greater than a useful gateway to the world of drink-making. The lessons she and others educate emphasize sustaining a robust work ethic and collaborating successfully in a crew, traits she hopes to foster within the subsequent generations of bartenders.
Jessica Herrera, a resident of Barrio Mugica, was impressed to enroll in lessons after coming throughout a CeDEL publication asserting them. She appreciated the lessons—not simply due to the strategies she realized, but in addition due to the bartenders she had the chance to satisfy. “The grasp lessons stood out, as I started connecting with outstanding professionals of this business, like Fede [Cuco],” she says. “The expertise felt surreal.” Upon finishing the course, she commemorated the achievement along with her household by making them the cocktails she had mastered.
Shortly after, she obtained an invite to affix the crew at Cacho, a streetside rotisserie counter throughout the Tres Monos group that serves tortillas, tapas, vermouth and cocktails. “I began as a runner, then transitioned to engaged on the ground as a waitress, and ultimately turned a cashier,” Herrera says. “Since then, I’ve by no means left, and I really feel like I’ve discovered the place I belong.”
